How do I place the 1st control into the 2nd column? | |
There are 2 solutions:
1. Place a Label in front of the 1st control and clear its Text property after using Quick Design. Advantage is that the Label adjusts its width to its column width.
2. Use a Spacer as the 1st control; | |
How do I set a tab order per column? | |
1. Add a Panel control for each group of controls which belong to the same column. By default the tab order will be the Z-order in each Panel.
Example:
Without using Panels the tab order will be:
from NameTextBox to PhoneTextBox, and from AddressTextBox to FaxTextBox.
Using two Panel controls the tab order will be:
from NameTextBox to AddressTextBox, and from PhoneTextBox to FaxTextBox.
(to accomplish this you have to move the Name and Address controls into the first Panel and the Phone and Fax controls into the second Panel)
2. Set the tab order of the form to "Vertical".
Go to the form layout settings of the form (rightmouse click on your form and select "Form layout settings ...") and on the "AutoLayout" tabpage set the tab order to "Vertical". Press OK.
This will have the same result using the example above, only the Panels are not needed. However dependent on your situation you not might want to apply a vertical tab order for the complete content. Be aware that you can override this default tab order setting per parent control. To do this simply select the parent control (such as a Panel), rightmouse click and select "Custom TabOrder ...". | |
How do I add an empty Label? | |
| Place a Label on your form. The Quick Design window pops up. Enter your text in the 'Text' entry, so the name of the Label will be composed. Select "{None}" as the following control. Press OK. Go to the properties window and clear the "Text" property of the just added Label. | |
How do I deal with the size of an empty Label? | |
| In some situations the text property of a Label is empty. Resize the Label to a custom size. The "Custom Size" property is then automatically set to true. When you do not set a custom size for an empty Label its width is made very small by the auto layout process. | |
How do I add a control without a following control? | |
| In the Quick Design window select "{None}" as the following control. | |
How do I apply a custom size for a parent control (such as a Form or TabControl)? | |
| The size of a parent control is always automatically adjusted. To adjust its custom size you can adjust its margins property or add a Spacer control within. | show how |
How do I make columns of Labels equal when they are located in 2 separate GroupBoxes/Panels? | |
| Make the Widht of 1 Label in the smaller column of Labels equal to one of the Labels in the other parent control. This means that its "Custom Size" will be set to true and it has a custom width. All other Labels in the same column automatically adjust their width too. | |
How do I create extra space between the bottom most control and the form handling panels? | |
There are 2 solutions:
1. Go to the form layout settings (rightmouse click your selected form) , select the 'margins' tab and change the 'Top' margin of the 'FormHandlingPanel'.
2. Add a Spacer control just above the form handling panels and resize the Spacer height. | |
How to use TabControl.Alignment Left and Right? | |
| When visual styles are enabled, and the Alignment property is set to a value other than Top, the tab contents might not render correctly. To work around this issue, you can paint the tab contents yourself using owner drawing. | show how |
How do I turn off the layout engine for a moment? | |
| Select your form, rightmouse click and select 'Turn off auto layout'. To turn it on again select 'Turn on auto layout'. | |
How to set custom spacing for a container / parent control? (such as a GroupBox, TabPage, Panel) | |
| Select the container control (such as a GroupBox), rightmouse click and select 'Custom spacing'. Adjust its settings and press OK. | show how |
How to set a custom size for a control? | |
| Select the control and resize it. | show how |
How to set a custom Anchor for a control? | |
| Select the control, rightmouse click and select 'Custom Anchor ...'. Adjust the settings and press OK. | show how |
How to skip / bypass a control in the autolayout process? | |
Select the control, rightmouse click and select 'Skip auto layout process'. Now you can move this control to any position. The autolayout process does not do anything with this control.
You can uncheck this menu item to make it part of the autolayout process again. | show how |
What does 'Allow larger spacing gap' mean? | |
When a semantics group (like the AddressLabel and AddressTextBox in the 'show how' demo) have a large control next to them (such as the NotesTextBox in the 'show how' demo) you can automatically create a larger spacing gap. This will result in an alignment of the semantics group below the control next right of them. So there will be a larger spacing gap above these controls.
In the 'show how' demo this a spacing gap (or break) is also shown for the 'Postcode' controls. Of course you can also do this for the 'City' controls.
To activate 'Allow larger spacing gap':
Select the control, rightmouse click and select 'Allow larger spacing gap'. | show how |
How to use a Spacer control? Or how to create extra space between controls? | |
The autolayout process aligns everything perfectly for you keeping margins and spacing of a container control in mind. However sometimes you might want extra space between controls.
This can be simply accomplished by dropping a Spacer control between the controls where you want more space. Then just resize this Spacer control for the amount of space you want.
You can find the Spacer control in the 'RADvolution controls' section of the ToolBox. | show how |
How to set a horizontal resize column? | |
Simply select a control within a virtual column of controls, rightmouse click and select 'Set as horizontal resize column'.
Now this column of controls is horizontal resizable (Anchor property is at least Left + Right).
Just 1 column of controls within a container control can be set to horizontal resizable. When you set it to another column of controls the previous one is not horizontal resizable anymore. | show how |
How to clear a horizontal resize column? Or how to remove/delete a horizontal column wihtin a container control? | |
| Select the container control (such as a Form, TabPage, GroupBox or Panel), rightmouse click and select 'Clear horizontal resize column'. | show how |
How to set a custom prompt? | |
| Select the control to which you want to assign a prompt, rightmouse click and select 'Custom Prompt ...'. Select your Label and press OK. | show how |
How to right align the text of prompt Labels? | |
Select your form, rightmouse click and select 'Form layout settings ...'. On the 'Auto layout' tabpage go to the 'set TextAlign of Label to:' and set it to 'MiddleRight'. Press OK and ready you are.
Tip: when this is your default style simply save the form layout settings as default so you do not have to do this for each form again. | show how |