BorlandTalk.com Borland discussion newsgroups   Archives   FAQ   Search   Memberlist   Usergroups   Register   Profile   Log in to check your private messages   Log in  Layout Managers          BorlandTalk.com Forum Index -> Delphi OO design View previous topic :: View next topic   Author Message Bryan Crotaz Guest Posted: Mon Dec 18, 2006 10:04 pm    Post subject: Layout Managers Has anyone seen a Delphi implementation of a Java style Layout Manager? I'm looking for an OO library to save having to write one from scratch. Ideally it'll have classes for containers, grids, tables etc with padding and collapsible margin support. Bryan Back to top Peter Below (TeamB) Guest Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2006 12:38 am    Post subject: Re: Layout Managers Bryan Crotaz wrote: Quote: Has anyone seen a Delphi implementation of a Java style Layout Manager? I'm looking for an OO library to save having to write one from scratch. Ideally it'll have classes for containers, grids, tables etc with padding and collapsible margin support. Bryan BDS 4.0 goes a large part of the way, since it introduced a Padding (extra margin between border and client area) property for all containers (panels, forms, frames) and a Margin property for a controls, as well as AlignWithMargin and the classic Align for nearly ever control type. It also has a TFlowPanel and TGridPanel class for semiautomatic layout. The two classes have a few problems, but they are servicable. -- Peter Below (TeamB) Don't be a vampire (http://slash7.com/pages/vampires), use the newsgroup archives : http://www.tamaracka.com/search.htm http://groups.google.com http://www.prolix.be Back to top Bryan Crotaz Guest Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2006 5:56 am    Post subject: Re: Layout Managers "Peter Below (TeamB)" <none> wrote in message news:xn0ev4f5o2feum004 (AT) newsgroups (DOT) borland.com... Quote: Bryan Crotaz wrote: Has anyone seen a Delphi implementation of a Java style Layout Manager? I'm looking for an OO library to save having to write one from scratch. Ideally it'll have classes for containers, grids, tables etc with padding and collapsible margin support. Bryan BDS 4.0 goes a large part of the way, since it introduced a Padding (extra margin between border and client area) property for all containers (panels, forms, frames) and a Margin property for a controls, as well as AlignWithMargin and the classic Align for nearly ever control type. It also has a TFlowPanel and TGridPanel class for semiautomatic layout. The two classes have a few problems, but they are servicable. I have my own rendering system. Do you know how easy it would be to split the layout management code from the TWinControl descendants? I can sometimes have several thousand of these on screen, and I don't want the overhead of window handles. I haven't done any VCL work in BDS 4.0 - is the layout code inside the win control class, or is it separated into its own class heirachy a la Java? Bryan Back to top Jarle Stabell Guest Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2006 6:41 am    Post subject: Re: Layout Managers Bryan Crotaz wrote: Quote: "Peter Below (TeamB)" <none> wrote in message news:xn0ev4f5o2feum004 (AT) newsgroups (DOT) borland.com... Bryan Crotaz wrote: Has anyone seen a Delphi implementation of a Java style Layout Manager? I'm looking for an OO library to save having to write one from scratch. Ideally it'll have classes for containers, grids, tables etc with padding and collapsible margin support. Bryan BDS 4.0 goes a large part of the way, since it introduced a Padding (extra margin between border and client area) property for all containers (panels, forms, frames) and a Margin property for a controls, as well as AlignWithMargin and the classic Align for nearly ever control type. It also has a TFlowPanel and TGridPanel class for semiautomatic layout. The two classes have a few problems, but they are servicable. I have my own rendering system. Do you know how easy it would be to split the layout management code from the TWinControl descendants? I can sometimes have several thousand of these on screen, and I don't want the overhead of window handles. I haven't done any VCL work in BDS 4.0 - is the layout code inside the win control class, or is it separated into its own class heirachy a la Java? The layout code is inside the win control classes. TGridPanel and TFlowPanel are TCustomPanel descendants. I haven't really investigated alternatives even though I'm in a somewhat similar situation. I would be surprised if you were able to find something you can use directly with your own custom system, at least if you want maximum performance. Cheers, Jarle Back to top Peter Below (TeamB) Guest Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2006 9:08 pm    Post subject: Re: Layout Managers Bryan Crotaz wrote: Quote: I have my own rendering system. Do you know how easy it would be to split the layout management code from the TWinControl descendants? Difficult, I would say. Quote: can sometimes have several thousand of these on screen, and I don't want the overhead of window handles. Then use TGraphicControl descendents, they don't use window handles. Quote: I haven't done any VCL