[Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-23 Thread Anthony Walter
I did some testing with the new sparta docked form designer on OSX. here is
a video clip of it in action:

http://cache.getlazarus.org/video/docked-design.mp4
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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-23 Thread Maciej Izak
2015-11-23 11:40 GMT+01:00 Anthony Walter :

> I did some testing with the new sparta docked form designer on OSX. here
> is a video clip of it in action:
>
> http://cache.getlazarus.org/video/docked-design.mp4
>

I watched in suspense :P. Thanks for testing :)

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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-23 Thread Juha Manninen
On Mon, Nov 23, 2015 at 1:08 PM, Maciej Izak  wrote:
> I watched in suspense :P. Thanks for testing :)

Maciej, creating a component's default action by double-clicking also
works now, but deleting a component from designer still does not.
Deleting from OI works. Can you reproduce it? Do you know what has
caused it?

Tested on Linux with GTK2 and QT bindings.

Juha

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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-23 Thread Graeme Geldenhuys
On 2015-11-23 10:40, Anthony Walter wrote:
> I did some testing with the new sparta docked form designer on OSX. here is
> a video clip of it in action:

May I make a suggestion. Why not automatically place non-visual
components (eg: TOpenDialog, TSaveDialog etc) in a dedicated non-visual
area outside the designed form: eg: in a panel above the "Code,
Designer" tabs shown in the video. It could even be order alphabetically.

I never understood why non-visual components lived inside the designer
form at a specific x,y position - cluttering up your designer form. Even
the streaming had to be "hacked" to support a fake x,y position for
these non-visual components.

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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-23 Thread Graeme Geldenhuys
On 2015-11-23 11:28, Juha Manninen wrote:
> works now, but deleting a component from designer still does not.
> Deleting from OI works.

I had the same issue in CodeTyphon if I remember correctly. Seems
everybody copied the same broken code from somewhere. ;-)

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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-23 Thread Sven Barth
Am 23.11.2015 12:35 schrieb "Graeme Geldenhuys" <
mailingli...@geldenhuys.co.uk>:
>
> On 2015-11-23 10:40, Anthony Walter wrote:
> > I did some testing with the new sparta docked form designer on OSX.
here is
> > a video clip of it in action:
>
> May I make a suggestion. Why not automatically place non-visual
> components (eg: TOpenDialog, TSaveDialog etc) in a dedicated non-visual
> area outside the designed form: eg: in a panel above the "Code,
> Designer" tabs shown in the video. It could even be order alphabetically.
>
> I never understood why non-visual components lived inside the designer
> form at a specific x,y position - cluttering up your designer form. Even
> the streaming had to be "hacked" to support a fake x,y position for
> these non-visual components.

I agree with Graeme. At least as an option :)

Regards,
Sven
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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-23 Thread Tommi Prami
Nonvisual Components on some other place, where you could order them nicely
by relation to each outer (DataSet <-> DataSource) etc... And maybe even
some automation on this would be very nice indeed...

-Tee-

On Mon, Nov 23, 2015 at 1:35 PM, Graeme Geldenhuys <
mailingli...@geldenhuys.co.uk> wrote:

> On 2015-11-23 10:40, Anthony Walter wrote:
> > I did some testing with the new sparta docked form designer on OSX. here
> is
> > a video clip of it in action:
>
> May I make a suggestion. Why not automatically place non-visual
> components (eg: TOpenDialog, TSaveDialog etc) in a dedicated non-visual
> area outside the designed form: eg: in a panel above the "Code,
> Designer" tabs shown in the video. It could even be order alphabetically.
>
> I never understood why non-visual components lived inside the designer
> form at a specific x,y position - cluttering up your designer form. Even
> the streaming had to be "hacked" to support a fake x,y position for
> these non-visual components.
>
> Regards,
>   - Graeme -
>
> --
> fpGUI Toolkit - a cross-platform GUI toolkit using Free Pascal
> http://fpgui.sourceforge.net/
>
> My public PGP key:  http://tinyurl.com/graeme-pgp
>
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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-23 Thread Maciej Izak
2015-11-23 12:28 GMT+01:00 Juha Manninen :

> Maciej, creating a component's default action by double-clicking also
> works now, but deleting a component from designer still does not.
> Deleting from OI works. Can you reproduce it? Do you know what has
> caused it?
>
> Tested on Linux with GTK2 and QT bindings.
>

It is caused by not detected "Active Designer". I know where to start to
fix that. Partially fixed in r50419/r50113 (for copy/paste operations).

