Understanding the purpose of "Track Properties"

I have been revisiting/working with Music Creator 5 which I had left sit on the shelf for quite some time now.  Because I am going thru the help system with a fine tooth comb I have discovered a menu item that I didn't really know about before.  I am wondering about its behavior and purpose.  My main use for MC 5 is to arrange MIDI files and output them to my Edirol SC-88 for personal jamming/recording, etc.  For the tutorial and arranging though I direct the MIDI to Cool-Synth and output to the laptop earbuds.  I use the GM patch mapping in Cool-Synth since the MS Wavetable GS synth sound is putrid.
 
I just loaded and renamed a Latin based sample file to experiment with and use while running thru help from top to bottom.  There are a couple instruments tracks and a drum track.  I have owned several earlier CW editions dating back at least 15 years or so and I learned how to select the instrument (i.e. the SC 88 via a UM-1, or the internal soft synth and even an S.B. Audigy sound card) in the interface which allows dragging the Channel to the instrument.
 
So what is the purpose for using the menu "Track" "Properties": Name", "Outputs", "Inputs", "Channel", etc.?  I would have expected the data already defined in the Track expansion display to already be there in each field but the text boxes are all blank when each field is clicked on initially.  I also have discovered that entering the new data does persist in the file after a save but every time a new Track/Properties settings window opens the current default is NOT displayed but the text box is empty.  If this is by design, it doesn't seem very intuitive to me.  I would at least expect the current default values to appear there.  Is the whole properties idea just another parallel way of displaying data that is accessible in various other ways?  If yes, why doesn't the current data show in this menu structure?