FlowLayout mode for Windows Forms in .NET 2.0?

  • Thread starter Thread starter ShadowChaser
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ShadowChaser

The company I work for develops database applications
using .NET (C#). Much of our data could be best
represented in a "flow layout" or document-like format.

Unfortinately - there is no flow layout in .NET for
windows forms, only absolute positioning, which
abosoltely sucks for text integrated with controls (text
wrapping problems, etc).

Using a web browser isn't an option - We don't want
to "host" IE or use a web server.

Does anyone know if "Whidbey" (sp?) will support flow
layout for Windows Forms? (think "Microsoft Infopath").
This would be *insanely* usefull....

Thanks
 
I just don't undersand why couldn't you use the absolute
positioning in windows forms because that is the best
positioning method for a windows application.

You can DOCK the controls as you want, so that the
controls also get resized when someone resizes the window
which hosts the controls.

Use horizontal/vertical seperators, and docking, and
you're done.

HTH
Sunil
 
The company I work for develops database applications
using .NET (C#). Much of our data could be best
represented in a "flow layout" or document-like format.

Unfortinately - there is no flow layout in .NET for
windows forms, only absolute positioning, which
abosoltely sucks for text integrated with controls (text
wrapping problems, etc).

Using a web browser isn't an option - We don't want
to "host" IE or use a web server.

Does anyone know if "Whidbey" (sp?) will support flow
layout for Windows Forms? (think "Microsoft Infopath").
This would be *insanely* usefull....

Thanks
Click to expand...

The System.Windows.Forms namespace on 2.0 has a couple of controls that may
help. One is called FlowLayoutPanel and the other is called FlowPanel. I
imagine you can dock the FlowLayoutPanel to the entire client area of a
form to get what you want.

Check it out here:

http://longhorn.msdn.microsoft.com

Click the Reference item to the left.
 
I just don't undersand why couldn't you use the absolute
positioning in windows forms because that is the best
positioning method for a windows application.
Click to expand...

I disagree 100%. The reason it's the best positioning
method is because it's the ONLY positioning method!

Absolute positioning isn't very good because it
doesn't "Adapt". The controls don't resize based on their
contents. Take a text field for example - I can stretch
the text field to fit the window, but once the user
resizes the window smaller horizontally, the text will
wrap and be hidden off the control, because the control
wasn't high enough.

If I stretch the control and leave tons of space
vertically, then all that space is wasted if a user
enters one line, and the form looks unusual and poorly
designed.

Not to mention problems with different font sizes,
accessability issues, etc.

Absolute positioning is good for fixed-size windows. I'm
trying to design forms which represent documents - and as
of yet there are absoltely no ways of doing that
using .NET, unless you purchase expensive, non-
redistributable, non-integrated products such as infopath.

:(

-Eric B
 
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