Hi guys,
I'm trying to work out how to use the Flex 3 constraints to replace a
currently hand-coded layout. I'm running into a problem with
content-sized constraints: how to have child components that position
themselves on a particular constraint but don't actually affect the size
of that constraint?
The layout I'm looking for is this (each letter represents a component):
A PMT C
D
Component PMT is the central component: the other components need to be
a set distance to the left (A), right (C) or below (D).
I've specified the constraints like so:
<view:Schematic id="schematic"> (Schematic is a Canvas)
<view:constraintColumns>
<mx:ConstraintColumn id="pmtLeft"/> (A is specified
as right="pmtLeft:0")
<mx:ConstraintColumn id="pmtCentre"/> (PMT & D are
specified as horizontalCenter="pmtCentre:0")
<mx:ConstraintColumn id="pmtRight" /> (C is
specified as left="pmtRight:15")
</view:constraintColumns>
<view:constraintRows>
<mx:ConstraintRow id="pmtTop" />
<mx:ConstraintRow id="pmtMiddle" />
<mx:ConstraintRow id="pmtBottom" />
</view:constraintRows>
</view:Schematic>
So pmtLeft is sized to the width of A, pmtRight to the width of C, and
pmtCentre to the width of PMT or D, whichever is greater. The problem is
I need pmtCentre to be sized to the width of PMT only, and ignore the
width of D. Yet I still need D centred on pmtCentre.
I need the content-sized constraints, so PMT can be changed, but I also
need D to be able to grow wider than its constraint. I.e. D needs to be
centred under PMT but not affect the width of the "pmtCentre"
ConstraintColumn. Is this possible? I tried includeInLayout="false" but
that didn't do anything.
I guess I'm looking for the equivalent of spanCols/spanRows for constraints.
Am I missing something or is this a limitation of the enhanced
constraints? If it is a limitation then they aren't as useful as claimed...
Any alternatives suggested would be welcome too.
Cheers,
Charlie
