B4X Booklets
B4X Visual Designer
Copyright: © 2024 Anywhere Software Edition 2.5
Last update: 2024.01.05
Table of contents 2 B4X Visual Designer
1 B4X platforms .............................................................................................................................. 6
2 Layouts ......................................................................................................................................... 7
3 Visual Designer ............................................................................................................................ 8
3.1 The menu .............................................................................................................................. 9
3.1.1 File menu .......................................................................................................................... 9
3.2 AddView menu .................................................................................................................. 10
3.2.1 B4A AddView menu ...................................................................................................... 10
3.2.2 B4i AddView menu ...................................................................................................... 11
3.2.3 B4J AddView menu ...................................................................................................... 12
3.2.4 WYSIWYG Designer menu B4A, B4J ......................................................................... 13
3.2.5 The Tools menu.............................................................................................................. 13
3.2.6 Windows menu .............................................................................................................. 13
3.3 Visual Designer Windows ................................................................................................. 14
3.3.1 Views windows Views Tree / Files / Variants .......................................................... 14
3.3.1.1 Views Tree window ............................................................................................... 15
3.3.1.2 Files Windows ........................................................................................................ 16
3.3.1.3 Variants window .................................................................................................... 16
3.3.2 Properties window .......................................................................................................... 17
3.3.3 Script (General) / (Variant) windows ............................................................................. 17
3.3.4 Abstract Designer window ............................................................................................. 18
3.4 Floating windows ............................................................................................................... 19
3.4.1 Float ............................................................................................................................... 19
3.4.2 Dock ............................................................................................................................... 20
3.4.3 Dock as Document ......................................................................................................... 20
3.4.4 Auto Hide ....................................................................................................................... 21
3.4.5 Maximize........................................................................................................................ 22
3.4.6 New Horizontal / Vertical Tab Group ............................................................................ 23
3.5 WYSIWYG Designer......................................................................................................... 24
3.5.1 Connect device or emulator ........................................................................................... 24
3.6 Tools ................................................................................................................................... 25
3.6.1 Generate Members ......................................................................................................... 25
3.6.2 Change grid .................................................................................................................... 26
3.7 Image files .......................................................................................................................... 27
3.8 Properties list ...................................................................................................................... 29
3.8.1 Main properties .............................................................................................................. 30
3.8.2 Common properties ........................................................................................................ 31
3.8.3 Activity / Main properties .............................................................................................. 32
3.8.3.1 B4A Activity properties ........................................................................................ 32
3.8.3.2 B4i Main properties............................................................................................... 33
3.8.3.3 B4J Main properties .............................................................................................. 34
3.8.4 Color properties .............................................................................................................. 35
3.9 Layout variants ................................................................................................................... 37
3.10 Abstract Designer ............................................................................................................... 41
3.10.1 Selection of a screen size ........................................................................................... 42
3.10.1.1 B4A Selection of a screen size .......................................................................... 42
3.10.1.2 B4i Selection of a screen size............................................................................ 42
3.10.1.3 B4J Selection of a screen size ........................................................................... 43
3.10.2 Zoom .......................................................................................................................... 44
3.10.3 Context menus ............................................................................................................ 45
3.10.3.1 Add View ........................................................................................................... 46
3.10.3.2 Cut ...................................................................................................................... 47
3.10.3.3 Copy ................................................................................................................... 47
3.10.3.4 Paste ................................................................................................................... 47
Table of contents 3 B4X Visual Designer
3.10.3.5 Duplicate ............................................................................................................ 47
3.10.3.6 Undo / Redo ....................................................................................................... 47
3.10.3.7 Horizontal Anchor .............................................................................................. 47
3.10.3.8 Vertical Anchor .................................................................................................. 48
3.10.3.9 Bring To Front ................................................................................................... 48
3.10.3.10 Send To Back ..................................................................................................... 48
3.10.3.11 Generate ............................................................................................................. 49
3.10.4 Select views ................................................................................................................ 50
3.10.5 Example...................................................................................................................... 52
3.11 Copy layouts cross platform between B4A, B4i and B4J .................................................. 54
3.12 Adding views by code ........................................................................................................ 55
3.12.1 B4A Adding views by code ...................................................................................... 55
3.12.2 B4i Adding views by code ........................................................................................ 58
3.12.3 B4J Adding views by code ........................................................................................ 62
3.13 Anchors .............................................................................................................................. 65
3.13.1 Horizontal Anchor ...................................................................................................... 65
3.13.2 Vertical Anchor .......................................................................................................... 66
3.13.3 AnchorChecker .......................................................................................................... 68
3.13.4 Example project ......................................................................................................... 71
3.13.5 Nested layouts ............................................................................................................ 79
3.14 Designer Scripts ................................................................................................................. 81
3.14.1 General ....................................................................................................................... 82
3.14.2 The menu .................................................................................................................... 83
3.14.3 Supported Properties .................................................................................................. 84
3.14.4 Supported Methods .................................................................................................... 84
3.14.5 Supported Keywords .................................................................................................. 84
3.14.6 Autocomplete ............................................................................................................. 85
3.14.7 Select a view in the DesignerScript with Ctrl + Click ............................................... 86
3.14.8 Notes and tips ............................................................................................................. 87
3.15 AutoScale ........................................................................................................................... 88
3.15.1 Simple AutoScale example with only one layout variant .......................................... 89
3.15.2 Same AutoScale example with portrait and landscape layout variants ...................... 94
3.16 UI Cloud B4A and B4i ...................................................................................................... 97
3.17 Designer Script Extension / DesignerUtils Class ............................................................... 99
3.17.1 Define a routine for the Designer ............................................................................. 103
3.17.2 Make a b4xlib library ............................................................................................... 105
3.17.3 DesigerUtils methods B4X code ............................................................................. 106
3.17.3.1 AddRuntimeView ............................................................................................ 106
3.17.3.2 GetAllLayoutParents ........................................................................................ 106
3.17.3.3 GetViewByName ............................................................................................. 106
3.17.3.4 GetViewData .................................................................................................... 106
3.17.3.5 GetViewsByClass ............................................................................................ 106
3.17.3.6 Initialize............................................................................................................ 107
3.17.3.7 RemoveLayoutData.......................................................................................... 107
3.17.4 DesigerUtils methods Script code ........................................................................... 108
3.17.4.1 AddClass .......................................................................................................... 108
3.17.4.2 CollectViewsData ............................................................................................ 108
3.17.4.3 Color ................................................................................................................. 108
3.17.4.4 CreateToolbar ................................................................................................... 108
3.17.4.5 SetText ............................................................................................................. 108
3.17.4.6 SetTextAndSize................................................................................................ 109
3.17.4.7 SetTextSizeSteps .............................................................................................. 109
3.17.4.8 SpreadControlsHorizontally ............................................................................. 109
Table of contents 4 B4X Visual Designer
3.17.4.9 ToChr ............................................................................................................... 109
4 Open a layout file directly from the IDE ................................................................................. 110
4.1 Directly in the code .......................................................................................................... 110
4.2 From the Files Manager Tab ............................................................................................ 110
Table of contents 5 B4X Visual Designer
Main contributors: Klaus Christl (klaus), Erel Uziel (Erel)
To search for a given word or sentence use the Search function in the Edit menu.
All the source code and files needed (layouts, images etc.) of the example projects in this guide are
included in the SourceCode folder.
Updated for:
B4A version 12.80
B4i version 8.50
B4J version 10.00
B4X Booklets:
B4X Getting Started
B4X Language
B4X IDE Integrated Development Environment
B4X Visual Designer
B4X Help tools
B4XPages Cross-platform projects
B4X CustomViews
B4X Graphics
B4X XUI B4X User Interface
B4X SQLite Database
B4X JavaObject NativeObject
B4R Example Projects
You can consult these booklets online in this link [B4X] Documentation Booklets.
Be aware that external links don’t work in the online display.
1 B4X platforms 6 B4X Visual Designer
1 B4X platforms
B4X is a suite of programming languages for different platforms.
B4X suite supports more platforms than any other tool
ANDROID | IOS | WINDOWS | MAC | LINUX | ARDUINO | RASPBERRY PI | ESP8266 | AND
MORE...
• B4A Android
B4A is a 100% free development tool for Android applications, it includes all the features
needed to quickly develop any type of Android app.
• B4i iOS
B4i is a development tool for native iOS applications.
B4i follows the same concepts as B4A, allowing you to reuse most of the code and build
apps for both Android and iOS.
• B4J Java / Windows / Mac / Linux / Raspberry PI
B4J is a 100% free development tool for desktop, server and IoT solutions.
With B4J you can easily create desktop applications (UI), console programs (non-UI) and
server solutions.
The compiled apps can run on Windows, Mac, Linux and ARM boards (such as Raspberry
Pi).
• B4R Arduino / ESP8266
B4R is a 100% free development tool for native Arduino and ESP8266 programs.
B4R follows the same concepts of the other B4X tools, providing a simple and powerful
development tool.
B4R, B4A, B4J and B4i together make the best development solution for the Internet of
Things (IoT).
• B4XPages
B4XPages is an internal library for B4A, B4i and B4J allowing to develop easily cross-
platform programs.
B4XPages is explained in detail in the B4XPages Cross-platform projects booklet.
Even, if you want to develop only in one platform it is interesting to use the B4XPages
library it makes the program flow simpler especially for B4A.
2 Layouts 7 B4X Visual Designer
2 Layouts
Designing layouts is a major concern for developers.
A well organized and nice-looking user interface makes a program being accepted immediately by
the users or not, and this on different devices with different screen sizes.
Most users, when they look at a new application, decide in the first minutes if they will go further or
not! Me too, when I download an application and there are several with the same purpose, the first
impression is crucial. If I don’t like the layout, I don’t keep it.
You should have a look at:
• Androids’ guidelines
• Apples’ guidelines about how to design.
For the navigation between different pages, you should use the standard OS objects instead of
reinventing the wheel. Users are used to them and feel directly ‘at home’!
Android users are used to UI with Android look whereas Apple users may prefer the Apple look.
It’s up to you to define what layout you want, what you want to display at the same time and how
you want to navigate through the different displays.
In some cases, it might be better to have one or two layouts (portrait and / or landscape) phones and
one or two layouts for tablets. Use as little layout variants as needed and use the different tools to
adapt them to fit the different screen sizes.
As tablets have bigger screens than phones it could be interesting to display more information on
tablets than on phones.
Depending on the application, it could be interesting to display one panel on pages in portrait on
phones and display two panels side by side on a same page on tablets.
There are no general rules nor templates for user interfaces. They depend on the kind of application,
the kind of information to display on what screen size, the number of different pages depending on
the screen size and the information, etc.
Several tools are at your disposal to design the layouts, these are explained in the following
chapters.
3 Visual Designer 8 B4X Visual Designer
3 Visual Designer
The Visual Designer allows generating layouts with either the Abstract Designer or with a real
device. You can also use Emulators but not recommended.
