ComponentOne WinForms Edition
In This Topic
Layout
In This Topic

Define Flow of InputPanel Components

Input components, by default, are stacked one in each row. You can change the layout flow for the input components using Break property of the input components. This property originally comes from the InputComponent base class which is inherited by these components and accepts values from the BreakType enumeration. The enumeration lets you add the next component to same row, new row, new column or to the left edge of the new row by setting the Break property to None, Row, Column and Group respectively.

 // Set the break type to group
 inputCheckBox1.Break = BreakType.Group;

Create Multiple Columns

Multiple columns can be created within a group using the abovementioned Break property of the input components. A new column is created when Break property of a component is set to Column. You can also add separator to divide the columns clearly by adding the InputSeparator component. For vertical separation, you need to rotate the separator by 90 degrees using the context menu option Rotate 90° and set its Break property to Column.

 // Set the break type to group
 inputCheckBox1.Break = BreakType.Column;  

 // Rotate the separator by 90 degrees
 inputSeparator1.Break = BreakType.Column;
 inputSeparator1.ElementWidth = 1;
 inputSeparator1.Height = 132;
 inputSeparator1.HorizontalAlign = C1.Win.InputPanel.InputContentAlignment.Center;
 inputSeparator1.Name = "inputSeparator1";
 inputSeparator1.VerticalAlign = C1.Win.InputPanel.InputContentAlignment.Spread;
 inputSeparator1.Width = 7;

Create Horizontal Groups or Sections

The InputPanel control provides InputGroupHeader component to create separate horizontal groups in a form. You can set the header text by setting Text property of the component. You can also use separator, a horizontal line to divide the InputPanel fields into sections by adding the InputSeparator component.

Horizontal Groups or Sections 

 // Add a group header to create horizontal groups
 InputGroupHeader grphdr = new InputGroupHeader();
 c1InputPanel1.Items.Add(grphdr);
 grphdr.Text = "&Cars";
 
 // Add a separator for horizontal sectioning
 InputSeparator sepLine = new InputSeparator();
 c1InputPanel2.Items.Add(sepLine);

Indent Sub-items within InputGroup

The InputPanel control also handles layout for inner elements within the InputGroupHeader component. The InputGroupHeader components have a content area with padding, so inner elements are automatically indented.

Align Elements within InputGroup

The InputPanel control provides Width property of each component which can be used to align elements within a group. In most of the scenarios, fields in an input panel are placed along with a label describing each of them. So, you can use Width property of the InputLabel component to align elements within a group. When the label width for all the fields is common, the components representing the fields automatically get aligned. Also, when label width is set, the label wraps and its height is adjusted to fit the text.

Align Elements within InputGroup

 // Set the width of all labels to same value
 inputLabel1.Width = 50;
 inputLabel2.Width = 50;
 inputLabel3.Width = 50;
 inputLabel4.Width = 50;

Arrange InputPanel Components

The most common use case of the InputPanel control is to create forms containing different types of fields that are represented by various components. To make these forms readable and attractive, you need to arrange the components in a presentable manner with appropriate spacing and structure. This section discusses various ways you can employ to get a proper arrangement of components.

Use alignment

Each input component of the InputPanel control can be resized using Height and Width property. You can set the VerticalAlign property and HorizontalAlign property to position the element inside component to center, far, near, etc. For instance, if we set the Height property of InputButton component to 100, the button element also stretches itself to occupy the component. However you can set the VerticalAlign property of the button component to Center to create vertical space around the element. Similarly, HorizontalAlign property can be used to achieve horizontal spacing.

Original State

inputButton1.Height = 100

inputButton2.Width = 300

inputButton1.VerticalAlign = Center

inputButton2.HorizontalAlign = Center
Alignment - original Alignment after setting dimensions Set alignment 
 // Set height and width of the components
 inputButton1.Height = 100;
 inputButton2.Width = 300;
                                        
 // Set vertical and horizontal alignment of the components
 inputButton1.VerticalAlign = InputContentAlignment.Center;
 inputButton2.HorizontalAlign = InputContentAlignment.Center;

Use padding

By default, components that are added to InputPanel control has very less space between them as Padding for these controls is set to '0'. You can set the Top, Bottom, Left and Right padding of the control to create appropriate space between them.

Without Padding With Padding
Without padding With padding 
  // Set padding of the input components
  inputLabel1.Padding = new Padding(5, 20, 20, 10);
  inputLabel2.Padding = new Padding(5, 0, 20, 0);
  inputTextBox1.Padding = new Padding(0, 10, 0, 0);
  inputButton1.Padding = new Padding(120, 22, 0, 0);

Use child spacing

By default, elements of the components added to a InputPanel control are in close proximity to one another. You can specify Height and Width in ChildSpacing property of the C1InputPanel class to give vertical and horizontal space between the child elements. Once the ChildSpacing property is set, all components added to the page conform to that setting, hence giving you a uniform spacing scheme for your panel. However, you can still change the spacing of individual components by manipulating their Padding property.

Without Child Spacing With Child Spacing
Without Child Spacing With Child Spacing 
  // Set child spacing property
  c1InputPanel1.ChildSpacing = new Size(20, 20);
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