Simulating 'drawer' behaviour on Windows

[Ben Rubinstein]

Mark Wieder <mwieder at ...> writes:
> My knee-jerk reaction is "don't do that" - Windows users expect their
> applications to look and act like Windows applications, and OSX users
> expect their applications to look and act like OSX applications. I do
> the snapping technique on Windows apps myself sometimes, but nothing I
> hope that can be mistaken for an ersatz drawer.

I'm not hoping to make it look like an 'os x' drawer; but I do find the UI
technique of a panel that's clearly linked to, but clearly subsidiary to, a main
window to be a useful one.  I don't believe that it has never been seen on
Windows (including before OS X 'blessed' it); the fact that OS X has provided
core support for this technique doesn't mean that using the same technique on
Windows is now a sign of platform-treachery!

Many other conventions have started on one platform or another (Mac die hards
could make some pithy comments here!) and spread to the other; palettes probably
being a good example, not originally native to either platform, now very well
accepted on both.

If Rev incorporated this into the engine for Windows (etc), I would certainly
not want it to look exactly like the OS X version, for that reason (in my
Bugzilla entry I specifically mentioned not having rounded corners, for a
trivial example).


Derek Bump <webmaster at ...> writes:

> I would honestly say for aesthetic reasons, don't make the drawer a 
> palette.  Make it a normal stack with no window decorations and create 
> your own simulated border.
> 
> That way if someone drags your main stack, the drawer will not "raise" 
> above other windows while your main stack does not.

I agree - if I can get it working well enough, I'll be using a normal stack with
no decorations.  However, if I can't get it working well enough, then I'll use a
standard palette on Windows, without any special display or moving behaviour.


Derek also wrote: 
> Thus far from my testing I've been able to successfully create a drawer 
> that slides open and close on either side of the window.  The only thing 
> it can't do is keep the "focus" on the main window.  But if that's the 
> only side effect, I can live with that.

The problem I have with focus is more than that; my problem is that other normal
stack/windows can interleave between the 'main' window and its drawer, and I
seem to be powerless to stop it.  If you or anyone else has a solution to this
I'd be very grateful to hear it.
 
  Ben Rubinstein               |  Email: benr_mc at cogapp.com
  Cognitive Applications Ltd   |  Phone: +44 (0)1273-821600
  http://www.cogapp.com        |  Fax  : +44 (0)1273-728866