All the images in this booklet are made with the B4A Designer, but the others look similar with
different themes.
Specific images for B4i or B4J are shown when needed.
Launch the Designer in the IDE Menu Designer.
The default Visual Designer looks like this, the layout in the Abstract Designer is from the
SecondProgram project.
3.1 The menu 9 B4X Visual Designer
3.1 The menu
3.1.1 File menu
New Opens a new empty layout.
Open Opens an existing layout.
Save Saves the current layout.
Save As… Saves the current layout with a new name.
Remove Layout Removes the layout from the Files directory.
Close Window Closes the Visual Designer.
Main Layout file list, in this case only one file, 'Main'.
3.2 AddView menu 10 B4X Visual Designer
3.2 AddView menu
3.2.1 B4A AddView menu
This menu allows you to add views to the current layout.
AutoCompleteEditText adds an AutoCompleteEditText
Button adds a Button
CheckBox adds a CheckBox
CustomView adds a CustomView
EditText adds an EditText
HorizontalScrollView adds a HorizontalScrollView
ImageView adds an ImageView
Label adds a Label
ListView adds a ListView
Panel adds a Panel
ProgressBar adds a ProgressBar
RadioButton adds a RadioButton
ScrollView adds a Scrollview
SeekBar adds a SeekBar
Spinner adds a Spinner
TabHost adds a TabHost
ToggleButton adds a ToggleButton
WebView adds a WebView
3.2 AddView menu 11 B4X Visual Designer
3.2.2 B4i AddView menu
This menu allows you to select the view you want to add to the current layout.
ActivityIndicator adds an ActivityIndicator
Button adds a Button
CustomView adds a CustomView if there are any.
ImageView adds an ImageView
Label adds a Label
Panel adds a Panel
Picker adds a Picker
ProgressView adds a ProgressView
ScrollView adds a ScrollView
SegmentedControl adds a SegmentedControl
Slider adds a Slider
Stepper adds a Stepper
Switch adds a Switch
TextField adds a TextField
TextView adds a TextView
WebView adds a WebView
3.2 AddView menu 12 B4X Visual Designer
3.2.3 B4J AddView menu
This menu allows you to select the view you want to add to the current layout.
Accordion adds an Accordion
Button adds a Button
Canvas adds a Canvas
CheckBox adds a CheckBox
ChoiceBox adds a ChoiceBox
ColorPicker adds a ColorPicker
ComboBox adds a ComboBox
CustomView adds a CustomView if there are any.
DatePicker adds a DatePicker
HTMLEditor adds an HTMLEditor
ImageView adds an ImageView
Label adds a Label
ListView adds a ListView
MenuBar adds a MenuBar
Pagination adds a Pagination
Pane adds a Pane
ProgressBar adds a ProgressBar
ProgressIndicator adds a ProgressIndicator
RadioButton adds a RadioButton
ScrollPane adds a ScrollPane
Slider adds a Slider
Spinner adds a Spinner
SplitPane adds a SplitPane
TableView adds a TableView
TabPane adds a TabPane
TextArea adds a TextArea
TextField adds a TextField
ToggleButton adds a ToggleButton
TreeTableView adds a TreeTableView
TreeView adds a TreeView
WebView adds a WebView
3.2 AddView menu 13 B4X Visual Designer
3.2.4 WYSIWYG Designer menu B4A, B4J
Connects a device or an Emulator to the Visual Designer.
Disconnect from Device / Emulator.
For details on how to connect a real device look at chapter B4A connecting a real device in the
Getting started B4X Booklet. In B4J it connects to a Form.
The connected device with its parameters is displayed in the lower left corner.
3.2.5 The Tools menu
Generate Members Members generator
Change Grid Allows to change the grid size
Send To UI Cloud. B4A and B4i only.
3.2.6 Windows menu
Shows the Abstract Designer window.
Shows the Properties window.
Shows the Variants window.
Shows the Files window.
Shows the Script (General) window.
Shows the Script (Variant) window.
Shows the Views window.
Resets the Visual Designer layout to the default layout.
3.3 Visual Designer Windows 14 B4X Visual Designer
3.3 Visual Designer Windows
The Visual Designer is composed of different windows.
3.3.1 Views windows Views Tree / Files / Variants
In this Window three windows are grouped together:
• Files
• Variants
• Views Tree.
3.3 Visual Designer Windows 15 B4X Visual Designer
3.3.1.1 Views Tree window
Shows all views of the selected layout in a tree.
When you select a view in the list, all the properties of the
selected view are displayed in the Properties window.
You can select several Views at the same time and change
common properties.
The selected views are highlighted in the Abstract Designer.
On top you can filter the views / nodes.
Enter ‘lbl’ and all the views containing lbl will be displayed in
the list.
shows tips:
3.3 Visual Designer Windows 16 B4X Visual Designer
3.3.1.2 Files Windows
Used to add or remove files to the Visual Designer, mainly
image files.
File handling is explained in the Image Files chapter.
These files are copied to the Files folder of the project and can
be accessed in the code in the File.DirAssets folder.
3.3.1.3 Variants window
Used to add and remove layout variants.
Layout variants are explained in the Layout variants chapter.
3.3 Visual Designer Windows 17 B4X Visual Designer
3.3.2 Properties window
The Properties window shows all properties of the selected View.
The Properties are explained in the Properties list chapter.
3.3.3 Script (General) / (Variant) windows
In the Scrip windows you can add code to position and resize Views.
Two windows are available:
• Script - General Code valid for all layout variants.
• Script - Variant Specific code for the selected layout variant.
Script code is explained in the Designer Scripts chapter.
3.3 Visual Designer Windows 18 B4X Visual Designer
3.3.4 Abstract Designer window
The Abstract Designer allows to select, position and resize Views.
It is not a WYSIWYG Designer, for this you need to connect a real device or an Emulator.
The displayed layout in the picture below is from the SecondProgram project.
3.4 Floating windows 19 B4X Visual Designer
3.4 Floating windows
You can define your own Visual Designer layout, rearrange the windows in size and position,
docked or floating.
On top of each window two icons allow you to manage the behaviour of this window.
Options.
Example with the Files window:
Float sets the window to Float,
independent of the Visual Designer
window.
Dock as Document
Auto Hide
3.4.1 Float
Clock on .
The Files windows is independent from the Visual Designer and is removed from the Views
window.
3.4 Floating windows 20 B4X Visual Designer
3.4.2 Dock
Click on .
The window is moved back to the Views window.
3.4.3 Dock as Document
Click on .
The window is removed from its parent window and added to the Abstract Designer window.
Right click on and on to move it back to its parent window.
3.4 Floating windows 21 B4X Visual Designer
3.4.4 Auto Hide
Click either on or on .
The three windows Files, Variants and Views Tree are moved as Tabs to the left border of the
Visual Designer. The Properties window width is increased.
Click on a Tab to show the window.
When you click somewhere else, outsides the selected window, hides it automatically.
Click on in the title to move the windows back to their previous position.
3.4 Floating windows 22 B4X Visual Designer
3.4.5 Maximize
Floating windows can be maximized.
3.4 Floating windows 23 B4X Visual Designer
3.4.6 New Horizontal / Vertical Tab Group
When a window is set as Dock as Document
two other options are available.
New Horizontal Tab Group
New Vertctal Tab Group
New Horizontal Tab Group New Vertctal Tab Group
To remove Tab Group right click on and click on .
3.5 WYSIWYG Designer 24 B4X Visual Designer
3.5 WYSIWYG Designer
3.5.1 Connect device or emulator
To connect a device or an emulator click in the
WYSIWYG Designer menu or press F2.
If different devices or Emulators are connected, you will be asked which device or Emulator you
want to connect to.
Select an emulator or a device in
the list.
Click on to confirm.
To disconnect it click on in the WYSIWYG Designer menu
or press SHIFT + F2.
3.6 Tools 25 B4X Visual Designer
3.6 Tools
3.6.1 Generate Members
Generates declaration statements and subroutines frames. A similar function exists in the Abstract
Designer context menu. The example is based on the MyFirstProgram project.
Click on to open the
generator.
Here we find all the views added to the current
layout (MyFirstProgram).
We check all views and check the Click event
for the btnAction Button.
Checking a view generates its
reference in the Globals Sub routine in the code.
This is needed to make the view recognized by
the system and allow the autocomplete function.
Views can be declared either as product original
views or as B4XViews.
For that check: .
Note: The code is added in the active module.
The destination module is displayed in the title bar.
Variable declarations in Globals
Sub Globals Sub Globals
Private btnAction As Button Private btnAction As B4XView
Private edtResult As EditText Private edtResult As B4XView
Private lblComments As Label Private lblComments As B4XView
Private lblMathSign As Label Private lblMathSign As B4XView
Private lblNumber1 As Label Private lblNumber1 As B4XView
Private lblNumber2 As Label Private lblNumber2 As B4XView
Clicking on an event of a view generates the Sub frame for this event.
Sub btnAction_Click
End Sub
Click on to generate the references and Sub frames.
Click on to select all vies in the list,
Click on to clear the current selections.
3.6 Tools 26 B4X Visual Designer
3.6.2 Change grid
The grid is an invisible grid with a given size. The default grid size is 10 pixels. That means that all
positions and dimensions of a view will be set to values in steps corresponding to the grid size.
Moving a view will be done in steps equal to the grid size.
In the menu click on .
You can change the grid size to the value you want.
The value is saved in the layout file, you will get the same value when you reload this layout.
The default value when you start a new project is 10.
3.7 Image files 27 B4X Visual Designer
3.7 Image files
You can add image files to
the layout.
Click on to select
the files(s) to add.
These files will be listed in
the Image Files list.
These files are saved to the
Files folder of the project and
can be accessed in the code
in the Files.DirAssets folder.
To remove files, check the files to remove and click on .
You are asked if you want to move these files to the Recycle Bin.
3.7 Image files 28 B4X Visual Designer
You can define different groups for the files.
Add a new group.
Right click on and click on .
Enter the name.
For example ‘Flags’
Select the ‘flag’ files and move them into the Flags group.
The flag files are now in the Flags group.
Different files can be grouped in different groups, but they
remain in the Files folder of the project.
3.8 Properties list 29 B4X Visual Designer
3.8 Properties list
Select for example lblNumber1 in the list.
All the properties of lblNumber1 are displayed.
These are organized in groups.
All properties can be modified directly in the list.
All properties in the Main group and some of the
properties in the other groups are common to all view
types.
3.8 Properties list 30 B4X Visual Designer
3.8.1 Main properties
Name Name of the view (B4A, B4i) or node (B4J). It is good practice to give
meaningful names. Common usage is to give a 3-character prefix and add the purpose of the view.
In the example, the view is of type Label and its purpose is to enter a result. So, we give it the name
"lblResult", "lbl" for
Label and "Result" for the purpose. This does not take much time during the design of the layout
but saves a lot of time during coding and maintenance of the program.
