[Lazarus] Docking manager implementation

[Michael Van Canneyt]

On Sun, 25 Jan 2009, Graeme Geldenhuys wrote:

> 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!  ;-)

I'm sure it does, but I simply doubt it will result in me less fidgeting.

> 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.

You confirm my doubts: the 'handy full' can probably be achieved
with lazarus easily as well ;-)

But hey, by all means, surprise me !! I'll be glad to be proven wrong.

Anyway, we had this discussion once. It'll be interesting to see you
come up with a non-text version in terms of properties, collections
and whatnot. And then of course a nice intuitive property editor.

With this I mean: a drawn representation of all components in the form,
(maybe scaled) click on each control, and specify it's properties. 
Now wouldn't that be nice ? :-)

If you make the properties, I'll make the editor :)

Michael.