Columns
On this page you find the documentation for the GUI Component Columns
.
This webpage only contains descriptions of the configuration methods that are specific to the Columns
component. The Columns
component also supports the configuration methods described on the page Component.
Introduction
The Columns
component is a layout that positions its child components as columns:
- The first child is to the left
- The second child is to the right of the first child
- The third child is to the right of the second child
- Etc.
The child components are always as tall as the Columns
component. Their width is, by default, just wide enough to surround their content.
children()
- Setting the children
Use the configuration method children()
to tell the Columns
component which its child components should be. Pass it the child components as individual arguments (as many/few as you want).
class StartPage extends Page{
createGui(){
return Columns.backgroundColor(`yellow`).children(
Text.text(`Col 1`).backgroundColor(`lime`),
Text.text(`Col 2`).backgroundColor(`aqua`),
Text.text(`Col 3`).backgroundColor(`gold`),
)
}
}
If you pass null
or undefined
as a child, these values will be ignored.
If the width of all children together is greater than the width of the Columns
component, the Columns
component will become scrollable, so the user can scroll the children horizontally. Try resizing the screen for the app in the example below to see how it works.
class StartPage extends Page{
createGui(){
return Columns.backgroundColor(`yellow`).children(
Text.text(`Col 1`).backgroundColor(`lime`),
Text.text(`Col 2`).backgroundColor(`aqua`),
Text.text(`Col 3`).backgroundColor(`gold`),
Text.text(`Col 4`).backgroundColor(`lime`),
Text.text(`Col 5`).backgroundColor(`aqua`),
Text.text(`Col 6`).backgroundColor(`gold`),
Text.text(`Col 7`).backgroundColor(`lime`),
Text.text(`Col 8`).backgroundColor(`aqua`),
Text.text(`Col 9`).backgroundColor(`gold`),
)
}
}
In other words: you don't need to do anything special to handle overflow; the Columns
component will automatically become scrollable if it needs to.
Positioning the children
The children in the Columns
component are positioned to the left. If you want them to be positioned elsewhere you can insert extra Space children to "push apart" the other children.
class StartPage extends Page{
createGui(){
return Columns.backgroundColor(`yellow`).children(
Text.text(`Col 1`).backgroundColor(`lime`),
Text.text(`Col 2`).backgroundColor(`aqua`),
Text.text(`Col 3`).backgroundColor(`gold`),
)
}
}
class StartPage extends Page{
createGui(){
return Columns.backgroundColor(`yellow`).children(
Text.text(`Col 1`).backgroundColor(`lime`),
Space,
Text.text(`Col 2`).backgroundColor(`aqua`),
Space,
Text.text(`Col 3`).backgroundColor(`gold`),
)
}
}
class StartPage extends Page{
createGui(){
return Columns.backgroundColor(`yellow`).children(
Space,
Text.text(`Col 1`).backgroundColor(`lime`),
Text.text(`Col 2`).backgroundColor(`aqua`),
Text.text(`Col 3`).backgroundColor(`gold`),
Space,
)
}
}
class StartPage extends Page{
createGui(){
return Columns.backgroundColor(`yellow`).children(
Space,
Text.text(`Col 1`).backgroundColor(`lime`),
Text.text(`Col 2`).backgroundColor(`aqua`),
Text.text(`Col 3`).backgroundColor(`gold`),
)
}
}
class StartPage extends Page{
createGui(){
return Columns.backgroundColor(`yellow`).children(
Text.text(`Left`).backgroundColor(`lime`),
Space,
Text.text(`Right`).backgroundColor(`gold`),
)
}
}
child.grow()
- Making the children wider
By default, all children (except Space children, read more about this later) are wide enough to just surround their content, as shown below.
class StartPage extends Page{
createGui(){
return Columns.backgroundColor(`yellow`).children(
Text.text(`Col 1`).backgroundColor(`lime`),
Text.text(`Col 2`).backgroundColor(`aqua`),
Text.text(`Col 3`).backgroundColor(`gold`),
)
}
}
If there is space left over in the Columns
component after the children has become wide enough to contain their content, you can use the configuration method grow()
on the children to instruct them to grow wider and grab parts of this left over space. The number you pass to grow()
indicates how wide the child should be in relation to the other children, and then the left over space will be divided among the children based on this relation.