Type Type of the view (B4A, B4i) or node (B4J), not editable. It is not possible to
change the type of a view. If you need to, you must remove the view and add a new one.
Event Name Generic name for the subroutines that manages the view's events. By default,
the Event Name is the same as the view's name like in the example. The Events of several views
can be redirected to a same subroutine. In that case you must enter the name of that routine.
Look at the SecondProgram example for the Click event management for the buttons of the
keyboard, the btnEvent_Click routine.
Parent Name of the parent view (B4A, B4i) or node (B4J). Activity, in the example.
The parent view can be changed in selecting the new one in the list.
3.8 Properties list 31 B4X Visual Designer
3.8.2 Common properties
HorizontalAnchor Horizontal Anchor function. Possible values LEFT, RIGHT or BOTH
VerticalAnchor Vertical Anchor function. Possible values TOP, BOTTOM or BOTH
Left X coordinate of the left edge of the View from the left edge of its parent
View, in pixels (the pixels are in reality dips, density independent pixels).
Top Y coordinate of the upper edge of the View from the upper edge of its parent
View, in pixels (the pixels are in reality dips, density independent pixels).
Width Width of the View in pixels (the pixels are in reality dips, density
independent pixels).
Height Height of the View in pixels (the pixels are in reality dips, density
independent pixels).
Enabled Enables or disables the use of the View Ex: Enabled = True B4A, B4J
Visible Determines if the View is visible to the user or not.
Tag This is a place holder which can used to store additional data. Tag can simply
be text but can also be any other kind of object.
Tag is used in the SecondProgram example for the numeric buttons click
events management in the btnEvent_Click routine.
Text The text which will be displayed in the View, this property is only available
for views having a Text property.
3.8 Properties list 32 B4X Visual Designer
3.8.3 Activity / Main properties
3.8.3.1 B4A Activity properties
Drawable Sets the Activity background Drawable, the default property is
ColorDrawable.
Title Sets the activity title text.
Animation Duration Sets the animation duration in milliseconds.
When you launch the program, the Activity is not shown directly but grows
with the given duration. If you set this value to ‘0’ the Activity will be shown
instantly.
Show Title Changes the Abstract Designer height.
This setting does not change the Activity property,
only the Abstract Designer height.
Full Screen Changes the Abstract Designer height.
This setting does not change the Activity property,
only the Abstract Designer height.
To not show the titles or set full screen, you need to set these two properties in the Module code in
the Activity Attributes or Module Attributes Regions:
#Region Activity Attributes
#FullScreen: False
#IncludeTitle: True
#End Region
Checking or unchecking the last two properties only changes the visible screen size in the Abstract
Designer.
3.8 Properties list 33 B4X Visual Designer
3.8.3.2 B4i Main properties
Handle Resize Event Handles the resize event.
Background Color Sets the Title text of the Page.
Page Title Sets the Title text of the Page.
Page Prompt Sets the Prompt text of the Page.
Hide Back Button Shows or hides the Back button.
3.8 Properties list 34 B4X Visual Designer
3.8.3.3 B4J Main properties
Handle Resize Event Handles the resize event.
Form Title Sets the Title text of the Form.
Orientation Sets the Form orientation.
Background Sets Form Activity background Drawable, the default property is
ColorDrawable.
Extra CSS Extra layout properties defined with CSS strings.
Icon Icon selector.
Border Properties Sets the border properties of the RootPane.
Border Color Sets the border color, default Black.
Border Width Sets the border width, default 0.
Border Radius Sets the border radius, default 0.
Default Color: Black, Width: 5, Radius: 10
3.8 Properties list 35 B4X Visual Designer
3.8.4 Color properties
For some properties, like ColorDrawable color, TextColor, you can select a color.
By default, the Default color is selected.
Click on to select
another color.
The color picker is
displayed.
You can either:
• Move the cursor in the
outer circle to select a color.
• Move the cursor in the
square to select the
‘darkness’.
• Enter RGB or HSB
values.
• Select a predefined color.
3.8 Properties list 36 B4X Visual Designer
Select a predefined color.
To reset the default color remove the hex color code.
3.9 Layout variants 37 B4X Visual Designer
3.9 Layout variants
Different layout variants can be managed in a same layout
file.
Let us make an example based on the TestLayoutsAnchors project
(which can be found under the GettingStarted\SourceCode\TestLayoutsAnchors directory):
- Create a new folder and name it TestLayoutVariants.
- Copy the whole contents of the TestLayoutsAnchors folder.
- Rename the TestLayoutAnchors.b4a file to TestLayoutVariants.b4a.
- Rename the TestLayoutAnchors.b4a.meta file to TestLayoutVariants.b4a.meta.
- Run the IDE.
- Run the Visual Designer.
The layout in the Abstract Designer should look like this.
3.9 Layout variants 38 B4X Visual Designer
In the Designer, click on .
Select: Phone (landscape):480 x 320, scale = 1
Click on .
The new variant is added.
3.9 Layout variants 39 B4X Visual Designer
In the Abstract Designer you’ll see something like this.
We see that the anchors work well.
pnlToolBox is still at the bottom of the screen and ListView1 is stretched the fill almost the whole
screen width.
But for the landscape variant we want the ToolBox at the right side of the screen.
We:
• Reduce the width of ListView1 to
get space for the ToolBox.
• Move pnlToolBox to the right
side of the screen, change the
Button heights and rearrange them
vertically like in the picture.
• Select pnlToolBox
• Set the pnlToolBox Horizontal Anchor to .
Set the Right Edge Distance to 0
Set the pnlToolBox vertical anchor to TOP.
Adjust the button Height (60) and Top
properties accordingly.
3.9 Layout variants 40 B4X Visual Designer
To always show pnlToolBox in the middle of the screen we add following code in the Script –
Variant window.
For portrait:
Select the portrait variant.
And add this code
pnlToolBox.HorizontalCenter = 50%x.
For landscape :
Select the landscape variant.
And add this code
pnlToolBox.VerticalCenter = 50%y.
And the result on a device.
3.10 Abstract Designer 41 B4X Visual Designer
3.10 Abstract Designer
The Abstract Designer is a tool that shows
the layout.
Its main purpose is to create different
layout variants.
The different views are not shown with
their exact shape but only as coloured
rectangles.
Clicking on a view shows its properties in
the Designer.
The images are made with the project
MyFirstProgram.
Device Abstract Designer
3.10 Abstract Designer 42 B4X Visual Designer
3.10.1 Selection of a screen size
On top you can select different screen sizes:
3.10.1.1 B4A Selection of a screen size
- Match chosen Variant.
Matches the variant selected in
the Variant window.
- Match Connected Device.
Matches the size of the
connected device or emulator.
- Different ‘standard’ sizes.
This allows see how a layout
looks on s different screen.
3.10.1.2 B4i Selection of a screen size
- Match chosen Variant.
Matches the variant selected in the
Variant window.
- Match Connected Device.
Matches the size of the connected
device or emulator.
- Different ‘standard’ sizes.
This allows see how a layout looks
on s different screen.
3.10 Abstract Designer 43 B4X Visual Designer
3.10.1.3 B4J Selection of a screen size
- Match chosen Variant.
Matches the variant selected in the
Variant window.
- Match Connected Device.
Matches the size of the connected
device or emulator.
- Different ‘standard’ sizes.
This allows see how a layout looks
on s different screen.
3.10 Abstract Designer 44 B4X Visual Designer
3.10.2 Zoom
With you can move the virtual screen in the four directions.
With you can hide the zoom cursor and show it again with .
With the cursor you can set the zoom level you want.
With you can zoom to fit the selected screen size.
With you can reset the zoom back to 100%.
With the bottom and side cursors you can move the layout vertically or
horizontally.
3.10 Abstract Designer 45 B4X Visual Designer
3.10.3 Context menus
Right clicking on a view shows a context menu.
Add View
Cut
Copy
Paste
Duplicate
Undo
Redo
Horizontal Anchor
Vertical Anchor
Bring To Front
Send To Back
Generate (Target: Main)
Target: reminds you the current module active in
the IDE, the Main module in this case.
Right clicking somewhere on Main area shows the
context menu with some functions disabled which
are not relevant for an Activity.
Only Add View, Paste, Undo, Redo and Generate
are available.
3.10 Abstract Designer 46 B4X Visual Designer
3.10.3.1 Add View
Right click somewhere and move the cursor onto .
This function is the same as the Add View function in the Visual Designer menu.
The list of all available views is displayed (B4A in the example).
Click on the desired view
to add it.
Example for a Button.
The Button is added to the layout.
3.10 Abstract Designer 47 B4X Visual Designer
3.10.3.2 Cut
removes the selected view from the layout.
If you selected a Panel, it will be removed with all its child views!
If you cut it by accident, click on or press Ctrl+Z to recover it.
3.10.3.3 Copy
copies the selected view into the clipboard.
If you selected a Panel, it will be copied with all its child views!
3.10.3.4 Paste
copies the content of the clipboard.
If you selected a Panel, it will be pasted with all its child views!
Before you paste a view, you must select where you want to paste it. This can be either onto the
Activity or onto a Panel.
3.10.3.5 Duplicate
Duplicates the selected view, it is added over itself.
Duplicate is a shortcut of Copy and Paste.
If you selected a Panel, it will be duplicated with all its child views!
3.10.3.6 Undo / Redo
These two functions allow you to undo or redo the last operations.
3.10.3.7 Horizontal Anchor
You can set the horizontal anchor in the context menu instead of changing it in the Properties
window.
The current anchor is checked.
3.10 Abstract Designer 48 B4X Visual Designer
3.10.3.8 Vertical Anchor
You can set the vertical anchor in the context menu instead of changing it in the Properties window.
The current anchor is checked.
3.10.3.9 Bring To Front
Moves the selected View on top of the layout.
In the picture ImageView2 is over ImageView1.
You see it with the border color.
Right click on ImageView1 and click on
to move ImageView1 to front
of all other views.
And the result:
3.10.3.10 Send To Back
is the inverse function of
Bring To Front function above.
3.10 Abstract Designer 49 B4X Visual Designer
3.10.3.11 Generate
Generates the declaration statement or an event routine for the
selected View. It is a shortcut of the Generate Members function in the VisualDesigner Tools menu
but only for the selected view.
A popup menu allows you to select what code you want to generate; the possibilities depend on the
type of the selected view.
Example with a Button (B4A):
Dim btnAction As Button
Generates the declaration statement in the Globals routine.
Private btnAction As Button
Dim btnAction As B4XView
Generates the declaration statement in the Globals routine.
Private btnAction As B4XView
Click
Generates the Click event routine frame.
Sub btnAction_Click
End Sub
LongClick
Generates the LongClick event routine frame.
Sub btnTest1_LongClick
End Sub
Example with an EditText (B4A):
The context menu depends on the type of the product (B4A, B4i, B4J) and the type of the view.
