[Lazarus] Docking manager implementation

[Graeme Geldenhuys]

On Sat, Jan 24, 2009 at 1:40 PM, Michael Van Canneyt
<michael at freepascal.org> wrote:
>
> What's the big fuss all about ?

* the layout manager can do complex layout without nesting panels or
other layout managers.
* Auto resize of components so translation text NEVER gets clipped. I
have fixed things like this a 100 times in Lazarus, until the next
person edits something in that form, or somebody changes something in
the widgetset code. With LCL as used in Lazarus IDE, such things are
always broken.
* No over lapping components (a constant issue in Lazarus IDE)
* Automatic button order based on the platform - built into the layout
manager. No extra components required like the ButtonPanel in LCL.
* Automatic border and spacing widths based on the platform - built
into the layout manager. eg: Mac OS-X has bigger form borders that
Windows, GTK etc..
* Totally screen resolution independent. Max / Min and Preferred
components sizes are taken into account.
* DPI independent.
* Unit sizes can be specificed in %, inches, cm, pixels, mm, etc..
* The original Java MiG Layout is toolkit independent. It's very
simple to add new toolkit support. I hope to make the port the same.
* Built-in debug mode, to help with layout design and debugging.

.....the list goes on!  ;-)

The syntax may look strange in the beginning, but it's quite easy to
learn. Also you would probably only use a handy full of syntax
commands to complete most layouts. The rest of the supported syntax is
for more advanced designs and features, but not required to be able to
use the layout manager.

Regards,
  - Graeme -


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