Resize the screen for the app (only works on laptops/computers), and notice how the size of the children changes.
class StartPage extends Page{
createGui(){
return Columns.backgroundColor(`yellow`).children(
Text.text(`Col 1`).backgroundColor(`lime`).grow(1),
Text.text(`Col 2`).backgroundColor(`aqua`),
Text.text(`Col 3`).backgroundColor(`gold`).grow(2),
)
}
}
All children will have grow()
set to 0
by default (meaning they will grab nothing of the extra space that might be available), except the Space component , which has the default size 1
, because that's often how you want to use it. But feel free to call grow()
also on Space children if you want it to be something else.
Resize the screen for the app, and notice how the size of the children changes.
class StartPage extends Page{
createGui(){
return Columns.backgroundColor(`yellow`).children(
Space.backgroundColor(`red`), // This component has grow(1) by default.
Text.text(`Col 1`).backgroundColor(`lime`).grow(1),
Text.text(`Col 2`).backgroundColor(`aqua`),
Space.grow(2).backgroundColor(`silver`),
Text.text(`Col 3`).backgroundColor(`gold`).grow(2),
)
}
}
child.growShrink()
- Making the children wider or thinner
child.growShrink()
works the same way as child.grow()
when there is much space left over in the parent layout (both methods indicate the child may grow bigger if there's room for that), but when there is no/little space left over in the parent layout, then this method indicates the child may shrink and let the child content become scrollable.
In this example, we use grow()
on a child, so you can compare how it differs from growShrink()
in the next example.
Try making the height of the app screen below shorter, and you will see that the entire app screen becomes scrollable. That is, Col 2
never becomes shorter than its content, and the scroll is added to the root component (the Columns
component).
class StartPage extends Page{
createGui(){
return Columns.backgroundColor(`yellow`).font(Font.size(mm(4))).children(
Text.text(`Col 1`).backgroundColor(`lime`),
Text.grow(1).text(`Col 2 Col 2`).backgroundColor(`aqua`),
Text.text(`Col 3`).backgroundColor(`gold`),
)
}
}
This code is the same as in the previous example, but we use growShrink()
instead of grow()
.
Try making the height of the app screen below shorter, and you will see that the height of Col 2
shrinks, and its content becomes scrollable.
class StartPage extends Page{
createGui(){
return Columns.backgroundColor(`yellow`).font(Font.size(mm(4))).children(
Text.text(`Col 1`).backgroundColor(`lime`),
Text.growShrink(1).text(`Col 2 Col 2`).backgroundColor(`aqua`),
Text.text(`Col 3`).backgroundColor(`gold`),
)
}
}
In this example, we use grow()
on two children, so you can compare how it differs from growShrink()
in the next example.
Try making the height of the app screen below shorter, and you will see that the entire app screen becomes scrollable. That is, Col 1
and Col 2
never becomes shorter than their content, and the scroll is added to the root component (the Cols
component).
class StartPage extends Page{
createGui(){
return Columns.backgroundColor(`yellow`).font(Font.size(mm(4))).children(
Text.grow(1).text(`Col 1 Col 1`).backgroundColor(`lime`),
Text.grow(1).text(`Col 2 Col 2`).backgroundColor(`aqua`),
)
}
}
This code is the same as in the previous example, but we use growShrink()
instead of grow()
.
Try making the height of the app screen below shorter, and you will see that the height of Col 1
Col 2
shrinks, and its content becomes scrollable.
class StartPage extends Page{
createGui(){
return Columns.backgroundColor(`yellow`).font(Font.size(mm(4))).children(
Text.growShrink(1).text(`Col 1 Col 1`).backgroundColor(`lime`),
Text.growShrink(1).text(`Col 2 Col 2`).backgroundColor(`aqua`),
)
}
}
This code is the same as in the two previous examples, but we use grow()
on one child, and growShrink()
on the other child.
Try making the height of the app screen below shorter, and you will see that the height of Col 1
never becomes smaller than its content, and Col 2
shrinks, and its content becomes scrollable.
class StartPage extends Page{
createGui(){
return Columns.backgroundColor(`yellow`).font(Font.size(mm(4))).children(
Text.grow(1).text(`Col 1 Col 1`).backgroundColor(`lime`),
Text.growShrink(1).text(`Col 2 Col 2`).backgroundColor(`aqua`),
)
}
}