3.10 Abstract Designer 50 B4X Visual Designer
3.10.4 Select views
Select a single view:
Click on the view
Select several views:
Click on the first view.
Press the Ctrl key,
Click the following views.
The selected views are highlighted.
After the selection you can:
• Move the selected views with the arrow keys of the
keyboard in the four directions.
• Right click on one of the selected view to show the
context menu.
The functions are the same as for a single view, but a
new function, GenerateDialog, is available to Generate
Members.
This is the same function as in the Visual Designer Tools
menu but only for the selected views.
3.10 Abstract Designer 51 B4X Visual Designer
• In the Properties window you can change all properties
common to the selected views.
You can change the parent view.
You can change all these properties because they are the same
for the four views selected in the example.
Changing, for example, the Height property will change it for all
the selected views.
If you select views of different types, only the properties
common to the selected views can be changed.
Example with a Label and a Button.
3.10 Abstract Designer 52 B4X Visual Designer
3.10.5 Example
Let us take a simple example with a layout in portrait mode, like the image below.
This example project is in the Getting Started\SourceCode folder in the AbstractDesigner subfolder.
The example is for B4A, but the principle is the same for B4i and B4J.
Now we would like to make a landscape variant.
In the Variant window click on .
A selection window is displayed.
Select .
In the Variant window the new variant is displayed.
3.10 Abstract Designer 53 B4X Visual Designer
The Abstract Designer looks now like this:
Now we rearrange the views to fit the
new orientation.
If you select in the Variant window the previous variant
you will see that layout.
3.11 Copy layouts between platforms 54 B4X Visual Designer
3.11 Copy layouts cross platform between B4A, B4i and B4J
You can copy layouts between the three products B4A, B4i and B4J.
Simply, select the views to copy and paste them wherever you want.
This allows you to build the layout on one platform and later copy all of it or parts of it to other
platforms.
Each platform has unique controls. These cannot be copied. The same is true for unique properties
that are not available in other platforms.
Custom views, and especially custom views that are built over XUI and are intended to be cross
platform (example: XUI Views), can be shared with all their properties.
It is also possible to declare views as B4XViews directly from the designer. Note that custom views
do not need to be declared as B4XViews. They should be declared with the custom type, which is
cross platform.
Tip: you can always cast B4XViews to the explicit type and vice versa.
Instead of showing images here, it’s more efficient to watch the demo video in the forum.
A concrete example is explained in the B4XPages Cross-platform projects booklet.
3.12 B4A Adding views by code 55 B4X Visual Designer
3.12 Adding views by code
It is also possible to add views by code instead of using the Designer with a device or the Abstract
Designer.
• Advantage: You have full control of the view.
• Disadvantage: You must define almost everything and Anchors and AutoScale don’t work.
Note that you should avoid adding views in code but use the Designer with Anchors and
Designer Scripts.
3.12.1 B4A Adding views by code
The source code is in the source code directory: B4A\AddViewsByCode
For the positions and dimensions of the views on the screen two special options are available:
• dip density independent pixels.
100dip = DipToCurrent(100) DipToCurrent is a Keyword dip is the Shortcut
100dip = 100 / 160 * device density
The default density is 160 dpi dots per inch (pixels per inch)
Densities in Android:
o 120 scale 0.75
o 160 scale 1 default
o 240 scale 1.5
o 320 scale 2
• %x and %y represent distances proportional to the active screen width and height.
20%x = 0.2 * Activity.Width
90%y = 0.9 * Activity.Height
20%x = PerXToCurrent(20) PerXToCurrent is a Keyword %x is the Shortcut
90%y = PerYToCurrent(90)
Example:
Let us put a Label on top of the screen and a Panel below it with a Label and a Button on it:
Sub Globals
Private lblTitle, lblPanelTitle As Label
Private pnlTest As Panel
Private btnTest As Button
End Sub
3.12 B4A Adding views by code 56 B4X Visual Designer
Sub Activity_Create(FirstTime As Boolean)
lblTitle.Initialize("")
lblTitle.Color = Colors.Red
lblTitle.TextSize = 20
lblTitle.TextColor = Colors.Blue
lblTitle.Gravity = Gravity.CENTER_HORIZONTAL + Gravity.CENTER_VERTICAL
lblTitle.Text = "Title"
Activity.AddView(lblTitle, 20%x, 10dip, 60%x, 30dip)
pnlTest.Initialize("")
pnlTest.Color = Colors.Blue
btnTest.Initialize("btnTest")
btnTest.Text = "Test"
lblPanelTitle.Initialize("")
lblPanelTitle.Color = Colors.Red
lblPanelTitle.TextSize = 16
lblPanelTitle.TextColor = Colors.Blue
lblPanelTitle.Gravity = Gravity.CENTER_HORIZONTAL + Gravity.CENTER_VERTICAL
lblPanelTitle.Text = "Panel test"
Activity.AddView(pnlTest, 0, lblTitle.Top+lblTitle.Height+10dip, 100%x, 50%y)
pnlTest.AddView(lblPanelTitle, 20dip, 10dip, 100dip, 30dip)
pnlTest.AddView(btnTest, 50dip, 50dip, 100dip, 60dip)
End Sub
Declaring the views.
Private lblTitle, lblPanelTitle As Label
Private pnlTest As Panel
Private btnTest As Button
Initializing the title label:
lblTitle.Initialize("") Initializes the Label, no EventName required.
lblTitle.Color = Colors.Red Sets the Background color to red.
lblTitle.TextSize = 20 Sets the text size to 20.
lblTitle.TextColor = Colors.Blue Sets the text color to blue.
lblTitle.Gravity = Gravity.CENTER_HORIZONTAL + Gravity.CENTER_VERTICAL
Sets the label gravity.
lblTitle.Text = "Title" Sets the label text to 'Title'.
Activity.AddView(lblTitle, 20%x, 10dip, 60%x, 30dip) Adds the view to the activity.
If the Label had been added in the Designer, all the above code wouldn't have been necessary
because the properties would already have been defined in the Designer.
In the Activity.AddView line we see that:
• the Left property is set to 20%x, 20% of Activity.Width.
• the Top property is set to 10dip, 10 density independent pixels.
• the Width property is set to 60%x, 60% of Activity.Width
• the Height property is set to 30dip, 30 density independent pixels.
pnlTest.Initialize("") Initializes the Panel, no EventName required.
pnlTest.Color = Colors.Blue Sets the Background color to blue.
btnTest.Initialize("btnTest") Initializes the Button, EventName = btnTest.
btnTest.Text = "Test" Sets the button text to "Test"
lblPanelTitle.Initialize("")
3.12 B4A Adding views by code 57 B4X Visual Designer
lblPanelTitle.Color = Colors.Red
lblPanelTitle.TextSize = 16
lblPanelTitle.TextColor = Colors.Blue
lblPanelTitle.Gravity = Gravity.CENTER_HORIZONTAL + Gravity.CENTER_VERTICAL
lblPanelTitle.Text = "Panel test"
Similar to the title Label.
Activity.AddView(pnlTest,0,lblTitle.Top + lblTitle.Height + 10dip, 100%x, 50%y)
Adds the Panel pnlTest to the Activity.
• the Left property is set to 0
• the Top property is set to 10dips below the title Label
• the Width property is set to 100%x, the total Activity.Width
• the Height property is set to 50%y, half the Activity.Height
pnlTest.AddView(lblPanelTitle, 20dip, 10dip, 100dip, 30dip)
Adds the Label lblPanelTitle to the Panel pnlTest at the given position and with the given
dimensions in dips.
pnlTest.AddView(btnTest, 50dip, 50dip, 100dip, 60dip)
Adds the Button btnTest to the Panel pnlTest at the given position and with the given dimensions in
dips.
And the result on the device:
3.12.2 B4i Adding views by code 58 B4X Visual Designer
3.12.2 B4i Adding views by code
The source code is in the source code directory: B4i\AddViewsByCode
For the positions and dimensions of the views on the screen two options are available:
• Points, scale independent.
The default density is 160 dpi dots per inch (pixels per inch).
All coordinates refer to this density, iOS adapts the values internally to the scale.
No dip values like in Android.
• %x and %y represent distances proportional to the current screen width and height.
20%x = 0.2 * Page1.RootPanel.Width
90%y = 0.9 * Page1.RootPanel.Height
20%x = PerXToCurrent(20) PerXToCurrent is a Keyword %x is the Shortcut
90%y = PerYToCurrent(90)
3.12.2 B4i Adding views by code 59 B4X Visual Designer
Example:
Let us put a Label on top of the screen and a Panel below it with a Label and a Button on it:
The whole code.
Sub Process_Globals
Public App As Application
Public NavControl As NavigationController
Private Page1 As Page
Private lblTitle, lblPanelTitle As Label
Private pnlTest As Panel
Private btnTest As Button
End Sub
Private Sub Application_Start (Nav As NavigationController)
NavControl = Nav
Page1.Initialize("Page1")
Page1.Title = "Page 1"
Page1.RootPanel.Color = Colors.White
NavControl.ShowPage(Page1)
lblTitle.Initialize("")
lblTitle.Color = Colors.Red
lblTitle.Font = Font.CreateNew(20)
lblTitle.TextColor = Colors.Blue
lblTitle.TextAlignment =lblTitle.ALIGNMENT_CENTER
lblTitle.Text = "Title"
pnlTest.Initialize("")
pnlTest.Color = Colors.LightGray
btnTest.InitializeCustom("btnTest", Colors.Black, Colors.Blue)
btnTest.SetBorder(1, Colors.Black, 5)
btnTest.Text = "Test"
lblPanelTitle.Initialize("")
lblPanelTitle.Color = Colors.Red
lblPanelTitle.Font = Font.CreateNew(16)
lblPanelTitle.TextColor = Colors.Blue
lblPanelTitle.TextAlignment = lblPanelTitle.ALIGNMENT_CENTER
lblPanelTitle.Text = "Panel test"
End Sub
Private Sub Page1_Resize(Width As Int, Height As Int)
Page1.RootPanel.AddView(lblTitle, 20%x, 10, 60%x, 30)
Page1.RootPanel.AddView(pnlTest, 10%x, lblTitle.Top + lblTitle.Height + 10, 80%x,
30%y)
pnlTest.AddView(lblPanelTitle, 20, 10, 100, 30)
pnlTest.AddView(btnTest, 50, 50, 100, 60)
End Sub
3.12.2 B4i Adding views by code 60 B4X Visual Designer
Code explanations:
Declaring the views in Process_Globals.
Private lblTitle, lblPanelTitle As Label
Private pnlTest As Panel
Private btnTest As Button
Initializing the different views in Application_Start:
lblTitle.Initialize("") Initializes the Label, no EventName required.
lblTitle.Color = Colors.Red Sets the Background color to red.
lblTitle.Font = Font.CreateNew(20) Sets the text size to 20.
lblTitle.TextColor = Colors.Blue Sets the text color to blue.
lblPanelTitle.TextAlignment = lblPanelTitle.ALIGNMENT_CENTER
Sets the label text alignment to ‘CENTER’.
lblTitle.Text = "Title" Sets the label text to 'Title'.
