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Review
Column Mover
Issue: 2.4 (March/April 2004)
Author: Brian Jones
Article Description: No description available.
Article Length (in bytes): 3,326
Starting Page Number: 8
RBD Number: 2402
Resource File(s): None
Related Web Link(s):
http://homepage.mac.com/cRedlien
Known Limitations: None
Full text of article...
I've used multi-column listboxes in REALbasic before, and each time users and testers have complained that they cannot reorder and resize the columns. I was able to come up with an acceptable workaround for resizing, but could never come up with a way to reorder the columns that was satisfactory. With REALbasic 5, REAL Software has addressed the resizing problem, but you still can't easily drag the columns to reorder them. Column Mover 2.5, on the other hand, does provide acceptable drag reordering in REALbasic that resembles that which is provided by Cocoa applications.
Column Mover works with REALbasic's built-in ListBox control, so there is no need to learn a new method for dealing with lists, and adding Column Mover to existing projects should not require significant rewriting of the existing code. All that needs to be done is to give your instance of the provided MovableColumn class a reference to the ListBox that it manages, and to set the dimensions and position of the MovableColumn instance to be the same as the appropriate ListBox. Multiple ListBoxes in the same window can be handled by multiple instances of MovableColumn.
The package includes a module, a resource file, and two images that need to be included. Be warned that the module is password protected, so if you run into a problem you will have to rely on the author to fix it. This should not be taken as a weakness, for it makes Column Mover no different from most third party add-ons, but it does bear mentioning.
Despite its simple setup requirements, Column Mover does have some quirks that require a bit of care be taken to make sure it reacts well in a full application. Some of these quirks include special requirements on the sizing of the columns and on handling resizing of the ListBox.
The one true drawback of Column Mover is its speed, or lack thereof. The drag reordering that Column Mover gives you is nowhere near as responsive as the reordering in Cocoa applications. REALbasic already has problems with the speed of its drawing in larger listboxes, so if your application will frequently require large listboxes, you may find that Column Mover will not work for you.
Column Mover is $20 shareware and looks to be worth every penny of it to developers for whom the unresponsive drawing will not be a problem. The developer seems to be releasing relatively frequent updates, and there are promises that Column Mover will continue to be updated and perfected. Column Mover provides a great way for REALbasic developers to add new functionality to their creations.
In Brief Product Column Mover 2.5 Contact Info http://homepage.mac.com/cRedlien Price $20 Pros Adds polish REALbasic doesn't provide Cons Can be slow Rating (1.0-5.0): 4.1
End of article.
Article copyrighted by REALbasic Developer magazine. All rights reserved.
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