Fix broken and missing DataView interface items for Phoenix
[wxWidgets.git] / docs / doxygen / overviews / dialog.h
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1/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
2// Name: dialog.h
3// Purpose: topic overview
4// Author: wxWidgets team
5// RCS-ID: $Id$
6// Licence: wxWindows licence
7/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
8
9/**
10
11@page overview_dialog wxDialog Overview
12
13@tableofcontents
14
15Classes: wxDialog, wxDialogLayoutAdapter
16
17A dialog box is similar to a panel, in that it is a window which can be used
18for placing controls, with the following exceptions:
19
20@li A surrounding frame is implicitly created.
21@li Extra functionality is automatically given to the dialog box, such as
22 tabbing between items (currently Windows only).
23@li If the dialog box is @e modal, the calling program is blocked until the
24 dialog box is dismissed.
25
26For a set of dialog convenience functions, including file selection, see
27@ref group_funcmacro_dialog.
28
29See also wxTopLevelWindow and wxWindow for inherited member functions.
30Validation of data in controls is covered in @ref overview_validator.
31
32
33
34@section overview_dialog_autoscrolling Automatic Scrolled Dialogs
35
36As an ever greater variety of mobile hardware comes to market, it becomes more
37imperative for wxWidgets applications to adapt to these platforms without
38putting too much burden on the programmer. One area where wxWidgets can help is
39in adapting dialogs for the lower resolution screens that inevitably accompany
40a smaller form factor. wxDialog therefore supplies a global
41wxDialogLayoutAdapter class that implements automatic scrolling adaptation for
42most sizer-based custom dialogs.
43
44Many applications should therefore be able to adapt to small displays with
45little or no work, as far as dialogs are concerned. By default this adaptation
46is off. To switch scrolling adaptation on globally in your application, call
47the static function wxDialog::EnableLayoutAdaptation passing @true. You can
48also adjust adaptation on a per-dialog basis by calling
49wxDialog::SetLayoutAdaptationMode with one of
50@c wxDIALOG_ADAPTATION_MODE_DEFAULT (use the global setting),
51@c wxDIALOG_ADAPTATION_MODE_ENABLED or @c wxDIALOG_ADAPTATION_MODE_DISABLED.
52
53The last two modes override the global adaptation setting. With adaptation
54enabled, if the display size is too small for the dialog, wxWidgets (or rather
55the standard adapter class wxStandardDialogLayoutAdapter) will make part of the
56dialog scrolling, leaving standard buttons in a non-scrolling part at the
57bottom of the dialog. This is done as follows, in
58wxDialogLayoutAdapter::DoLayoutAdaptation called from within wxDialog::Show or
59wxDialog::ShowModal:
60
61@li If wxDialog::GetContentWindow returns a window derived from wxBookCtrlBase,
62 the pages are made scrollable and no other adaptation is done.
63@li wxWidgets looks for a wxStdDialogButtonSizer and uses it for the
64 non-scrolling part.
65@li If that search failed, wxWidgets looks for a horizontal wxBoxSizer with one
66 or more standard buttons, with identifiers such as @c wxID_OK and
67 @c wxID_CANCEL.
68@li If that search failed too, wxWidgets finds 'loose' standard buttons (in any
69 kind of sizer) and adds them to a wxStdDialogButtonSizer. If no standard
70 buttons were found, the whole dialog content will scroll.
71@li All the children apart from standard buttons are reparented onto a new
72 ::wxScrolledWindow object, using the old top-level sizer for the scrolled
73 window and creating a new top-level sizer to lay out the scrolled window
74 and standard button sizer.
75
76
77@subsection overview_dialog_autoscrolling_custom Customising Scrolling Adaptation
78
79In addition to switching adaptation on and off globally and per dialog, you can
80choose how aggressively wxWidgets will search for standard buttons by setting
81wxDialog::SetLayoutAdaptationLevel. By default, all the steps described above
82will be performed but by setting the level to 1, for example, you can choose to
83only look for wxStdDialogButtonSizer.
84
85You can use wxDialog::AddMainButtonId to add identifiers for buttons that
86should also be treated as standard buttons for the non-scrolling area.
87
88You can derive your own class from wxDialogLayoutAdapter or
89wxStandardDialogLayoutAdapter and call wxDialog::SetLayoutAdapter, deleting the
90old object that this function returns. Override the functions
91CanDoLayoutAdaptation and DoLayoutAdaptation to test for adaptation
92applicability and perform the adaptation.
93
94You can also override wxDialog::CanDoLayoutAdaptation and
95wxDialog::DoLayoutAdaptation in a class derived from wxDialog.
96
97
98@subsection overview_dialog_autoscrolling_fail Where Scrolling Adaptation May Fail
99
100Because adaptation rearranges your sizer and window hierarchy, it is not
101fool-proof, and may fail in the following situations:
102
103@li The dialog doesn't use sizers.
104@li The dialog implementation makes assumptions about the window hierarchy,
105 for example getting the parent of a control and casting to the dialog class.
106@li The dialog does custom painting and/or event handling not handled by the scrolled window.
107 If this problem can be solved globally, you can derive a new adapter class from
108 wxStandardDialogLayoutAdapter and override its CreateScrolledWindow function to return
109 an instance of your own class.
110@li The dialog has unusual layout, for example a vertical sizer containing a mixture of
111 standard buttons and other controls.
112@li The dialog makes assumptions about the sizer hierarchy, for example to show or hide
113 children of the top-level sizer. However, the original sizer hierarchy will still hold
114 until Show or ShowModal is called.
115
116You can help make sure that your dialogs will continue to function after
117adaptation by:
118
119@li avoiding the above situations and assumptions;
120@li using wxStdDialogButtonSizer;
121@li only making assumptions about hierarchy immediately after the dialog is created;
122@li using an intermediate sizer under the main sizer, a @false top-level sizer that
123 can be relied on to exist for the purposes of manipulating child sizers and windows;
124@li overriding wxDialog::GetContentWindow to return a book control if your dialog implements
125 pages: wxWidgets will then only make the pages scrollable.
126
127
128@subsection overview_dialog_propertysheet wxPropertySheetDialog and wxWizard
129
130Adaptation for wxPropertySheetDialog is always done by simply making the pages
131scrollable, since wxDialog::GetContentWindow returns the dialog's book control
132and this is handled by the standard layout adapter.
133
134wxWizard uses its own CanDoLayoutAdaptation and DoLayoutAdaptation functions
135rather than the global adapter: again, only the wizard pages are made
136scrollable.
137
138*/