If the Label had been added in the Designer, all the above code wouldn't have been necessary
because the properties would already have been defined in the Designer.
pnlTest.Initialize("") Initializes the Panel, no EventName required.
pnlTest.Color = Colors.LightGray Sets the Background color to light gray.
btnTest.InitializeCustom("btnTest", Colors.Black, Colors.Blue)
Initializes the Button, EventName = btnTest, TextColor, PressedTextColor.
btnTest.SetBorder(1, Colors.Black, 5) Sets a Border with the given Width, Color and
CornerRadius.
btnTest.Text = "Test" Sets the button text to "Test".
lblPanelTitle.Initialize("")
lblPanelTitle.Color = Colors.Red
lblPanelTitle.Font = Font.CreateNew(16)
lblPanelTitle.TextColor = Colors.Blue
lblPanelTitle.TextAlignment = lblPanelTitle.ALIGNMENT_CENTER
lblPanelTitle.Text = "Panel test"
Similar to the title Label.
Note that we add the views to their parent views in Page1_Resize and not in Application_Start
because the real size of Page1.RootPanel is not known before!
Private Sub Page1_Resize(Width As Int, Height As Int)
Page1.RootPanel.AddView(lblTitle, 20%x, 10, 60%x, 30)
Adds the view to the Page1.RootPanel.
In the Page1.RootPanel.AddView line we set:
• the Left property to 20%x, 20% of Page1.RootPanel.Width,
• the Top property to 10, 10 points independent of the device scale,
• the Width property to 60%x, 60% of Page1.RootPanel.Width,
• the Height property to 30, 30 points independent of the device scale.
3.12.2 B4i Adding views by code 61 B4X Visual Designer
Page1.RootPanel.AddView(pnlTest, 10%x, lblTitle.Top + lblTitle.Height + 10, 80%x, 30%y)
Adds the Panel pnlTest to the Page1.RootPanel.
• the Left property is set to 0
• the Top property is set to 10 points below the title Label
• the Width property is set to 100%x, the total Page1.RootPanel.Width
• the Height property is set to 30%y, 30% of the Page1.RootPanel.Height
pnlTest.AddView(lblPanelTitle, 20, 10, 100, 30)
Adds Label lblPanelTitle to Panel pnlTest at the given position and with the given dimensions in
points.
pnlTest.AddView(btnTest, 50, 50, 100, 60)
Adds Button btnTest to Panel pnlTest at the given position and with the given dimensions in points.
And the result:
3.12.3 B4J Adding nodes by code 62 B4X Visual Designer
3.12.3 B4J Adding views by code
The source code is in the source code directory: B4J\AddViewsByCode
In B4J there are no dip, %x nor %y values, only pixel values.
If you want use %x and %y values, you must do it in the MainForm_Resize event routine.
The MainForm_Resize event is also raised when the program starts, just after AppStart.
Example:
Let us put a Label on top of the form, a Pane below it with a Label on it and a Pane at the bottom of
the form with three Buttons.
3.12.3 B4J Adding nodes by code 63 B4X Visual Designer
Code explanations:
Declaring the nodes in Process_Globals.
Sub Process_Globals
Private fx As JFX
Private MainForm As Form
Private lblTitle, lblPanelTitle As Label
Private pnlTest, pnlTools As Pane
Private btnCut, btnCopy, btnPaste As Button
End Sub
Initializing and adding the different nodes in AppStart:
MainForm.Title = "Add nodes by code" Sets the Form title
MainForm.Resizable = True Sets the Form being resizable.
MainForm.SetWindowSizeLimits(310, 300, 1200, 800) Sets the min and max form sizes.
lblTitle.Initialize("") Initializes the Label, no EventName required.
CSSUtils.SetBackgroundColor(lblTitle, fx.Colors.Red) Sets the Background color to red.
lblTitle.TextSize = 20 Sets the text size to 20.
lblTitle.TextColor = fx.Colors.White Sets the text color to white.
lblTitle.Alignment = "CENTER" Sets the label text alignment to ‘CENTER’.
lblTitle.Text = "Title" Sets the label text to 'Title'.
If the Label had been added in the Designer, all the above code wouldn't have been necessary
because the properties would already have been defined in the Designer.
pnlTest.Initialize("") Initializes the Panel, no EventName required.
CSSUtils.SetBackgroundColor(pnlTest, fx.Colors. RGB(240, 255, 240))
Sets the Background color to white.
CSSUtils.SetBorder(pnlTest, 1, fx.Colors.Black, 0)
Sets the Border color to black and the corner radius to 0.
The rest of the initialization code is like the code above.
We add the nodes. In B4J Views are called Nodes, therefore AddNode instead of AddView.
We add lblTitle, pnlTest and pnlTools to the MainForm.RootPane.
MainForm.RootPane.AddNode(lblTitle, 0.1 * 600, 10, 0.8 * 400, 30)
MainForm.RootPane.AddNode(pnlTest, 0.1 * 600, lblTitle.Top + lblTitle.Height + 10, 0.8
* 600, 0.8 * 400)
And we add lblPanelTitle to pnlTest and the buttons to pnlTools.
MainForm.RootPane.AddNode(lblTitle, 20, 20, 400, 30)
MainForm.RootPane.AddNode(pnlTest, 20, 20, 50, 50)
MainForm.RootPane.AddNode(pnlTools, 10, 10, 50, 60)
pnlTest.AddNode(lblPanelTitle, 20, 10, 100, 30)
pnlTools.AddNode(btnCut, 50, 10, 70, 40)
pnlTools.AddNode(btnCopy, 50, 10, 70, 40)
pnlTools.AddNode(btnPaste, 50, 10, 70, 40)
3.12.3 B4J Adding nodes by code 64 B4X Visual Designer
In the Private Sub MainForm_Resize routine we resize the nodes.
Private Sub MainForm_Resize (Width As Double, Height As Double)
lblTitle.Left = 20
lblTitle.SetSize(Width - 40, 30)
pnlTools.Left = 0
pnlTools.SetSize(Width, 60)
pnlTools.Top = Height - pnlTools.Height
pnlTest.Left = lblTitle.Left
pnlTest.Top = lblTitle.Top + lblTitle.Height + 20
pnlTest.SetSize(Width - 40, pnlTools.Top - lblTitle.Height - 60)
lblPanelTitle.Left = 20
lblPanelTitle.SetSize(Width - 80, 30)
btnCopy.Left = (Width - btnCopy.Width) / 2
btnCut.Left = btnCopy.Left - btnCut.Width - 20
btnPaste.Left = btnCopy.Left + btnCut.Width + 20
End Sub
And the result:
The positions and
sizes are adjusted to
the form size.
Or resized to the minimum size.
The same can be better done in the Designer with
anchors and Designer Scripts!
See next chapters.
3.13 Anchors 65 B4X Visual Designer
3.13 Anchors
The Horizontal Anchor and Vertical Anchor properties are very powerful to adapt to different
screen sizes.
3.13.1 Horizontal Anchor
The horizontal anchor property can take three values:
• LEFT
This is the default value.
The left edge is anchored to the left edge of the
parent view with the distance given in the Left
property.
Left and Top anchors are shown.
• RIGHT
The right edge is anchored to the right edge of the
parent view with the distance given in the Right Edge
Distance property.
The Left property is no longer available because it is
defined by the width and the right anchor!
The dot on top and on the right edge
show the anchors.
• BOTH
Both edges are anchored.
The Width property is no longer available because it
is defined by the anchors!
Setting the Horizontal Anchor property to BOTH is
like using the SetLeftAndRight function in the
Designer Scripts.
The dots on top and on the two
edges show the anchors.
3.13 Anchors 66 B4X Visual Designer
3.13.2 Vertical Anchor
The vertical anchor property can take three values:
• TOP
This is the default value.
The top edge is anchored to the top edge of the
parent view with the distance given in the Top
property.
Left and Top anchors are shown.
• BOTTOM
The bottom edge is anchored to the bottom edge of
the parent view with the distance given in the Bottom
Edge Distance property.
The Top property is no longer available because it is
defined by the Height and the bottom anchor!
The dot on the left and on the
bottom edge show the anchors.
• BOTH
Both edges are anchored.
The Height property is no longer available because it
is defined by the anchors!
Setting the Vertical Anchor property to BOTH is
like using the SetTopAndBottom function in the
Designer Scripts.
The dots on the left and the two
edges show the anchors.
3.13 Anchors 67 B4X Visual Designer
What happens when we set the horizontal anchor of the two views below to BOTH and change the
parent view width?
The left view’s right edge is anchored to the right edge of the parent view with the Right Edge
Distance.
The right view’s left edge is anchored to the left edge of the parent view with the Left distance.
If we increase the width of the parent view, we get the layout below.
The left view’s right edge is still at the Right Edge Distance from the parent view’s right edge.
The right view’s left edge is still at the Left distance from the parent view’s left edge.
The result is an overlapping of both views.
In this case you must adjust the views in the Designer Scripts with the SetLeftAndRight method!
For example:
LeftView.SetLeftAndRight(0, 67%x)
RightView.SetLeftAndRight(33%x, 100%x)
3.13 Anchors 68 B4X Visual Designer
3.13.3 AnchorChecker
In the top right corner of the Abstract Designer, you find the button to check if the
anchors are coherent.
When you click on all views with noncoherent anchors are displayed in red.
Otherwise, you’ll get this message.
3.13 Anchors 69 B4X Visual Designer
Example with ‘wrong’ anchors.
The B4J source code is in the Getting Started\SourceCode\CheckAnchors folder.
The layout:
After the click on :
3.13 Anchors 71 B4X Visual Designer
3.13.4 Example project
The examples shown in this chapter are based on the DesignerAnchor project.
The source code is in the Getting Started\SourceCode\DesignerAnchor folder.
The example is made with B4A, but the principle is exactly the same with B4i and B4J
First, we add a label on top of the screen which should cover the whole width and stay on top.
In the AbstractDesigner right-click somewhere on the screen, the menu below will be displayed:
Click on .
On the left side appears the list
of the views you can add to the
layout.
Click on .
The Label is added.
Move the label’s upper left corner to the
upper left corner of the screen and stretch
it to fill the whole width of the screen.
3.13 Anchors 72 B4X Visual Designer
Click somewhere else on the screen to
remove the red anchors.
The left and top anchors are displayed.
Click again on the Label and we see these properties:
Left = 0
Top = 0
Width = 320 full layout width
Height = 40
Now we change the ‘Horizontal Anchor’ property:
Click on BOTH.
We see that the properties changed:
Left, Top and Height are still the same.
