[Lazarus] Frames etc. problems

[Mattias Gaertner]

 Hans-Peter Diettrich <DrDiettrich1 at aol.com> hat am 12. Juli 2011 um 14:13
geschrieben:

 > Mattias Gaertner schrieb:
 >
 > >  > 3) Sometimes it helps to remove the frames, and to add them again, but
 > >  > not always.
 > >
 > > 
 > >
 > > Helps for what?
 >
 > A general question, Before I start submitting bug reports:
 >
 > Does there exist documentation about frame *development*? 
AFAIK: No.  
It was implemented with Delphi in mind. 
 
 

 >
 > When I have a form with embedded frames, and then modify an frame, what
 > changes are transparent to the forms where the frame is already used? 
Frames work very similar to inherited forms.
 
The IDE does not yet propagate changes in real time. You have to close a form
and reopen it to see changes to ancestors/frames. 
Of course it is planned to eventually propagate some changes in real time. See
below.  
 
That means: before you change a property of a frame, close all open forms using
that frame. 
 
The lfm files store only the differences. When loading a form the inherited
forms/frames lfm are applied one after the other. 
To create the diff TWriter needs the ancestor. That's why the IDE opens the
ancestors and keeps them open.
 
 

 >
 > E.g. adding methods should not be a problem, while changes to the GUI
 > may not be reflected properly (as expected) in the container forms? 
Most properties are no problem most of the time. And any property can be a
problem. 
 
 

 >
 > Should a form.lfm contain settings for *components* in the frame, after
 > such settings are changed in the frame itself? It looks to me as if the
 > form tries to retain the previous settings, and the designer inserts
 > according overrides in the form.lfm.
 >
 > Example:
 >
 > During development of the form's GUI I notice that a combobox contains
 > its name in the Text property. Since this is unwanted in general, I
 > modify the combobox.Text in the *frame*. Can I expect that this change
 > is reflected in the *form* immediately, or after closing and reopening
 > the form designer?
 >
 > Does it make a difference, whether the form is open in the designer, or
 > whether the form.lfm is open in the editor (view form as...), when
 > properties of an embedded frame are changed inside the frame?
 >
 >
 > It would help a lot when there existed documentation about what's going
 > on in the form and frame designers, so that a user can know what
 > (possibly unwanted) behaviour is by design, how to avoid it, and what
 > can be considered a bug. 
Here is a start:
http://wiki.lazarus.freepascal.org/IDE_Development#Frames
 
 
Mattias
 
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