FloatPaneControlBar

Overview

The FloatPaneControlBar component is an extended version of the Ardisia ButtonBar that serves multiple purposes for the Pane class. First, it automatically detects when a Pane is floated and creates a button that can be used to minimize/restore/focus the Pane. Second, the float bar handles maximizing Panes by filling the screen with the Pane and keeping its position and size locked to the screen.

Works similarly to the Windows OS taskbar.

Creating the FloatPaneControlBar Component

The FloatPaneControlBar extends the Ardisia ButtonBar and can be added to any container that implements IVisualElementContainer.

Using the FloatPaneControlBar Component

This component is designed to be very easy to implement. Simply add the control bar to the application at any location and when a Pane is floated, a button will automatically be created that can be used to activate the respective floated Pane.

The FloatPaneControlBar listens for events that Panes dispatch that bubble up to the SystemManager. Therefore developers do not need to manually hook a Pane into the FloatPaneControlBar.

To prevent a Pane from being managed by the FloatPaneControlBar, set the Pane's "includeInControlBar" property to "false" before floating the Pane and it will be ignored by the FloatPaneControlBar.

Manually Removing Panes From The ControlBar

To programmatically remove tracked Panes from the control bar, grab the dataProvider for the FloatPaneControlBar and remove the Pane from the collection via vanilla collection methods.

ActivePane

You can retrieve the currently active Pane via the "activePane" property.

Maximization

When managed Panes have their "maximized" property set to true, FloatPaneControlBar will handle the maximization and set and lock the Pane to the screen dimensions. You can set padding from the screen edges for the maximized size via the "maximizeTop", "maximizeRight", "maximizeBottom", and "maximizeLeft" properties.

Often times, it makes sense to put the FloatPaneControlBar at the bottom of the application.

Closing Panes

When a Pane is closed, it will automatically be removed from the FloatPaneControlBar's list of managed Panes.

Animations & Effects

Minimization has a hardwired parallel effect that is a Fade and Move. See the "paneEaser" and "animationDuration" properties to adjust the effect.

Focus

When a Pane is activated via the FloatPaneControlBar, focus is moved to the floated Pane's focus manager.

Accessibility

Inherits the accessibility of the Flex SDK ButtonBar. Can be tabbed to and buttons and Panes can be activated via the spacebar. Once a Pane is activated, focus will move to the floated Pane.

Selected Custom Events

ACTIVE_PANE_CHANGE
ardisia.components.floatPaneControlBar.events.FloatPaneControlBarEvent
Dispatched when the "activePane" property changes.

Themes & Skinning

Skins are provided for the Spark, London, and Stockholm themes.

Example

See the FloatPaneControlBar demo application for example code.

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