But Width has disappeared and is replaced by
Right Edge Distance = 0
Its value = 0 because the right edge is on the right edge of
the screen.
Set the other properties like in the picture.
Now we see the top anchor and the anchors on the left and
the right edge.
3.13 Anchors 73 B4X Visual Designer
Now, let us add a Panel at the bottom of the
screen covering also the whole screen width.
The properties look like in the picture. We set the Horizontal Anchor to BOTH.
Same as for Label1.
We set the Vertical Anchor to BOTTOM.
The Top property is replaced by the:
Bottom Edge Distance = 0 property.
Its value = 0 because we anchor the bottom edge of Panel1
to the screens bottom edge.
We see the three anchors.
And set the other properties like this.
3.13 Anchors 74 B4X Visual Designer
Now we add a second label onto Panel1.
Click on Panel1 to select it.
Add the label.
Move and size the label like in the picture
with the Left, Top, Width and Height properties
like in the list below.
In the Views Tree window, we see that Label2 is shifted to the
right because its parent view is Panel1 and not the Activity like for
Label1 and Panel1!
Set the Horizontal and Vertical Anchors to .
The properties
Left = 10 and
Top = 10 remain the same.
Right Edge Distance = 10 and
Bottom Edge Distance = 10
The two values are equal to 10 because we want a ‘frame’
around Label2.
Set the other properties like in the picture.
3.13 Anchors 75 B4X Visual Designer
And the result looks like the pictures below in portrait and landscape screen orientations.
To demonstrate the anchor feature we move, in the Abstract Designer, the top edge of Panel1
upwards.
We see that the bottom edge of Label2
remains at its place!
3.13 Anchors 76 B4X Visual Designer
Now, we add a ListView onto the left half of the We set the vertical anchor to BOTH.
screen and vertically positioned between And set the other properties like in the picture.
Label1 and Panel1 leaving a small space.
Now, we add a ScrollView on the right We set the horizontal anchor to RIGHT.
half of the screen also positioned between We set the vertical anchor to BOTH.
Label1 and Panel1 leaving a small space. And set the other properties like in the picture.
3.13 Anchors 77 B4X Visual Designer
In the code we:
- Load the layout.
- Fill the ListView and the ScrollView.
Sub Activity_Create(FirstTime As Boolean)
Activity.LoadLayout("Main")
FillListView
FillScrollView
End Sub
The two filling routines.
Sub FillListView
Private i As Int
For i = 0 To 20
ListView1.AddSingleLine("Test " & i)
Next
End Sub
Sub FillScrollView
Private i As Int
Private lblHeight = 30dip As Int
For i = 0 To 20
Private lbl As Label
lbl.Initialize("lbl")
ScrollView1.Panel.AddView(lbl, 0, i*lblHeight, 100%x-20dip, lblHeight-1dip)
lbl.Color = Colors.Blue
lbl.TextColor = Colors.White
lbl.Text = "Test " & i
lbl.Tag = i
Next
ScrollView1.Panel.Height = i * lblHeight
End Sub
And the result:
In portrait and landscape screen orientations.
We see that the anchors work fine.
But we see that there is a big gap between the
ListView and the ScrollView.
3.13 Anchors 78 B4X Visual Designer
Why do we have this gap?
Because we set the Horizontal Anchor of the ListView to LEFT
and the Horizontal Anchor of the ScrollView to RIGHT.
But the Width property remains the same and that’s why we get the gap between the two views
when the screen width is wider than the layout screen width.
To adjust the width, we add two lines in the DesignerScripts.
Click on to show the DesignerScripts window.
Here we comment AutoScaleAll and add the following two lines:
'AutoScaleAll
ListView1.Width = 50%x - 20dip
ScrollView1.SetLeftAndRight(50%x + 10dip, 100%x - 10dip)
The anchors are valid in the AbstractDesigner but not in Designer Scripts.
For ListView1 it’s enough to set its Width property.
But for ScrollView1 we need to define both properties Left and Right which is done with
SetLeftAndRight because the RIGHT anchor is lost.
And the new result in landscape
orientation.
3.13 Anchors 79 B4X Visual Designer
3.13.5 Nested layouts
Let’s say that we want to build a layout such as below where the screen is split into two halves.
If we try to build this layout with a single layout file, we will quickly meet a problem.
We will add this designer script to split the screen:
pnlTop.SetTopAndBottom(0, 50%y)
pnlBottom.SetTopAndBottom(50%y, 100%y)
3.13 Anchors 80 B4X Visual Designer
The problem is that anchors are applied right before the designer script is executed, so the anchors
will not be updated when the panels are resized.
This means that we will not be able to use anchors and will need to set the size of all the views in
the designer script.
However, there is a better solution, we can split the layout into three nice and clean layout files and
load them with:
Sub Globals
Private WebView1 As WebView
Private pnlTop As B4XView
Private pnlBottom As B4XView
End Sub
Sub Activity_Create(FirstTime As Boolean)
Activity.LoadLayout("Main")
pnlTop.LoadLayout("Top")
pnlBottom.LoadLayout("Bottom")
WebView1.LoadUrl("https://www.b4x.com")
End Sub
The only designer script needed is for the two panels in the main layout.
Note that the variant size doesn't matter. The nested layouts will be resized based on the parent
panels sizes. Look also at the anchors.
Main lyout Top layout Bottom layout
3.14 Designer Scripts 81 B4X Visual Designer
3.14 Designer Scripts
One of the most common issues that Android and iOS developers face is the need to adapt the user
interface to devices with different screen sizes, it is much less important in B4J.
As described in the visual designer tutorial, you can create multiple layout variants to match
different screens.
However it is not feasible nor recommended to create many layout variants.
The Designer Scripts will help you fine tune your layout and easily adjust it to different screens and
resolutions.
The idea is to combine the usefulness of the visual designer with the flexibility and power of
programming code.
You can write a simple script to adjust the layout based on the dimensions of the current device and
immediately see the results. No need to compile and install the full program each time.
You can also immediately see the results in the Abstract Designer. This allows you to test your
layout on many different screen sizes.
Picture from the SecondProgram project.
3.14 Designer Scripts 82 B4X Visual Designer
3.14.1 General
Every layout file can include script code. The script is written inside the Visual Designer in the
Script window:
There are two types of scripts:
- Script – General, the general script that will be applied to all variants.
- Script – Variant, specific code can be written for each variant.
Once you press on the Run Script button (or F5), the script is executed, and the connected device /
emulator and abstract designer will show the updated layout.
The same thing happens when you run your compiled program. The (now compiled) script is
executed after the layout is loaded.
The general script is first executed followed by the variant specific script.
The script language is very simple and is optimized for managing the layout.
3.14 Designer Scripts 83 B4X Visual Designer
3.14.2 The menu
Ctrl + C Copy
Ctrl + X Cut
Ctrl + V Paste
Ctrl + Z Undo
Ctrl + Shift + Z Redo
Ctrl + Q Block Comment
Ctrl + W Block Uncomment
Outdent
Indent
F3 Find / Replace
F5 Run
3.14 Designer Scripts 84 B4X Visual Designer
3.14.3 Supported Properties
The following properties are supported:
- Left / Right / Top / Bottom / HorizontalCenter / VerticalCenter –
Gets or sets the view's position. The view's width or height will not be changed.
- Width / Height - Gets or Sets the view's width or height.
- TextSize - Gets or sets the text size.
You should not use 'dip' units with this value as it is already measured in physical units.
- Text - Gets or sets the view's text. TextSize and Text properties are only available to views that
show text.
- Image - Sets the image file (write-only). Only supported by ImageView.
- Visible - Gets or sets the view's visible property.
3.14.4 Supported Methods
- SetLeftAndRight (Left, Right) - Sets the view's left and right properties. This method changes
the width of the view based on the two values.
- SetTopAndBottom (Top, Bottom) - Sets the view's top and bottom properties. This method
changes the height of the view based on the two values.
3.14.5 Supported Keywords
- And / Or - Same as the standard And / Or keywords.
- False / True - Same as the standard False / True keywords.
- Min / Max - Same as the standard Min / Max keywords.
- Landscape / Portrait - Detects if the layout is in landscape or portrait.
Can be used with If / Then.
- AutoScale - Autoscales a view based on the device physical size. Example: AutoScale(Button1)
- AutoScaleAll - Autoscales all layout views.
- AutoScaleRate - Sets the scaling rate, a value between 0 and 1. The default value is 0.3
Example: AutoScaleRate(0.5)
- ActivitySize - Returns the approximate activity size measured in inches.
- If . Else If . Else . Then condition blocks - Both single line and multiline statements
are supported. The syntax is the same as the regular If blocks.
3.14 Designer Scripts 85 B4X Visual Designer
3.14.6 Autocomplete
When you begin typing, the AutoComplete function shows all possible keywords or view names
containing the written text with the help of the selected keyword.
Example: Au, shows all AutoScale methods.
Example: Writing bt, shows all views containing the characters ‘b’ and ‘t’.
3.14 Designer Scripts 86 B4X Visual Designer
3.14.7 Select a view in the DesignerScript with Ctrl + Click
You can select a view directly in the DesignerScript with Ctrl + Click.
Examples with the SecondProgram.
When the cursor in on a view name.
And you press Ctrl,
The view name is highlighted in blue
and the cursor becomes a hand.
If you click now, the view is selected.
You see the view name in the Properties window and the views border is colored in red in the
Abstract Designer
3.14 Designer Scripts 87 B4X Visual Designer
3.14.8 Notes and tips
- %x and %y values are relative to the view that loads the layout.
Usually it will be the activity or main page. However, if you use Panel.LoadLayout then it will be
relative to this panel.
- (B4A only) Use 'dip' units for all specified sizes (except of TextSize). By using 'dip' units the
values will be scaled correctly on devices with higher or lower resolution.
- In most cases it is not recommended to create variants with scales other than 1.0. When you add
such a variant you will be given an option to add a normalized variant instead with a scale of 1.0.
- Variables - You can use variables in the script. You do not need to declare the variables before
using them (there is no Private, Public nor Dim keyword in the script).
- (B4A only) Activity.RerunDesignerScript (LayoutFile As String, Width As Int, Height As Int) - In
some cases it is desirable to run the script code again during the program. For example, you may
want to update the layout when the soft keyboard becomes visible. Activity.RerunDesignerScript
method allows you to run the script again and specify the width and height that will represent
100%x and 100%y. For this method to work all the views referenced in the script must be declared
in Sub Globals.
Note that this method should not be used to handle screen orientation changes. In that case the
activity will be recreated, and the script will run during the Activity.LoadLayout call.
3.15 AutoScale 88 B4X Visual Designer
3.15 AutoScale
AutoScale includes three functions:
• AutoScaleRate(rate)
• AutoScale
• AutoScaleAll
Larger devices offer a lot more available space. The result is that even if the physical size of a view
is the same, it just "feels" smaller.
Some developers use %x and %y to specify the views size. However, the result is far from being
perfect. The layout will just be stretched.
