Actually, a box with only one child is optimized to layout extremely
efficiently, so this is not a bad solution. Another possibility would be to use
the Container class.
----- Original Message ----
From: Richard Rodseth <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "flexcoders@yahoogroups.com" <flexcoders@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2008 4:00:48 PM
Subject: [flexcoders] Application components - Canvas vs Box
I tend to have quite a few MXML application components in my applications. Some
are for re-use purposes, some are templates, some are for wiring together MVC
triads, others are just for organization. I haven't noticed any performance
issues due to the "extra" containers, some of which may have a single child
providing the actual desired layout. I tend not to subclass components in
ActionScript (though I obviously have plenty of other ActionScript classes, and
a couple of custom components)
I've also tended to use a lot of VBoxes and HBoxes in my layouts, though I'm
using Canvases more and more.
I've tended to make each MXML component a VBox, sometimes changing them after
the fact. But I'd rather just have an "organizational" root component that can
have a script block and do whatever non-layout binding stuff I want, with a
single child responsible for layout. i.e. less editing of the first few lines
in the file. Something like mx:Module without the layout rules, I guess. The
reader would skim over the small-as-possible script block, and see a first tag
indicating the type of layout.
I see a couple of possibilities:
- Make each app component a Canvas, meaning I can dive in and position children
absolutely and with constraints, but it also has the nice default of sizing to
contain children, just like Box. Will often be adding a single VBox or HBox
child. This is the way I'm leaning, but I'm not sure how heavyweight Canvas is
compared to Box.
- Box (editing direction as needed, or adding canvases or nested boxes)
- Custom. Is it possible to write a custom component that can be the root of an
MXML file? It would be the simplest possible container, like a Box-of-one.
I'm interested to hear the practices of others.