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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-23 Thread Maciej Izak
2015-11-23 12:35 GMT+01:00 Graeme Geldenhuys 
:

> May I make a suggestion. Why not automatically place non-visual
> components (eg: TOpenDialog, TSaveDialog etc) in a dedicated non-visual
> area outside the designed form: eg: in a panel above the "Code,
> Designer" tabs shown in the video. It could even be order alphabetically.
>
> I never understood why non-visual components lived inside the designer
> form at a specific x,y position - cluttering up your designer form. Even
> the streaming had to be "hacked" to support a fake x,y position for
> these non-visual components.


New "Non-visual" page (or some additional space in "Designer" page) for
that purpose is planned in future. Please create on mantis "Feature
request" for that.

Anyway sorting/disabling non-visual components is supported by FreeSparta
solution:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FOjWCLDScQ&t=615

It should be ported very soon.

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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-23 Thread Maciej Izak
2015-11-23 12:36 GMT+01:00 Graeme Geldenhuys 
:

> I had the same issue in CodeTyphon if I remember correctly. Seems
> everybody copied the same broken code from somewhere. ;-)
>

Not related. The problem exist inside Lazarus IDE. Sparta is not copied
from Typhon, rather Typhon is copying patches/bug fixes from FreeSparta
Lazarus branch.

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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-23 Thread Maciej Izak
2015-11-23 12:45 GMT+01:00 Sven Barth :

> I agree with Graeme. At least as an option :)
>
My work on FreePascal compiler must wait a little again... -,-
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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-23 Thread Michael Van Canneyt



On Mon, 23 Nov 2015, Sven Barth wrote:


Am 23.11.2015 12:35 schrieb "Graeme Geldenhuys" <
mailingli...@geldenhuys.co.uk>:


On 2015-11-23 10:40, Anthony Walter wrote:

I did some testing with the new sparta docked form designer on OSX.

here is

a video clip of it in action:


May I make a suggestion. Why not automatically place non-visual
components (eg: TOpenDialog, TSaveDialog etc) in a dedicated non-visual
area outside the designed form: eg: in a panel above the "Code,
Designer" tabs shown in the video. It could even be order alphabetically.

I never understood why non-visual components lived inside the designer
form at a specific x,y position - cluttering up your designer form. Even
the streaming had to be "hacked" to support a fake x,y position for
these non-visual components.


The reason is simple: there was/is no other place where to put them.



I agree with Graeme. At least as an option :)


Not so fast. This is a can of worms you maybe don't want to open:

I don't use the docked designer. I most likely never will.

So if someone using the docked form designer has put the non-visual 
components outside the docked form, and I then subsequently open this form,

what will happen ? Where will you put it ?

In yet another window ? I hope not.
In the component tree ? I don't use that, it is hidden.

There are always more angles to a problem than you may have considered.

Michael.

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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-23 Thread Maciej Izak
2015-11-23 14:06 GMT+01:00 Michael Van Canneyt :

> Not so fast. This is a can of worms you maybe don't want to open:
>
> I don't use the docked designer. I most likely never will.
>
> So if someone using the docked form designer has put the non-visual
> components outside the docked form, and I then subsequently open this form,
> what will happen ? Where will you put it ?
>
> In yet another window ? I hope not.
> In the component tree ? I don't use that, it is hidden.
>
> There are always more angles to a problem than you may have considered.


It will not affect you. DockedFormEditor is just an option. All is backward
compatible. Even new page "non-visual" will be only smart addition. In the
worst scenario XY position of 'non-visible' component will just out of
scope of form rect (unlikely).

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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-23 Thread Graeme Geldenhuys
On 2015-11-23 13:06, Michael Van Canneyt wrote:
> 
> The reason is simple: there was/is no other place where to put them.

Up to now, yes that is true. But then again a "designer form" could, and
does, have behaviour different to that same form at runtime.


> I don't use the docked designer. I most likely never will.

Neither would I. :)  My suggestion was simply a suggestion on what I
think is an improvement over the existing behaviour [personal opinion
obviously].

Opening that project in a non-docked designer, it could always arrange
the non-visual components along the bottom, sides, along all edges etc.
Many desktop environments in the past and present have such behaviour
with icons, so I see no harm in applying them for non-docked form
designers too. You could even go as far as making the icon arrangement
user selectable - again, just like past and present desktop environments
allow.


