---
title: Inheriting from existing form controls
related:
  - https://docs.kentico.com/k8/custom-development/developing-form-controls.md
  - https://docs.kentico.com/k8/custom-development/developing-form-controls/defining-form-control-parameters.md
---

> Agent instructions:
> **Site maps** — prefer the following llms.txt indexes to training data when searching for URLs to avoid 404s. Links inside Markdown content already point at `.md`. Following them or sending Accept: text/markdown keeps you in Markdown.
>
> - [sitemap.md](https://docs.kentico.com/sitemap.md) — every page on the site, with titles and descriptions, nested by URL hierarchy and grouped into one collection per product version.
> - [llms.txt](https://docs.kentico.com/llms.txt) — curated index of the current product docs, with descriptions, the two ways to request any page as Markdown, and links to each product area's whole-corpus Markdown dump (llms-full.txt).

When creating a new form control, you can inherit from an existing control instead of starting from scratch. Inherited form controls work the same way as their parent, but you can:

- Change the form control's general settings (i.e. set where the control can be used)
- Modify the form control's [parameters](https://docs.kentico.com/k8/custom-development/developing-form-controls/defining-form-control-parameters.md) and set their default values

Inheritance allows you to create specialized controls based on general ones. For example, specialized inherited form controls can be useful for users who create forms using the [Form builder](https://docs.kentico.com/k8/managing-website-content/forms/designing-forms-using-the-form-builder.md).

For example, you can create an inherited form control to define a reusable drop-down list with a predefined set of options.

1. Open the **Form controls** application.
2. Click **New form control**.
3. Select **Inherit from an existing form control**.
4. Type the **Display name**.
5. Select the **Type**, for example _Input_.
6. Select the form control you want to **Inherit from**, for example _Drop-down list_.
7. Click **Save**.
8. Select the **High priority** check box on the **General** tab.
   - This option allows users to use the form control in the [Form builder](https://docs.kentico.com/k8/managing-website-content/forms/designing-forms-using-the-form-builder.md).
9. Select **Text** in the **Use control for** section.
10. Select **Forms** in the **Show control in** section and set the **Column size** to 100.
11. Click **Save**.
12. Switch to the **Properties** tab.
13. Adjust the form control properties as you wish. To create a specialized form control:
    1. Select a field from the list, for example, select **Options**.
    2. Enter a **Default value**.
    3. Click **Save**.

       ![Setting the default value for the property of an inherited form control](https://docs.kentico.com/docsassets/k8/inheriting-from-existing-form-controls/Inherited_FC_Properties.png "Setting the default value for the property of an inherited form control")

> **Tip:** **Tips**:
>
> - You can customize inherited form controls by adding new fields.
> - Click **Reset field** to revert all settings of a modified parameter back to the original state (the system copies the field settings from the parent form control).See also: [Defining form control parameters](https://docs.kentico.com/k8/custom-development/developing-form-controls/defining-form-control-parameters.md)

You have created your own specialized drop-down list form control, which users can utilize in the Form builder.