Custom View Settings


Introduction

Custom View Settings are used to split up a user interface into several logical areas (Custom View Items), which can be shown/hidden individually by the user. This brings in quite a lot flexibility for Skin Designers, because the number of items and their arrangement is completely generic, thus dependent on the skin itself.
Custom settings are included in the <resources> section.

Grouping

Extended custom settings allow items to be arranged in groups, whereas each group either aligns its items vertically or horizontally. Custom groups can be placed hierarchically into one another.

Layouts

An application can collect several custom settings and present them to the user as selectable Layouts of the current skin. This is usually described with a certain prefix in the name of each custom setting (e.g. "myViews.default", "myViews.allFloat",...)


Custom Settings Example

<customsettings name="Example.default" style="extended|default">

    <customitem name="template1" title="Item 1" style="fixed" group="left"/>
    <customitem name="template2" title="Item 2" style="sizable" group="left"/>
    <customitem name="template3" title="Item 3" style="sizable" group="right"/>

    <customgroup name="all" attach="all"/>
    <customgroup name="left" parent="all" style="vertical" attach="top|bottom"/>
    <customgroup name="right" parent="all" style="vertical" attach="all"/>

</customsettings>





Custom Settings Tags

<customsettings name="..." title="..." style="..." category="..." >



Describes a set of custom items. If the application supports layouts, a <customsettings> object represents a single layout.


Attributes:

name name, depends on application
title title of this layout, shown in context menu
style see remarks
category key command category


Remarks:

reorder item order can be changed by user e.g. move second item before first item.
sizewindow Resize the containing window when items are shown/hidden.

This style must not be specified for extended custom settings, because resizing is done automatically by the item groups!
extended extended style, enables item grouping
commands enable key commands
default default layout



<customitem name="..." alternative="..." title="..." style="..." group="..." condition="..." command="..." shortcut="..." >



A custom item usually can be shown/hidden by the user, either inside a group or as a floating window. The actual appearance of an item with all its views (controls) is to be described as a separate
template. The template name must be equal to the item name.


Attributes:

name template name
alternative alternative template name, if the first template is not present in current skin. This can be a default template, provided by the application.
title item title, shown in context menu
style see remarks
group name of group which contains this item
condition Condition to show this item e.g. for item3 the condition could be "item1 OR item2". This means that item3 can only be shown if item1 or item2 is visible, and will be hidden automatically if both item1 and item2 are hidden.

See also Variant/Condition
command key command name
shortcut default key shortcut to show/hide this item (e.g. "Ctrl+P")


Remarks:

fixed Item can not be hidden by user. There should be at least one fixed item.
hidden item is initially invisible
variant This item is shown exclusively i.e. all other items and groups are removed from screen and replaced by a single template.
sizable item is resizable
floating item is in a separate floating window (not in a group)



<customgroup name="..." parent="..." style="..." attach="..." >



Custom groups align its items either horizontally or vertically. When describing extended custom settings there should be at least one custom group. Groups can be placed hierarchically into one another.


Attributes:

name group name
parent name of parent group
style group style, see remarks
attach group attachement
View Attachement


Remarks:

vertical align items vertically (default is horizontal)



Custom View

<customview name="..." size="...">



A <customview> can be used anywhere inside a template. It inherits all attributes from the
<view> tag.
As all other views, custom views can be placed hierarchically into one another. This would enable the user to show/hide items inside an item of the parent custom view...


Attributes:

name name of the <customsettings> object, defining this view




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