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Adept Joined: 01 Mar 2005 Posts: 277

Zugg,

How possible would it be to add the HTML TABLE tags for interface design? I am having problems designing my user input interface to look nice and resize logically. I am certain I've tried everything and it just gets messed up when I resize the form (none of the anchoring or autoleft worked for me when resizing the form.) It's easy enough to create an interface where the input box stretches accross the whole screen but to have a nice interface that is more advanced than that is not. Being able to use the HTML TABLE tags would be easier and very logical.

Actually, I am begging you very this. Crying or Very sad

-Steven

Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2005 11:22 pm

No, you need to post more info, or a sketch, or what you are trying to make with the interface. While the HTML TABLE tags are fine for web tables, they are actually horrible for user interface layout and design where you want better control over exactly how controls are aligned and how they get resized with the form.

Using any of the "AutoXXX" properties undoes the anchoring of the control. If you want to re-anchor the control after using AutoLeft, then add a property setting like

Anchor='+right'

to anchor the right edge of the control so that it gets resized with the form.

I know that you are already familiar with tables, but you'll just have to trust me that HTML tables are a pain to implement, and *much* less flexible that the existing panel, anchoring, and alignment settings in zApp. It's just a matter of dealing with the learning curve for something new if you haven't done this kind of interface design in the past.

However, you raise a good point that I should put together a tutorial on all of this since many other people might have a hard time dealing with these kind of issues and some examples and screenshots of how to use panels, alignment, and anchoring could be really useful.

Adept Joined: 01 Mar 2005 Posts: 277

Adept Joined: 01 Mar 2005 Posts: 277

Obviously, I was doing it all wrong .. .. but I did try *a lot* of different techniques - except the plus symbol in front the direction I wanted to anchor to. Embarassed

I suppose that's why the anchor property never worked for me? Neutral

Adept Joined: 01 Mar 2005 Posts: 277

Yes, I do feel quite foolish Mr. Green

Posted: Sat Jul 16, 2005 3:34 am

No, don't feel foolish. The documentation probably isn't very clear when a property is a "set" of items, where you need the +, or whether it's just a straight string value. The + and - in front of items for "set" properties is like turning on and off the bit options for the set. I should make that a bit clearer.

Also, it occured to me that the MEMO component in zApp allows you to insert zApp objects, and of course the MEMO component supports HTML tables. So in a situation where you *had* to have an HTML table of components, I think it is actually possible, although it would probably be a pain to control.

Anyway, always good to get feedback on the issues that cause people frustration or trouble. zApp is supposed to be easy, so whenever it's not easy I need to know about it so I can improve it.