From: uw
Date: Sun Jan 14 21:33:53 2001
Added files:
php-lib/php/form/form_flow_layout.inc
php-lib/php/form/form_flow_layout_node.inc
Log message:
Form layout manager
It took me more than a year to realize that there's no way to automatically
layout forms in a userfriendly way. At least I can't think of a way to do
so. Finally I gave up and wrote this litte form layout manager that can be used
to dump forms but no more.
The basic idea is to copy the most basic Java Layout Manager that's based on
a "flow" rule: put as many elements in a row as you can. As we can't determine
how much spaces (pixels) a certain (html) element requires, we have to use
a slightly modified rule: "put as long elements in a row as no break gets inserted".
(Thank's Azundris for the idea!)
We'll not get perfect UI's using this rule but it might be suitable for quick
hacks and LDAP/SQL/XML dumps.
The basic rule got a little refined as I added overloadable form element templates
and fieldsets, such as usual check the examples in the pages directory.
Be warned it's beta code...
Alex Aulbach told me about an alternative approach to the form problem. He's
working with self modifying templates: very fast, elegant and clean. But
he's getting close to XSL(T) and his idea does not fit into the OO way to
construct forms. The worst thing might be that no designer will ever get
what a self-modifying template is... Ask him if you're intrested.
.. what we really need is a graphical UI designer.
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