There is a fairly long thread on the wxPython list, and in it Alex
Tweedly responded to a post of mine with a different way he's
approaching defining sizer settings for controls. I'm forwarding it
to the two Dabo lists in the hope of getting some feedback from
others in the Dabo community about the pros and cons of such an
approach.
-- Ed
Begin forwarded message:
From: Alex Tweedly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: May 24, 2006 9:51:12 AM EDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: [wxPython-users] Why can't we get rid of sizers?
Ed Leafe wrote:
I think that the biggest problem here is trying to create UIs
using code. A visual design tool is essential in order to be
productive when creating UIs. It helps to have immediate feedback
as you change the various sizer properties so that you know that
what you're actually doing is what you wanted to do. Also, getting
rid of the decidedly non-Pythonic system of using ugly constants
and flags (why is alignment part of the flag, but not
proportion?), so that you can think of each aspect of a sizer's
setting independently, is also important. That's why I've spent so
much time in the past 18 months developing the Dabo Class
Designer. The dabo.ui module had already abstracted out the non-
Pythonic ugliness out of wxPython, and now with the Designer tool
you can create sizer-centric designs visually, with immediate
feedback as you change the properties of the sizers.
I think the Designer could abstract it out further; today when you
select "Edit Sizer Settings" of a control which is currently within a
Box Sizer, you are still presented with a dialog containing
- border (integer)
- Expand (checkbox)
- Halign (or Valign) (choice from list of left, centre, right)
- Proportion (integer)
and if you subsequently move that control to a different sizer (once
that becomes possible) you would have a different set of choices.
For PythonCard's sizers, I'm making the sizer settings for a control
(or sizer) be:
border (integer)
horizontal growth (integer)
horizontal align (choice)
vertical growth (integer)
vertical align (choice)
and then use them appropriately depending on the kind of sizer it is
within. So if it is placed within a Vertical sizer, then "vertical
growth" becomes the proportion, while "horizontal growth" determines
whether Expand is set true (if growth > 0) or the horizontal align
value is used (if growth == 0).
This lets the user consider how they want the *control* to behave,
rather than on how the sizer should make the control behave - and
makes it much easier to later change from box sizers to grid sizer,
or even to the other orientation of box sizer.
--
Alex Tweedly http://www.tweedly.net
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