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Layout Overview

The layout system places elements and controls on the screen in the most optimal way for the user to see them. There are two layout systems that RadControls work with:

  • Outer layout system: This is the Microsoft layout system for Winforms. This layout system arranges controls on the form and top-level windows on the desktop.

  • Inner layout system: The TPF layout system arranges elements within RadControls.

These two layout systems interact so that outer layouts affect inner and vice-versa. The interaction between inner and outer layout systems occurs between:

  • RadControl and RootElement

  • HostItem and HostedControl.

The topics in this help file focus on the inner layout system.

Layout Tasks

The layout system has two tasks:

  1. Set the bounds (location and size) of each element and invalidate affected parts of the control so that only relevant elements will be painted.

  2. Allow customization via overrides. The logic of the overrides calculate size and position of elements in the hierarchy. Note: The layout system must ensure that the calculation does not need to know about transformations in the elements (rotation, scaling, alignment, stretching, etc).

See Also

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