Layout Constructor

The layout constructor provides a view of the objects you have defined in your system, in which the objects may be manipulated.

Each item in the tree represents one object. The screenshot above represents the following EiffelVision2 interface definition - An EV_TITLED_WINDOW containing one child, of type EV_VERTICAL_BOX. Within the vertical box there is an EV_HORIZONTAL_BOX and an EV_LIST. The list is empty, but the horizontal box contains three different objects of type EV_BUTTON.

Note: The window or dialog displayed as the root of the Layout Constructor is the currently selected object in the Window Selector. To edit the contents of a different window, select the window you wish to manipulate from the window selector.

The information displayed, only shows you the structure of the objects, and although it gives you an indication of the final appearance of the interface you are building, you cannot see the details of the interface. i.e. color, sizes, tooltips etc.

All objects displayed in here are pickable, so can be easily manipulated, e.g. deleted or reparented.

Note: If the object in the tree has the Name property set, then the text corresponds to the name, otherwise, the text is the type of the object.

If you have just started a new project, then the layout constructor will only contain one tree item, TITLED_WINDOW.

Expanding/Collapsing

To Expand all of the items displayed in the layout constructor, select Expand layout tree from the View menu, or click the button displayed at the top of the Layout Constructor.

Similarly, if you wish to collapse all of the items in the layout constructor, select Collapse layout tree from the View menu.

Highlighting an Object

An object contained in a system may be highlighted in the Layout constructor by picking it, and dropping on the button displayed at the top of the Layout Constructor. Clicking this button with the mouse has no effect. The ability to highlight an object in this fashion proves to be particularly useful when building directly into the builder window, as a particular object may be quickly highlighted, and its properties edited.