The solution is to combine the "dock and fill" strategy with a smart algorithm that increases the
views size and text size based on the running device physical size.
The AutoScale function is based on the standard variant (320 x 480, scale = 1.0).
Since B4A version 3.2 AutoScale considers the dimensions of the variant defined in the layout.
For other screen sizes and resolutions AutoScale calculates a scaling factor based on the equations
below.
delta = ((100%x + 100%y) / (320dip + 430dip) - 1)
rate = 0.3 'value between 0 to 1.
scale = 1 + rate * delta
AutoScale multiplies the Left / Top / Width and Height properties by the scale value.
If the view has a Text property this one is also multiplied by the scale value.
You can play with the 'rate' value. The rate determines the change amount in relation to the device
physical size.
Value of 0 means no change at all. Value of 1 is almost like using %x and %y: If the physical size is
twice the size of the standard phone, then the size will be twice the original size.
Values between 0.2 and 0.5 seem to give good results. The default value is 0.3.
Be careful when you ‘downsize’ a layout defined for a big screen to a small screen. The views may
become very small.
Note: The size of the CheckBox and RadioButton images is the same for all screen sizes.
The abstract designer is useful to quickly test the effect of this value.
Functions:
• AutoScaleRate(rate) Sets the rate value for above equations.
Example: AutoScaleRate(0.5) Sets the rate value to 0.5.
• AutoScale(View) Scales the given view.
Example: AutoScale(btnTest1)
This is equivalent to :
btnTest1.Left = btnTest1.Left * scale
btnTest1.Top = btnTest1.Top * scale
btnTest1.Width = btnTest1.Width * scale
btnTest1.Height = btnTest1.Height * scale
btnTest1.TextSize = btnTest1.TextSize * scale
• AutoScaleAll Scales all the views in the selected layout
3.15 AutoScale 89 B4X Visual Designer
3.15.1 Simple AutoScale example with only one layout variant
We will AutoScale a simple example with the layout below, source code AutoScaleExample:
The example is written with B4A, but the principle is
similar for B4i.
Source code in the Getting Started\SourceCode folder.
We have:
• 2 Labels on the top of the screen:
o lblTitle
o lblSubTitle
• 1 ScrollView in the middle of the screen:
o scvTest containing
▪ one Panel pnlSetup with
▪ 10 Labels lblTest1 to lblTest10
▪ 10 EditTexts edtTest1 to edtTest10
• 1 Panel at the bottom of the screen:
o pnlToolBox
o Containing 3 Buttons
▪ btnTest1
▪ btnTest2
▪ btnTest3
We have two layout files Main for the main screen and Panel for the ScrollView content with only
one layout variant 320 x 480 scale = 1 (160dip) for each.
3.15 AutoScale 90 B4X Visual Designer
Main layout file:
We want to have the:
• Two Labels on the top of the screen and
centered horizontally on the screen.
• ToolBox Panel on the bottom of the screen and
centered horizontally.
• ScrollView filling the space between the
SubTitle Label and the ToolBox Panel.
Note: Look at the anchors especially for the ToolBox
and the ScrollView.
First, we set the AutoScaleRate to 0.5 with:
AutoScaleRate(0.5)
and AutoScale all views with:
AutoScaleAll
The two Labels are already on top so there is no need
to change the Top property for different screen sizes.
But we need to center them on the screen with:
lblTitle.HorizontalCenter = 50%x
lblSubTitle.HorizontalCenter = 50%x
Then we center the ToolBox with:
pnlToolBox.HorizontalCenter = 50%x
And we set the Vertical Anchor property of the ToolBox to BOTTOM to ‘anchor’ it to the bottom
of the screen.
This is needed because not all screens have the same width / height ratio and in landscape
orientation it would even not be visible.
Then we set the Vertical Anchor property of the ScrollView to BOTH because we want it to fill the
space between lblSubTitle and pnlToolBox.
We set the Bottom Edge Distance property to 60 to leave a small space of 10dip between the
ScrollView and the ToolBox.
Code in the Designer Scripts of the Main layout in the area for All variants script:
'All variants script
'Set the rate value to 0.5
AutoScaleRate(1)
'Scale all the views in the layout
AutoScaleAll
'Center the Labels horizontally to the middle of the screen
lblTitle.HorizontalCenter = 50%x
lblSubTitle.HorizontalCenter = 50%x
'Center the ToolBox Panel horizontally to the middle of the screen
pnlToolBox.HorizontalCenter = 50%x
'Center the ScrollView horizontally to the middle of the screen
scvTest.HorizontalCenter = 50%x
3.15 AutoScale 91 B4X Visual Designer
Panel layout file:
All the Label and EditText views are on a Panel.
This is needed because they occupy more space than
the screen size.
This layout file is loaded into the ScrollView.Panel.
For this layout file we set also the AutoScaleRate value
to 0.5 with:
AutoScaleRate(0.5)
and AutoScale all views with:
AutoScaleAll
There is no need to modify any view after auto scaling.
Code in the Designer Scripts of the Panel layout in the area for ‘All variants script’:
The whole code is very simply:
'All variants script
AutoScaleRate(0.5)
AutoScaleAll
In the program the code is the following:
Sub Activity_Create(FirstTime As Boolean)
' load the Main layout file
Activity.LoadLayout("Main")
' load the ScrollView.Panel layout file
scvTest.Panel.LoadLayout("Panel")
' set the ScrollView.Panel.Height to the pnlSetup Panel height
scvTest.Panel.Height = pnlSetup.Height
End Sub
We load the Main layout file into the Activity with Activity.LoadLayout("Main").
We load the Panel layout file into the ScrollView with scvTest.Panel.LoadLayout("Panel").
We set the ScrollView.Panel.Height to the height of the Panel in the layout file with:
scvTest.Panel.Height = pnlSetup.Height
3.15 AutoScale 92 B4X Visual Designer
Screenshots of an 800/1280 10'' screen Emulator with different Rate values:
All the images have been downsized.
Rate = 0 Rate = 0.1 Rate = 0.3
Rate = 0.5 Rate = 0.7 Rate = 1.0
3.15 AutoScale 93 B4X Visual Designer
Screenshots of an 480/800 7'' screen Emulator with different Rate values:
Rate = 0 Rate = 0.1 Rate = 0.3
Rate = 0.5 Rate = 0.7 Rate = 1
Screenshots of a 320/480 3.5'' screen Emulator. The Rate value has no influence.
3.15 AutoScale 94 B4X Visual Designer
3.15.2 Same AutoScale example with portrait and landscape layout variants
Source code Getting Started\SourceCode\AutoScaleExample2:
The previous example doesn't look
good on smartphone screens with
landscape orientation.
So, we make a new layout variant for
landscape where we move the
ToolBox with the Buttons to the right
side of the screen.
The layout variant in the Main layout
file.
Note: Look at the anchors especially
for the ToolBox and the ScrollView.
3.15 AutoScale 95 B4X Visual Designer
The code in the Designer Script must be changed:
For the portrait variant in the Main layout file, we keep in the All variants script area only the
code below:
'All variants script
AutoScaleRate(0.5)
AutoScaleAll
Setting the rate value and autoscaling all the views.
All the other code is moved to the Variant specific script: 320x480,scale=1 area:
'Variant specific script: 320x480,scale=1
'Center the Labels horizonally to the middle of the screen
lblTitle.HorizontalCenter = 50%x
lblSubTitle.HorizontalCenter = 50%x
'Center the ToolBox Panel horizontally to the middle of the screen
pnlToolBox.HorizontalCenter = 50%x
'Center the ScrollView horizontally to the middle of the screen
scvTest.HorizontalCenter = 50%x
For the landscape variant we have in the All variants script area the same code as for the
portrait variant:
'All variants script
AutoScaleRate(0.5)
AutoScaleAll
And in the 'Variant specific script: 480x320,scale=1 area:
We center the Title and SubTitle Labels to the middle of the space between the left screen border
and the left ToolBox boarder with:
lblTitle.HorizontalCenter = pnlToolBox.Left / 2
lblSubTitle.HorizontalCenter = pnlToolBox.Left / 2
We center the ToolBox vertically to the middle of the screen height with:
pnlToolBox.VerticalCenter = 50%y
We set the right border of the ToolBox to right border of the screen with:
pnlToolBox.Right= 100%x
We set the Vertical Anchor property of the ScrollView to BOTH to fill the space between the
bottom SubTitle Label border and the bottom screen border with.
3.15 AutoScale 96 B4X Visual Designer
And the whole code:
'Variant specific script: 480x320,scale=1
'Center the ToolBox Panel vertically
pnlToolBox.VerticalCenter = 50%y
'Center the Labels horizontally to the middle
'of the space between the left screen border
'and the left boarder of the ToolBox Panel
lblTitle.HorizontalCenter = pnlToolBox.Left / 2
lblSubTitle.HorizontalCenter = pnlToolBox.Left / 2
'Center the ScrollView horizontally to the middle
'of the space between the left screen border
'and the left ToolBox Panel border
scvTest.HorizontalCenter = pnlToolBox.Left / 2
For the Panel layout file:
The code for the portrait variant remains the same.
We add the same code for the landscape variant:
'All variants script
AutoScaleRate(0.5)
AutoScaleAll
Here too, no code in the 'Variant specific script: 480x320,scale=1 area.
3.16 UI Cloud B4A and B4i 97 B4X Visual Designer
3.16 UI Cloud B4A and B4i
With UI Cloud you can check how layouts look on different devices.
When you have defined a layout in the Designer Scripts you can send it to the UI Cloud in the tool’s
menu.
The layout file is sent to the B4A site, and you get a page showing your layout on different devices
with different screen resolutions and densities.
It's a very convenient tool to check the layout look without needing to have physical devices.
UI Cloud checks only layouts defined in the Designer, not layouts defined in the code!
Example of a UI Cloud screen:
3.16 UI Cloud B4A and B4i 98 B4X Visual Designer
Some other devices:
You can click on an image to show it in real size:
3.17 Designer Script Extension 99 B4X Visual Designer
3.17 Designer Script Extension / DesignerUtils Class
Designer Script Extension is a Class, called DesignerUtils, which allows calling B4X code from the
visual designer scripts.
The B4X code is not executed at design time.
The best way to explain what you can do with Designer Script Extension is by a simple example.
It is a B4XPages project, the source code is in the VisualDesignerSourceCode\DSEFirstSteps
folder.
We will develop a small ToolBox with some buttons at the bottom, which are dimensioned to cover
the entire width.
We have two layouts:
• MainPage, this has a Panel / Pane at the bottom of the page.
• ToolBox, it is a Panel / Pane with the five Buttons.
In the code in the B4XMainPage module is:
In Sub Class_Globals, we declare the DesignerUtils Class.
