[Lazarus] Delphi editor clone

[Hans-Peter Diettrich]

Reimar Grabowski schrieb:

>> Please have a look at examples/dockmanager/elasticsite/SiteTest
>> project. It demonstrates how docking could work in the Lazarus IDE,
>> 
> 
> Gave it a try and it looks like it needs some more work.

On what OS and widgetset?

> 1. Docking anything left or right of the editor is much harder than
> docking below. I have no idea why.

The bottom panel is one pixel wider than the other ones, due to problems 
with the arrangement of the splitter, panel and statusbar. But this 
should not make a difference with docking.

The InfluenceRect can be enlarged, if that helps.


> 1.a) Sometimes it does not work at all. I don't know what I have to
> do to make it work. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
> Docking should be intuitive and "just work(tm)".

Can you describe what exactly doesn't work?

The initial influence area is restricted to the top/left part of the 
panels - due to an bug in the LCL.


> 1.b) Undocking the editor causes an AV.

The editor should not be undocked at all - see the warning about 
surprising behaviour of the demo.


> 2. I don't like that I have to drag&drop/dock the contents of a
> window instead of the window itself but this seems to be the standard
> nowadays.

Windows can not be docked on all window managers, so that we have to 
pick a portable model.

> 3. I don't like the inconsistent positioning of the 'undock X'.
> Sometimes it is in the upper left corner, sometimes the upper right
> and sometimes it is not there at all.

Can you provide an screenshot? It should only be at the top of a 
vertical bar, or to the right of a horizontal bar.

Docking the windows from the View menu doesn't work properly right now, 
it will be corrected in the next version.

> 4. I like that tabs are inserted when docking more than one component
> in the same place. I don't like that the last tab is not removed if
> only one component is left in that place.

Would you also like to have no tab for an single file in the editor?


> 5. Visual feedback for docking is important but the red frames are
> just ugly.

That's a matter of the implementation in the widgetset. This also may be 
the reason for your docking problems.


> I don't think that it is ready for Lazarus as it is. But with some
> more work it may be in the future. Hopefully any kind of docking will
> be available soon, as the multi window approach feels more and more
> cumbersome.
> 
> Btw this is on Linux with gtk2.

Strange, I cannot reproduce most of your problems in that environment.

Thanks for your feedback :-)

DoDi