When Properties of Selected dialog (or Properties Pane) is shown there will be a Common section that contains the Material and Layer properties. These fields show the name of the Material and the name of the Layer assigned to the currently selected objects.
If all selected objects have the same Material then the Material’s name will be shown in the top list box. If there are two or more selected objects and they have different Materials then the list box will be blank. Similarly for the Layer name.
All the currently selected objects can have their Material or Layer changed here by selected a new choice from the drop down lists. Alternately when a Material property is selected, a hyperlink appears in the area below the grid, and when clicked they provide quick access to the Materials Dialog (when the material property is selected) or Layers Dialog (when the layer property is selected).