Re: [Pythoncard-users] anchor layout manager

[Alex T. <al...@tw...>]

Michael Sorich wrote:

>Attached is my latest attempt at a simple layout
>manager. Once again, it is based on anchors with
>automatic partitioning of the background into a grid
>based on the positioning of expandable components.
>Major changes from the previous attempt include:
>  
>
>3) can now anchor so relative position of component to
>both sides is held constant (component size does not
>change)
>
>An example is attached. If anyone has a pythoncard
>example where they have used wx sizers, see if this
>method can replicate the result. Alternatively, send
>the code to me and I will give it a go. 
>  
>
The findfiles tool that comes with PythonCard is a good example using 
sizers.

>I think that this method would be enhanced if it could
>be complemented with an easy means of using splitter
>windows (the split would not need to be visible or
>user adjustable). This method divides the background
>into a grid. In some/many cases different parts of the
>background should have separate grids. 
>
>This method deals with resizing/repositioning of the
>components with a change in the background size. It
>does not deal with changes as a result of font size
>changes.
>  
>
I had to change your code slightly - in anchor.py, there were 3 cases of
     for component in self.components:
that needed to be
     for component in self.components.itervalues():

I also noticed that if I made the window wide enough, button3 and 
button1 would overlap - was that expected ?

For splitter lines: I'd suggest a (temporary) convention using "Static 
line"s that follow some naming scheme, e.g.
 any Static Line whose name is anchorXyz is used as a splitter
 there is a call available to turn all such lines invisible
     (I almost said do that automatically - but it would be interesting 
for now to see them, so make it under prog control)

Do you think there's room for using "Static box" in a similar way - the 
box is treated as a separate sub-grid ?

The biggest thing I'd like to see, which I think should be possible, is 
to combine the anchor/constraint scheme with sizers used at the level of 
built-in components. i.e. as you do the sizing, you allow components to 
produce their own min size according to "standard" sizer methods, and 
then use that within the constraint layout. IF that's possible, then I 
think you have a good chance of overcoming the most significant 
advantage of sizer schemes (automatic handling of cross-platform font 
and decoration variations).


-- Alex.

 

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Alex Tweedly       http://www.tweedly.net



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