A composite field is a field that may contain other fields. Most composite fields can contain fields of any type, even other composite fields. Composite fields serve a number of purposes. In addition to providing convenient ways of presenting data to the end user, they are often useful for organizing fields on a frame.

For example, a typical table field consists of scalar fields arranged in rows and columns, a vertical scroll bar, and a control button field. A tab folder, however, consists of two other composite fields: tab bars and tab pages.