Chapter7.Window Layout Using Sizers

Chapter 7. Window Layout Using Sizers

As graphic designers will testify, people are very sensitive to the way that visual objects are arranged. A GUI framework must allow the creation of a visually appealing layout, but unlike with print layout, an application's windows must often dynamically adapt to changes in size, font preferences, and even language. For platform-independent programming, the layout must also take into account the different sizes of individual controls from one platform to the next. All this means that a näive approach using absolute positions and sizes for controls simply won't work. This chapter describes wxWidgets' system of sizers, which gives you all the flexibility you need for even the most complex layouts. If it seems a bit daunting at first, remember that there are tools that will help you create sizer-based layoutssuch as DialogBlocks, included on the accompanying CD-ROMand you will rarely need to create entire layouts by hand.