use-revolution Digest, Vol 7, Issue 66

[Jim Lyons]

On Apr 11, 2004, at 8:32 PM, Graham wrote:

> Looking at the TD, it seems that to get a window to scroll, you make a
> group of all the objects in it, make it the same size as the stack 
> (iw. the
> same size as the window the user sees), and give the group a 
> scrollbar. The
> TD and the cookbook remain silent on the question of how you get 
> something
> which **needs** to scroll, i.e. how you get objects into the space 
> outside
> the boundaries of the group.

... and shortly after, BVG wrote:

> ... Now to get things scrolling you could set something within the 
> group to
> the target  size. ...

This is the best way I have found to do this. I make a graphic object 
as big as the expected contents of the group. It can be adjusted later 
if needed. Make the graphic small at first, then group it, add the 
scroll bar to the group, size the group to the window and lock it, then 
set the dimensions of the graphic.

> You can also drag your controls within the group around to get things
> scrolling, just use the "select grouped controls" mode and drag them
> out of bounds.

I've not had any luck with this method. Between the automatic sizing 
and scrolling of the group while you are trying to work, the group gets 
really twitchy and things can get stuck, or dance around while you try 
to drag them. Having a "panel" to work off of calms it down, but it's 
still tricky to work with manually. You'll notice that the scroll bar 
disappears when you are in edit group mode, so you have to leave that 
mode to scroll the group. To make it even trickier (with Rev 2.1.2 on 
OS X) the arrow tool won't operate it when you first leave edit group 
mode; you have to select the browse tool, then the arrow tool again.

If you are putting lots of the same type of object in the group, you 
can use this trick: don't use edit group mode; put the first object in 
the group, then use Select Grouped Controls and select and duplicate 
the object -- since it is in a group, the copy is too. HTH,

Jim Lyons