Working with Containers

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Monday, June 18, 2012PrintSubscribe
Working with Containers

Containers are placed on pages in order to hold data views (instances of data controllers) and controls (instances of custom user controls), and determine the layout of elements on the page.

Here are examples of containers with various content on two different pages.

Customers page with container1 and container2.     Two containers with views on the Home page.

Creating a Container

A container can be created in a page by activating the context menu for the target page and selecting New Container option.

New Container in Customers page.

The Project Explorer toolbar also displays the New Container icon.

New Container icon on the Project Explorer toolbar.

This will open the New Container properties page in the Designer window.

The Name of the container will be automatically assigned, and can be renamed in the Project Explorer.

The Flow property determines whether the container will be placed on the next row or column on the page. If the container has a Flow of “New Row”, the standard icon will be used.

New container with Flow of 'New Row' uses the default container icon.

If the container has a Flow of “New Column”, a different icon will be displayed.

New container with Flow of 'New Column' uses special container icon.

Moving Containers

A container can be dragged to a new location.

When a container is moved or copied, all child data views and controls are moved with it as well. If there are any duplicate names, a number will be appended to the name. The application framework will attempt to identify the correct data view Filter Source for the destination.

If the container is dropped directly onto another container, then it will be moved after the target container.

Dragging container 'c101' onto container1.     Container 'c101' was dropped after container1.

One can also use the context menu to Cut a container, and then Paste it on another container. This will move it after the target container.

Cut command for container 'c101'.     Paste command on 'container1'.     Container 'c101' pasted after container1.

If a container is dropped on the right side of another container, then it will be moved after the target container.

Container 'c101' dragged after container2.     Container 'c101' dropped after container2.

If a container is dropped on the left side of another container, then it will be moved before the target container.

Container 'c101' dragged before container2.     Container 'c101' dropped before container2.

Containers can also be dropped on pages to move the container to the bottom of the hierarchy on that page. This can also be done using Cut and Paste context menu options.

Container 'c101' dropped on Orders page.     Container 'c101' placed at the end of Orders page.

If a container is dropped on another page while CTRL key is pressed, then the container will be duplicated in the target page. This can be done using Copy and Paste context menu commands.

Container 'c101' duplicated onto Customer Demo page.     Duplicate of 'c101' container placed at the end of Customer Demo page.

If multiple containers are dropped on a target, then they will be moved or copied depending on the order of selection. In the example below, the order of selection was container4, container2, and container3. The selected containers were dropped on the left side of container1. This resulted in the order: container4, container2, container3, container1.

Multiple selection dragged before container1.     Containers on Customers page reordered.

Renaming Containers

A container can be renamed by activating the context menu and selecting Rename option. The keyboard shortcut F2 will also activate Rename mode. The application framework will prevent saving a container with a duplicate name.

Context Menu 'Rename' option for container 'c101'.     Container 'c101' in renaming mode.

Deleting Containers

A container can be deleted using the Delete context menu option, or by pressing Delete on the keyboard.

Context menu 'Delete' option for container1 on Customers page.

Multiple containers can be deleted at once by making a multiple selection and pressing Delete on the keyboard.

Multiple containers deleted.