work in BDS 4.0 - is the layout code inside the win control class, or is it separated into its own class heirachy a la Java? It's integrated into TControl and TWinControl. -- Peter Below (TeamB) Don't be a vampire (http://slash7.com/pages/vampires), use the newsgroup archives : http://www.tamaracka.com/search.htm http://groups.google.com http://www.prolix.be Back to top Bryan Crotaz Guest Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 1:19 am    Post subject: Re: Layout Managers Decided in the end after investigating Gecko ( the Firefox layout engine) to write our own. Thanks for your help everyone. Bryan Back to top Heiko Tappe Guest Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2006 9:13 am    Post subject: Re: Layout Managers Hi Peter, Quote: It also has a TFlowPanel and TGridPanel class for semiautomatic layout. The two classes have a few problems, but they are servicable. Can you explain in more detail, please? What are these problems you are talking about? And what do I have to do to avoid them? Thanks. --Heiko Back to top Peter Below (TeamB) Guest Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 1:42 am    Post subject: Re: Layout Managers Heiko Tappe wrote: Quote: Hi Peter, It also has a TFlowPanel and TGridPanel class for semiautomatic layout. The two classes have a few problems, but they are servicable. Can you explain in more detail, please? What are these problems you are talking about? And what do I have to do to avoid them? What you need to avoid at all cost is to drop a control on one of these grids that is a composite of more than one control internally. The prime example is TLabeledEdit. The grid splits the label and the edit part into two cells, and the result will crash the IDE rather quickly. You can also get ugly crashes if you have set the grid to not grow automatically and then drop more components on it than it has cells. Otherwise the only really annoying issue I have run into is the way the sizing of columns and rows is handled. Using percentages of the grid width and height can drive you bonkers <g>. Each time you try to change the size of a cell by changing the percentage value the @@#!!&& thing recalculates the size of the other cells. Why that may make sense mathematically it also makes this completely unusable. The only way I have found to get, for example, three columns to have 33.3 % of the client width each is to edit the DFM file in text mode. -- Peter Below (TeamB) Don't be a vampire (http://slash7.com/pages/vampires), use the newsgroup archives : http://www.tamaracka.com/search.htm http://groups.google.com http://www.prolix.be Back to top Graeme Geldenhuys Guest Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 4:27 am    Post subject: Re: Layout Managers Hi Bryan, I have implemented just that. Beats me why Borland never thought of this in the first place. I actually went a few steps further and implemented a complete widget set (GUI components) and graphics system (Low level drawing library so widgets just request what they need drawn) in Object Pascal to solve my biggest requirement. A complete cross-platform widgets set, that works and look identical under Windows and Linux. It has Style support as well, to give them a native look if needed. I have used a mix of Qt and Java's layout manager ideas. I currently support Box, Grid, Fixed and Docking layout managers. They do more that just position component though. They handle the sizing of components, which is very important for applications using multiple languages and different screen sizes (dpi settings). This removes a major burden from the developer. No component will ever get cropped, a maximum and minimum size gets calculated and applied to the Form and it's widgets (components). The project is called fpGUI and I have recently moved it to SourceForge, so you should be able to checkout the code from there. All code is written for the Free Pascal compiler (I need cross platform support), but the code is standard Object Pascal (aka Delphi), so should be pretty easy to reused in Borland Delphi. I also use OOP wherever it makes sense. As I mentioned, the code lives in SourceForge. The project website and screenshots (to see the layout managers in action) can be found at: http://opensoft.homeip.net/fpgui/ Regards, - Graeme - Bryan Crotaz wrote: Quote: Has anyone seen a Delphi implementation of a Java style Layout Manager? I'm looking for an OO library to save having to write one from scratch. Ideally it'll have classes for containers, grids, tables etc with padding and collapsible margin support. Bryan -- Graeme Geldenhuys There is no place like S34° 03.168' E018° 49.342' Back to top David Novo Guest Posted: Wed Jan 10, 2007 1:08 pm    Post subject: Re: Layout Managers I have never used it, but developer express has something for that. Its called Express Layout Control (http://www.devexpress.com/Products/VCL/ExLayoutControl/) Bryan Crotaz wrote: Quote: Has anyone seen a Delphi implementation of a Java style Layout Manager? I'm looking for an OO library to save having to write one from scratch. Ideally it'll have classes for containers, grids, tables etc with padding and collapsible margin support. 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