Sub Class_Globals
Private Root As B4XView
Private xui As XUI
Private DU As DDD 'declares the DesignerUtils Class
End Sub
In the B4XPage_Created routine, we:
• register the calling module
• initialize the DesignerUtils Class
• register the DesignerUtils Class
• load the ‘MainPage’ layout
• load the ‘ToolBar’ onto each view in the DesignerUtils ‘toolbar’ class defined in the
ToolBar layout.
Private Sub B4XPage_Created (Root1 As B4XView)
Root = Root1
'the lines below must be before LoadLayout
xui.RegisterDesignerClass(Me) 'register the calling module
DU.Initialize 'initialize DesignerUtils
xui.RegisterDesignerClass(DU) 'register DesignerUtils
Root.LoadLayout("MainPage")
'gets the views in the ToolBar Class
For Each p As B4XView In DU.GetViewsByClass("toolbar")
'loads the layout in each view, only one in our case
p.LoadLayout("ToolBar")
Next
8 The Designer / 8.11 AutoScale 100 Basic4Android Beginner's Guide
End Sub
3.17 Designer Script Extension 101 B4X Visual Designer
And the ScaleToolBar routine, which is called in the DesignerScript in the ToolBar layout.
We calculate the space between the Buttons and their width and set their Left and Width properties.
'scales the ToolBar layout
'this routine is called in the Desiger ToolBar layout
Private Sub ScaleToolBar(DesignerArgs As DesignerArgs)
Private i, Origin, Space, Width As Int
Private Parent As B4XView
Parent = DesignerArgs.Parent
Private pnl As B4XView
pnl = DesignerArgs.GetViewByName("pnlToolBar")
pnl.Width = Parent.Width
Space = Parent.Width / 80 '1.25 % of the total width
Width = (Parent.Width - (pnl.NumberOfViews + 1) * Space) / pnl.NumberOfViews
Origin = (Parent.Width - Width * pnl.NumberOfViews - (pnl.NumberOfViews + 1) * Space)
/ 2 + Space
For i = 0 To pnl.NumberOfViews - 1
Private v As B4XView
v = pnl.GetView(i)
v.Left = Origin + i * (Width + Space)
v.Width = Width
Next
End Sub
3.17 Designer Script Extension 102 B4X Visual Designer
In the layout files we have:
• In the MainPage layout,
We have the pnlToolBar Panel / Pane at the bottom.
And we add the “toolbar” class in the Script.
DDD.AddClass("toolbar", pnlToolBar)
DDD is the DesignerUtils Class.
"toolbar" is the Class name.
pnlToolBar is the object concerned by the class, there can be more than one object.
• In the ToolBar layout.
Five Buttons on a Panel / Pane.
And the Script code:
DDD.CollectViewsData collects all data of the views in this layout.
B4XMainPage.ScaleToolBar calls the ScaleToolBar routine in the B4XMainPage module
3.17 Designer Script Extension 103 B4X Visual Designer
3.17.1 Define a routine for the Designer
You can define a routine for the Designer in any module even classes.
Example in a Class.
We define a ‘standard class’: MyDesignerUtils and save it in the parent folder.
We define a routine which sets the background color, the text, the text size and the text color for a
B4XView.
Code in the Class:
The routine looks like this:
'Sets the BackgroundColor, Text, TextSize and TextColor
'Parameters: B4XView, BackgroundColor, Text, TextSize, TextColor
Private Sub SetColorTextSizeColor(DesignerArgs As DesignerArgs)
Private bv As B4XView
bv = DesignerArgs.GetViewFromArgs(0)
bv.Color = DesignerArgs.Arguments.Get(1)
bv.Text = DesignerArgs.Arguments.Get(2)
bv.TextSize = DesignerArgs.Arguments.Get(3)
bv.TextColor = DesignerArgs.Arguments.Get(4)
End Sub
• In green the comments for the intellisense.
• Private Sub
Do not to declare it as Public.
• SetColorTextSizeColor
The routine name.
• (DesignerArgs As DesignerArgs)
The routine signature, always the same for any routine.
• And your code.
With the predefined signature above the Designer knows that this routine is dedicated for him.
The comments before the routine will be displayed in the intellisense in the Designer Scripts.
You MUST specify the required parameters to ensure that the user knows what he is supposed to
enter as parameters. It is the only way to know it.
In the layout we have a Button: Button1.
And the code in the Designer Script:
MyDesignerUtils.SetColorTextSizeColor(Button1, 0xFF0000FF, "Test", 20, 0xFFFFFF00)
3.17 Designer Script Extension 104 B4X Visual Designer
When you type My in the Designer you will see the Class in the intellsense:
Then, select MyDesignerUtils and you will see the available methods:
Then, select the method and you will see the comments:
3.17 Designer Script Extension 105 B4X Visual Designer
3.17.2 Make a b4xlib library
You can also easily save the class as a b4xlib library.
I changed the bas file name to MyDesignerUtilsLib.bas.
Define a simple text file: manifest.txt with this content:
Version=1.0
Author=Klaus CHRISTL
Nothing else, there are no dependencies.
Then, zip both files with 7zip and name it MyDesignerUtilsLib.b4xlib.
Save it in the AdditionalLibaries\B4X folder.
Refresh the Libraries Manager Tab and you will see the new library:
Check it and type in the Designer Scripts My:
And you see it.
3.17 Designer Script Extension 106 B4X Visual Designer
3.17.3 DesigerUtils methods B4X code
The methods below are available in B4X code.
You need to declare the DesignerUtils library in Class_Globals.
Private DU As DDD 'declares the DesignerUtils Class
3.17.3.1 AddRuntimeView
AddRuntimeView (View As B4XView, Name As String, LayoutParent As B4XView, Classes As List)
Adds the data for a view added at runtime.
3.17.3.2 GetAllLayoutParents
Returns a list with all layout parents (views).
3.17.3.3 GetViewByName
GetViewByName (LayoutParent As B4XView, Name As String)
Gets a view by its name. Make sure to call DDD.CollectViewsNames in the designer script.
Example:
Private pnl As B4XView
pnl = DesignerArgs.GetViewByName("pnlToolBar")
3.17.3.4 GetViewData
GetViewData (View As B4XView)
Returns the view's data or Null if not exists. Make sure to call CollectViewsData in the designer
script.
3.17.3.5 GetViewsByClass
GetViewsByClass (Class As String)
Get all views with the given class attribute. The attribute is added in the designer script with
DDD.AddClass.
Example:
For Each p As B4XView In DU.GetViewsByClass("toolbar")
'loads the layout in each view, only one in our case
p.LoadLayout("ToolBar")
Next
3.17 Designer Script Extension 107 B4X Visual Designer
3.17.3.6 Initialize
Initializes the DesignerUtils class. Called once in any B4XMainPage module where it is used ???
DU.Initialize 'initialize DesignerUtils
3.17.3.7 RemoveLayoutData
RemoveLayoutData (LayoutParent As B4XView)
Removes the data that was stored for this layout.
This is relevant if you previously called AddClass or CollectViewsData.
3.17 Designer Script Extension 108 B4X Visual Designer
3.17.4 DesigerUtils methods Script code
The methods below are available in Designer Script code only.
3.17.4.1 AddClass
AddClass (Name As String, View1 As B4XView, View2 As B4XView …)
Adds a class attribute to one or more views.
Parameters: ClassName, One or more views.
Example:
DDD.AddClass("numpad", Pane1, Pane2, Pane3)
3.17.4.2 CollectViewsData
Collects data about the loaded views. The views can be retrieved at runtime with GetViewByName
method.
Example:
DDD.CollectViewsData
3.17.4.3 Color
Converts a string hex or name color to an int color.
Example:
MyDesignerUtils.SetColorTextSizeColor(Button1, DDD.Color(0xFF0000FF), "Test", 20,
DDD.Color(0xFFFFFF00))
3.17.4.4 CreateToolbar
CreateToolbar (DesignerArgs As DesignerArgs)
The panel should include a single label. The label text properties will be used and the label will be
removed.
Parameters: Panel, EventName, [label, tag]+
Example:
DDD.CreateToolbar(Pane1, "BottomToolbar", DDD.ToChr(0xF015), "home", _
DDD.ToChr(0xF217) & " abc", "cart", DDD.ToChr(0xF1D9), "send")
3.17.4.5 SetText
SetText(DesignerArgs As DesignerArgs)
Sets the first text that fits.
Parameters: View, One or more strings.
Example:
DDD.SetText(Button1, "Sunday", "Sun", "1")
3.17 Designer Script Extension 109 B4X Visual Designer
3.17.4.6 SetTextAndSize
SetTextAndSize(DesignerArgs As DesignerArgs)
Extends SetText with adjustment of the text size. Note that the second parameter is the base text
size.
Parameters: View, Base text size, One or more strings.
Example:
TextSize = 16
DDD.SetTextAndSize(Button1, TextSize, "Sunday", "Sun", "1")
DDD.SetTextAndSize(Button2, TextSize, "Monday", "Mon", "2")
DDD.SetTextAndSize(Button3, TextSize, "Tuesday", "Tue", "3")
DDD.SetTextAndSize(Button4, TextSize, "Wednesday", "Wed", "4")
DDD.SetTextAndSize(Button5, TextSize, "Thursday", "Thu", "5")
DDD.SetTextAndSize(Button6, TextSize, "Friday", "Fri", "6")
DDD.SetTextAndSize(Button7, TextSize, "Saturday", "Sat", "7")
3.17.4.7 SetTextSizeSteps
SetTextSizeSteps(DesignerArgs As DesignerArgs)
Sets the text size steps that will be used when setting the text with SetTextAndSize. Default value is
1, 0.8.
3.17.4.8 SpreadControlsHorizontally
SpreadControlsHorizontally (DesignerArgs As DesignerArgs)
Spreads the controls evenly.
Parameters: Panel, Maximum size of each control (0 for no maximum), Minimum gap between
controls.
Example:
DDD.SpreadControlsHorizontally(Pane1, 120dip, 10dip)
3.17.4.9 ToChr
ToChr(DesignerArgs As DesignerArgs) As String
Same as B4X Chr keyword. Expects a single codepoint parameter.
Example:
DDD.CreateToolbar(Pane1, "BottomToolbar", DDD.ToChr(0xF015), "home", _
DDD.ToChr(0xF217) & " abc", "cart", DDD.ToChr(0xF1D9), "send")
4 Open a layout file directly from the IDE 110 B4X Visual Designer
4 Open a layout file directly from the IDE
The ‘normal’ way to open the Designer is to click on Open Designer in the Designer menu.
Two other methods exist to open a specific layout file directly from the IDE.
4.1 Directly in the code
When you hover over a layout name, in the code with the Ctrl key pressed, the layout name is
highlighted like a link.
When you click on it, the Designer will be opened with the selected layout.
4.2 From the Files Manager Tab
In the Files Manager Tab you see at the end of each layout filename (open designer).
When you hover over it, the mouse cursor changes to the hand and when you click on it the
Designer is opened with the selected layout file.
