Hi
I am designing a kind of tedious interface and some things are hidden behind others.
Is there a way to zoom in when working on my user interface in xojo so I can see it better to align things properly? I have a decent sized monitor but it’s still hard to deal with. Especially with overlapping transparent items.
Thanks
-Tim
Container controls make this a lot easier
Overlapping items that you hide & show is a recipe for flicker on Windows & just a pain to manage in general
On OS X you can Zoom the Screen by using CTRL + MouseScrollWheel and more. You can activate it in the Accessibility Settings.
Or just set the left top width & heights using the inspector fields
Actually, Windows has the same feature as Mac OS X built in :
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/make-screen-items-bigger-magnifier#1TC=windows-7
If you have windows running as a VM on a mac, the Ctrl-mousewheeloption works on the VM too.
There are so much benefits running windows as a VM on a mac, this is just one.
[quote=221002:@Joost Rongen]If you have windows running as a VM on a mac, the Ctrl-mousewheeloption works on the VM too.
There are so much benefits running windows as a VM on a mac, this is just one.[/quote]
Indeed that is an added comfort, especially since the Mac magnifying is variable when the Windows native one is not.
That does not dispense from making sure everything is OK on a physical PC, if just to make sure it does not flicker too much. And lets not forget there are a significant number of users who do not have the luxury of owning a Mac, so I posted the method for them.
Actually, on PC, one can also use the scaling setting.
Hi Norman
When you say over lapping items in Windows is a recipe for flickering…
I’m currently programming for web. But eventually want to make my app native for Mac and Windows.
On the web app I create custom containers full of controls for various menu options. And depending on what menu option is clicked make these visible or invisible.
Are you saying if I do this in Windows it creates flickering?
If so what’s the best strategy to avoid this?
Seperate screens / pages?
Being for warned
Would save a lot of refactoring
Cheers
James
Don’t use Xojo but VS is probably the best solution. 
But without joking, it can be problematic when controls are overlapping and then you resize the window. On Windows 8.1 and 10 flicker isn’t a big problem if you prevent overlapping controls.
Oh and don’t make autocomplete after being completed again autocomplete as in the code editor of the Xojo IDE, then the IDE will be completely redrawn causing flicker. 
[quote=221018:@James Nicholson-Plank]Hi Norman
When you say over lapping items in Windows is a recipe for flickering…
I’m currently programming for web. But eventually want to make my app native for Mac and Windows.
On the web app I create custom containers full of controls for various menu options. And depending on what menu option is clicked make these visible or invisible.
Are you saying if I do this in Windows it creates flickering?
[/quote]
Since I cant see what it is your doing it can be hard to say exactly what would work best
Containers are a great option just for being able to organize related parts of a complex UI
And a tab panel or page panel may be a great way to organize them instead of hiding and showing them
YOU can hide & show but, as Andre notes, resizing will flicker like mad when you overlap controls
TabPanel and PagePanel tend to flicker more than Container Controls, I think.
Embed containers on tab or page panels
This is what I do within quite a big windows application.
I am lucky because most of my users have double screen and use my program full screen. Nobody is complaining about the flickering. 
And of course I tried to follow the best practices while screenpainting, just to avoid most of it.