> There are always more angles to a problem than you may have considered.

The "docked form designer" is supposed to be an enhancement over the old
one [opinions my differ] - my suggestion was just an extension of that
enhancement. As with everything in Lazarus - making features option is
ideal. ;-)


Regards,
  - Graeme -

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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-23 Thread Michael Van Canneyt



On Mon, 23 Nov 2015, Maciej Izak wrote:


2015-11-23 14:06 GMT+01:00 Michael Van Canneyt :


Not so fast. This is a can of worms you maybe don't want to open:

I don't use the docked designer. I most likely never will.

So if someone using the docked form designer has put the non-visual
components outside the docked form, and I then subsequently open this form,
what will happen ? Where will you put it ?

In yet another window ? I hope not.
In the component tree ? I don't use that, it is hidden.

There are always more angles to a problem than you may have considered.



It will not affect you. DockedFormEditor is just an option. All is backward
compatible. Even new page "non-visual" will be only smart addition. In the
worst scenario XY position of 'non-visible' component will just out of
scope of form rect (unlikely).


I eagerly await your demonstration of this fact :-)

Michael.

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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-23 Thread Anthony Walter
+1 for making a special area for non visual components when the docked
designer is being used.

For those that doesn't want to use the docked designer hiding non visual
components will not affect you they would appear normally. It's just that
docker designer users will see the non visual components differently (in a
separate tray along the bottom of the design window for example).
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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-23 Thread Michael Van Canneyt



On Mon, 23 Nov 2015, Anthony Walter wrote:


+1 for making a special area for non visual components when the docked
designer is being used.

For those that doesn't want to use the docked designer hiding non visual
components will not affect you they would appear normally.


Define 'normally' as you will not have placed them 'normally' to begin with ?

Some kind of 'arrange non-visual components' popup menu will be in order, 
I suppose...


We'll see, I am curious.

Mchael.

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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-23 Thread Michael Van Canneyt



On Mon, 23 Nov 2015, Graeme Geldenhuys wrote:


On 2015-11-23 13:06, Michael Van Canneyt wrote:


The reason is simple: there was/is no other place where to put them.


The "docked form designer" is supposed to be an enhancement over the old
one [opinions my differ] - my suggestion was just an extension of that
enhancement. As with everything in Lazarus - making features option is
ideal. ;-)


In this regard:

Mattias Gaertner demonstrated the new 'Project Groups' feature during the Dutch 
Lazarus conference.
It is implemented as a package (already in SVN under "components"), so it is 
optional.

As noticed by one of the audience, it is implemented better than Delphi Project 
Groups,
(nested project groups, ability to add single files, build modes nicely 
integrated)
even though there is still a todo list for them.

My own first impressions are already very encouraging :-)

Michael.

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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-23 Thread Graeme Geldenhuys
On 2015-11-23 13:58, Michael Van Canneyt wrote:
> It is implemented as a package (already in SVN under "components"), so it is 
> optional.

Oh, I didn't know it is already in trunk then again, I haven't
updated my Lazarus for some time. I'll get an update now - project
groups have been on my wishlist for years. :)

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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-23 Thread Den
Micheal, I'm thinking they mean just a visual representation of the 
non-visual components, by having them displayed in a different area. For 
you, they would show up wherever you want to put them (by default the 
designer could put them in a grid), but the XY won't change of the 
components themselves, just putting them out of the way for the ones 
that want the option on (if I got it correctly).


- Dennis

On 2015-11-23 07:50 AM, Michael Van Canneyt wrote:



On Mon, 23 Nov 2015, Maciej Izak wrote:


2015-11-23 14:06 GMT+01:00 Michael Van Canneyt :


Not so fast. This is a can of worms you maybe don't want to open:

I don't use the docked designer. I most likely never will.

So if someone using the docked form designer has put the non-visual
components outside the docked form, and I then subsequently open 
this form,

what will happen ? Where will you put it ?

In yet another window ? I hope not.
In the component tree ? I don't use that, it is hidden.

There are always more angles to a problem than you may have considered.



It will not affect you. DockedFormEditor is just an option. All is 
backward
compatible. Even new page "non-visual" will be only smart addition. 
In the

worst scenario XY position of 'non-visible' component will just out of
scope of form rect (unlikely).


