Synopsis
FormLayout is a Java LayoutManager that resembles the Motif XmFormWidget behavor. For every edge (side) of a component, you can assign an attachment. These attachments can be to the Container or to another Component. The attachments determine the layout behavior of the Component when resizing occurs.
How it works
Create a Container and set an instance of the FormLayout as the layout manager. The constructor of a FormLayout will automatically assign itself as the layout manager to the Container supplied in the instatiation.
FormLayout form = new FormLayout (cont);
After a component is added to a container, you can assign the attachments with a call to form.constrain. Every call to constrain looks like this
constrain (Component, Edge, Attachment, Target, Offset);
| Parameter | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Component | Component to assign attachments to |
| Edge | FormLayout.TOP FormLayout.LEFT FormLayout.BOTTOM FormLayout.RIGHT |
| Attachment | FormLayout.ATTACH_NONE FormLayout.ATTACH_FORM FormLayout.ATTACH_COMPONENT FormLayout.ATTACH_OPPOSITE_COMPONENT FormLayout.ATTACH_CENTER |
| Target | For COMPONENT, OPPOSITE_COMPONENT or CENTER |
| Offset | Offset from the target or container side |
Attachments
| Attachment | Explanation |
|---|---|
| ATTACH_NONE | Edge does not have any constraint. |
| ATTACH_FORM | Edge is layed out Offset pixels from the side of the Container. |
| ATTACH_COMPONENT | Edge is layed out Offset pixels from Target. |
| ATTACH_OPPOSITE_COMPONENT | Edge is layed out Offset pixels from the opposite side of Target. |
| ATTACH_CENTER | Component is centered with respect to Target. If Target is null, then Component is centered on the Container. |
Differences from XmForm
Aside from the fact that FormLayout does not implement all of the XmForm functionality, FormLayout does have extended functionality beyond XmForm. Unlike XmForm, FormLayout will allow Components to have contraints relative to each other as long as they are not truely circular. In other words, Component A can be attached to the left of Component B and Component B can be attached to the bottom of Component A. Similiarly, Component A can be attached to itself. This can be used to specify a fixed width or height for a component. Lastly, FormLayout supports centering.
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