pythoncard-users

[Pythoncard-users] anchor layout manager

[Michael S. <mik...@ya...>]

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:

1) number of partitions minimised

2) adding it to your applications is simplified
>>import anchors
add line to on_initialize
>>self.panel.layoutManager =
anchor.GridAnchorLayout(self.components)

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. 

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.

Thanks to Alex for his help.

Cheers,

Michael

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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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