When the Model tab of the combo view is selected in the interface, the property editor displays and provides management of the publicly visible properties of the document’s objects.
The property editor is often designed to work with just one item at a time. The values displayed in the property editor are specific to the active document’s selected object. Despite this, several selected objects can have certain properties, such colours, set. The property editor is empty if there are no elements selected.
Not all properties can always be changed; depending on their specific status, some may be read-only (not editable) or invisible (not listed).
The property editor’s tabs provide access to two categories of feature properties:
View attributes, which have to do with the object’s “visual” appearance. The View properties can only be accessed when the graphical user interface (GUI) is loaded and are linked to the ViewProvider (ViewObject attribute) of the object. When using FreeCAD as a headless library or in console mode, they are inaccessible.
Data attributes that are connected to the “physical” characteristics of the object. When using FreeCAD in console mode or as a library, the Data properties still exist at all times and define the fundamental characteristics of the object. This implies that even if you can’t see the outcome on the screen when you alter the radius of a circle or the length of a line in a document loaded in console mode.
Data characteristics are regarded as being more “real” because they accurately describe the geometry of a shape. View characteristics, on the other hand, are less significant because they only have an impact on the geometry’s outward appearance. For instance, a circle with a radius of 10 mm differs from one with a radius of 5 mm; the colour of the circle (view property) has no bearing on the shape of the circle, however the radius (data property) does. The word “property” is frequently used in this documentation to refer to a “Data property” rather than a “View property.”
Posted from my Blog Mechnexus.com with Exxp: Basic Guide to FreeCAD Property Editor