I eagerly await your demonstration of this fact :-)

Michael.

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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-23 Thread Sven Barth
Am 23.11.2015 19:41 schrieb "Den" :
>
> Micheal, I'm thinking they mean just a visual representation of the
non-visual components, by having them displayed in a different area. For
you, they would show up wherever you want to put them (by default the
designer could put them in a grid), but the XY won't change of the
components themselves, just putting them out of the way for the ones that
want the option on (if I got it correctly).

What about newly added non-visual components though? Would they all just
clutter in one spot?

Regards,
Sven
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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-23 Thread Michael Van Canneyt



On Mon, 23 Nov 2015, Sven Barth wrote:


Am 23.11.2015 19:41 schrieb "Den" :


Micheal, I'm thinking they mean just a visual representation of the

non-visual components, by having them displayed in a different area. For
you, they would show up wherever you want to put them (by default the
designer could put them in a grid), but the XY won't change of the
components themselves, just putting them out of the way for the ones that
want the option on (if I got it correctly).

What about newly added non-visual components though? Would they all just
clutter in one spot?


That is exactly what I meant with my remark...

Michael.

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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-23 Thread Sven Barth
Am 23.11.2015 23:29 schrieb "Michael Van Canneyt" :
>
>
>
> On Mon, 23 Nov 2015, Sven Barth wrote:
>
>> Am 23.11.2015 19:41 schrieb "Den" :
>>>
>>>
>>> Micheal, I'm thinking they mean just a visual representation of the
>>
>> non-visual components, by having them displayed in a different area. For
>> you, they would show up wherever you want to put them (by default the
>> designer could put them in a grid), but the XY won't change of the
>> components themselves, just putting them out of the way for the ones that
>> want the option on (if I got it correctly).
>>
>> What about newly added non-visual components though? Would they all just
>> clutter in one spot?
>
>
> That is exactly what I meant with my remark...

I know, but others don't seem to get the problem...

Regards,
Sven
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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-24 Thread Anthony Walter
To those worried about components being cluttered on top of each other, do
you really think it would be that difficult to address?

All the docked designer implementation needs to do is assign a position
(Left,Top) to new non-visual components (NVC), that is those added while in
docked designed mode. If there is an existing NVC nearby it just picks the
next available (Left,Top) in a grid for the new NVC. It's not that
difficult.

EG. repeat in an arbitrarily sized grid pattern ...

Is there a NVC between 0,0 and 48,48? Yes?
Is there a NVC between 48,0 and 96,48? Yes.
Is there a NVC between 0,48 and 48,96? No?

Okay then put the NVC at Left: 0; Top:48. Problem solved.

Next time a non docked designer using team member opens the project,
they'll see a new component placed at 0,48. They can move it if they want.
If the docked designer using team member goes back to working on said
shared project, the placement of the NVCs will not be affected, because to
him the NVCs positions on the form are never modified unless he adds a new
NVC. If a new NVC is added while in docked design mode, go back to EG.
above.

Not that hard.
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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-24 Thread Michael Van Canneyt



On Tue, 24 Nov 2015, Anthony Walter wrote:


To those worried about components being cluttered on top of each other, do
you really think it would be that difficult to address?

All the docked designer implementation needs to do is assign a position
(Left,Top) to new non-visual components (NVC), that is those added while in
docked designed mode. If there is an existing NVC nearby it just picks the
next available (Left,Top) in a grid for the new NVC. It's not that
difficult.

EG. repeat in an arbitrarily sized grid pattern ...

Is there a NVC between 0,0 and 48,48? Yes?
Is there a NVC between 48,0 and 96,48? Yes.
Is there a NVC between 0,48 and 48,96? No?

Okay then put the NVC at Left: 0; Top:48. Problem solved.


Well, your argument needs refinement, of course. Such as: 
- don't go outside form borders, meaning go to next column.

- maybe sort the NVCs prior to placement, so as to have some logic ?
  (on renaming this means re-order the grid)
- What if there are more NVCs than fit in your grid ?


Next time a non docked designer using team member opens the project,
they'll see a new component placed at 0,48. They can move it if they want.
If the docked designer using team member goes back to working on said
shared project, the placement of the NVCs will not be affected, because to
him the NVCs positions on the form are never modified unless he adds a new
NVC. If a new NVC is added while in docked design mode, go back to EG.
above.

Not that hard.


