Overview of PHP User Interface Design
From Delphi for PHP Documentation Wiki
Summary: Provides an overview of designing a user interface with Delphi for PHP.
A graphical user interface (GUI) consists of one or more windows that let users interact with your application. At design time, those windows are called forms . The "Designer" and forms help you create professional-looking user interfaces quickly and easily.
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[edit] Overview of the Designer
When you create an application, the IDE automatically displays the appropriate type of form on the "Design" tab. As you drop components, such as labels and text boxes, onto the form from the "Tool Palette", Delphi for PHP generates the underlying code to support the application. You can use the "Object Inspector" to modify the properties of components and the form. The results of those changes appear automatically in the source code on the "Code" tab. Conversely, as you modify code with "Code Editor", the changes you make are immediately reflected on the "Design" tab.
The "Tool Palette" provides controls to simplify the creation of forms. When creating a Windows Form, for example, you can use the <class namespace="System.Windows.Forms">
MainMenu</class>
component to create a customized main menu in minutes. After placing the component on a form, you type the main menu entries and commands in the boxes provided.
[edit] About Forms
Forms are the foundation of all applications developed using Delphi for PHP . You design the user interface for your application using forms. Forms can contain menus, buttons, edit boxes, dialog boxes, or any other objects you need to make your application work the way you want.
You develop your application by customizing the main form, and adding and customizing forms for other parts of the interface. You customize forms by adding components and setting properties.
You can change these features and any other properties of the form at design time using the "Object Inspector".
[edit] Designing a UI for HTML Browsers
Designing a UI for a PHP application that displays in HTML browsers has some constraints that a standard application UI does not have. For instance, in HTML you cannot overlap one control over each other if you want your application to display properly on all browsers.
| Note: |
You can using advanced browser syntax for overlap UI controls, but that will only work on some browsers |
While laying out your UI in the Delphi for PHP "Designer", when two or more components overlap, a yellow exclamation icon is shown on the top left corner of each component. If that happens, there will not be any errors on the execution of the script. However, the visual results are unexpected, most likely resulting in one of the components not being displayed. Therefore, the best rule of thumb for designing a UI for HTML browsers is not to execute any page that displays a yellow exclamation icon in the "Designer". Rework the layout of controls so nothing overlaps.
[edit] Designer Options
You can configure the "Designer" by setting options that affect the appearance and behavior of the "Designer". For example, you can adjust the grid settings, or show component captions. "Designer" options are on the "Page Designer" page of the "Environment Options" in the Delphi for PHP "Options" dialog box.
