xref: /haiku/docs/user/interface/LayoutBuilder.dox (revision 4b918abdb02a26a770d898594eaaccc6f1726e9b)
1/*
2 * Copyright 2010 Haiku, Inc. All rights reserved.
3 * Distributed under the terms of the MIT License.
4 *
5 * Authors:
6 *		Alex Wilson, yourpalal2@gmail.com
7 *
8 * Corresponds to:
9 *		headers/os/interface/LayoutBuilder.h	rev 38207
10 *		src/kits/interface/LayoutBuilder.cpp	rev 38207
11 */
12
13
14/*!
15	\file LayoutBuilder.h
16	\ingroup layout
17	\ingroup libbe
18	\brief Defines the BLayoutBuilder templates.
19*/
20
21
22/*!
23	\class BLayoutBuilder::Base<>
24	\ingroup layout
25	\brief Base for all other layout builders in the BLayoutBuilder namespace.
26
27	This class provides the stack-like semantics for its subclasses. The
28	BLayoutBuilder::Group, BLayoutBuilder::Grid and BLayoutBuilder::Split all
29	provide methods such as AddGrid() AddGroup() and AddSplit(), which
30	make a new builder, place it on top of your builder stack and return it.
31	Now you are operating on the new builder. When you call	the End() method on
32	the new builder, you are returned the one you had previously been using. At
33	any point, you are calling methods on whatever builder currently resides on
34	the top of the stack. Here's an example of how these classes work.
35
36\code
37BLayoutBuilder::Group<>(B_HORIZONTAL)
38\endcode
39
40	At this point our stack just contains a single builder, it looks like this:
41		\li Group<>
42
43\code
44	.AddGrid()
45\endcode
46
47	Now there is a Grid builder on top of the stack, so it looks like this \li Group<>::GridBuilder
48		\li Group<>
49
50	Notice that the Grid on top of the stack is not a plain Grid<>, but a nested
51	type from the Group<> class. This is an essential part of the builder
52	classes, as this is what allows you to pop builders off the stack and get
53	the correct type in return.
54
55\code
56		.AddSplit()
57\endcode
58
59	Now our stack looks like this:
60		\li Group<>::GridBuilder::SplitBuilder
61		\li Group<>::GridBuilder
62		\li Group<>
63
64	This could continue ad. nauseam, but at some point, you may finish with a
65	builder, and you might want to continue manipulating the builder below it
66	on the stack. To do this, you simply call the End() method like so:
67
68\code
69			.End()
70\endcode
71
72	And now the stack is back to this:
73		\li Group<>::GridBuilder
74		\li Group<>
75
76	So you are again working with the grid builder. You can add more
77	BLayoutItems or BViews, or even more builders. Here's how it will all look
78	together.
79
80\code
81BLayoutBuilder::Group<>(B_HORIZONTAL)
82	// working with the Group builder
83	.AddGrid()
84		// working with the Group<>::GridBuilder
85		.AddSplit()
86			// working with the Group<>::GridBuilder::SplitBuilder
87		.End()
88		// back to the Group<>::GridBuilder
89\endcode
90
91	Note that the C++ language does not impose any sequence points in such
92	method chains. This means the arguments to all calls may be evaluated in an
93	unexpected order. For exemple, the following code may not result in adding
94	the 3 views in rows 0, 1 and 2 in the target grid:
95
96\code
97	// Don't do this!
98	int row = 0;
99	BLayoutBuilder::Grid<>(target)
100		.Add(viewA, row++)
101		.Add(viewB, row++)
102		.Add(viewC, row++);
103\endcode
104
105	\since Haiku R1
106*/
107
108
109/*!
110	\fn void BLayoutBuilder::Base<ParentBuilder>::SetParent(ParentBuilder*
111		parent)
112	\brief Internal method for use by BLayoutBuilder::Base subclasses,
113	       this is essential to the builder stack semantics.
114
115	\since Haiku R1
116*/
117
118
119/*!
120	\fn ParentBuilder& BLayoutBuilder::Base<ParentBuilder>::End()
121	\brief Returns this builder's parent.
122
123	\since Haiku R1
124*/
125