No-one said it is hard.

But:

1. It needs to be addressed *before* you enable this 'NVC outside form' option.
   Usually this is where things go wrong.

2. I place my NVC at meaningful or logical positions, or positions which don't 
disturb from finding the controls underneath.
   The above is basically arbitrary placement, which is very uncomfortable and 
doesn't make for fast finding of components.

So please bear with me and allow me to be slightly skeptical:
Not everyone thinks the docked form is the best thing since sliced bread, to 
put it mildly :-)

Michael.

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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-24 Thread Graeme Geldenhuys
On 2015-11-24 09:15, Michael Van Canneyt wrote:
> - What if there are more NVCs than fit in your grid ?

Then you organise it as follows:

  http://geldenhuys.co.uk/~graemeg/datamodule.png

:-D

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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-24 Thread Michael Van Canneyt



On Tue, 24 Nov 2015, Graeme Geldenhuys wrote:


On 2015-11-24 09:15, Michael Van Canneyt wrote:

- What if there are more NVCs than fit in your grid ?


Then you organise it as follows:

 http://geldenhuys.co.uk/~graemeg/datamodule.png

:-D


I have actually seen such a module in design and production !
How anyone can work with that is a mystery to me... :-)

Michael.

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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-24 Thread Graeme Geldenhuys
On 2015-11-24 09:15, Michael Van Canneyt wrote:
> 2. I place my NVC at meaningful or logical positions, or positions
> which don't disturb from finding the controls underneath.

Just to be clear, I don't like the docked forms designer idea either
(neither in Lazarus nor Delphi), but the above is also not ideal for
everybody. In my Delphi days, I have often placed non-visual components
as you described - then the form gets redesigned or new widgets added.
Then I move the non-visual forms yet again. A tabbed form often has this
problem.

Non-Visual components is just that... non-visual, and their placement
shouldn't have any impact. Getting back to the question at hand about
the classic forms designer... As I hinted before, the forms designer
already has different behaviour to the same form at runtime. So play
with that. There is no reason why the classic forms designer can't have
a non-visual area attached - keeping the actual form design uncluttered.
Lets think out of the box for a moment...  :)

Some ideas:

1. A 800x600 form could have a 200px panel at the bottom which doesn't
   form part of the designed form's runtime size. So the designer form
   is 800x800 in size. The non-visual area could be painted differently,
   to clearly indicate this area. Visual widgets can't be dropped in
   that area.

2. A floating non-visual drop area window could snap to the sides of
   the designed form and say there. It could automatically snap to the
   bottom by default, and moves with the designer form, even if the
   designer from is resized. Similar to what WinAmp or XMMS music
   players did back in the day with there secondary windows.

3. A keyboard shortcut similar to F11 could be implemented that toggles
   the form designer to show the designed form, or the non-visual
   components. If the non-visual components are visible (could look
   similar to a DataModule), they could be aligned to a grid (icon
   view) layout, or placed by hand I guess.

These are just "thinking out of the box" ideas. I'm sure more creative
minds could come up with other ideas too.

Bottom line is (for classic forms designer and docked one) - I never
liked the fact that non-visual components cluttered the designer form.
Just because Delphi did it since day one, doesn't mean Lazarus needs to
follow suite. Other development environments handle this differently -
maybe better, maybe worse. But while there is a redesign of the forms
designer, maybe this is something that could finally be addressed too.

Just my 2ยข worth. ;-)

Regards,
  - Graeme -

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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-24 Thread Graeme Geldenhuys
On 2015-11-24 10:00, Michael Van Canneyt wrote:
> How anyone can work with that is a mystery to me... :-)

Manually finding something was impossible. Thank goodness Delphi's
Object Inspector had a search function (if I remember correctly).

Regards,
  - Graeme -

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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-24 Thread Marcos Douglas
On Tue, Nov 24, 2015 at 7:40 AM, Graeme Geldenhuys
 wrote:
> Then you organise it as follows:
>
>   http://geldenhuys.co.uk/~graemeg/datamodule.png

:)

Marcos Douglas

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Re: [Lazarus] Video: Docked Designer Test

2015-11-24 Thread Alexandrov Alexandru
2015-11-24 10:31 GMT+02:00 Anthony Walter :

> To those worried about components being cluttered on top of each other, do
> you really think it would be that difficult to address?
>
..or you can add a button "Show/Hide NVC"..

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