Ranjan wrote: > Anchor and Dock setting for each control (around 30 per form on > an average) on each form(around 150 ) doesn't seem to be the > likely answer. Any solution?
It works well enough. What's the problem with it? If it's the volume of work required in a solution with 150 forms and 30 controls per form, then I'd suggest that the problem isn't so much the anchor and dock properties, as the fact that you have 150 forms with 30 controls per form... If you're already committed to the (rather vast) effort involved in designing 150 forms with 30 controls on each, then unless you want to automate the layout *completely* you've got a lot of work on your hands whether you choose to use anchoring and docking or not. Setting the anchor property appropriate for each control is going to be a relatively small proportion of the total work involved. Anchor and dock aren't about completely automatic layout. They're about enabling automatic resizing in what is otherwise an essentially fixed, manually-built layout. So the question is, is that how you're creating these 150 forms? Are you going to design 150 forms by hand? Or were you hoping to create them all programmatically? If you're creating the forms programmatically rather than manually, you can just set the anchor or dock properties programmatically too can't you? And I'd second Ivan's remark that relying entirely on automatic layout tends to result in pretty shabby-looking user interfaces. Java doesn't exactly have a reputation for producing slick-looking UIs, and its approach to layout is one of the contributing factors. But if you really want to go down the Java route (letting a layout manager mess up your design for you automatically) then you could take a look at this: http://windowsforms.net/articles/customlayoutengines.aspx This provides sample code that provides some of the automatic layout features you might be used to from Java. (I'm not sure if this was the article Julia had in mind. I thought this one was originally written by Chris Anderson of Avalon fame rather than Billy Hollis, but I could be wrong.) -- Ian Griffiths - DevelopMentor http://www.interact-sw.co.uk/iangblog/ =================================== This list is hosted by DevelopMentor� http://www.develop.com Some .NET courses you may be interested in: Essential .NET: building applications and components with CSharp August 30 - September 3, in Los Angeles http://www.develop.com/courses/edotnet View archives and manage your subscription(s) at http://discuss.develop.com
