formLayout

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Synopsis

formLayout [-annotation string] [-attachControl string string int string] [-attachForm string string int] [-attachNone string string] [-attachOppositeControl string string int string] [-attachOppositeForm string string int] [-attachPosition string string int int] [-backgroundColor float float float] [-childArray] [-defineTemplate string] [-docTag string] [-dragCallback script] [-dropCallback script] [-enable boolean] [-enableBackground boolean] [-exists] [-fullPathName] [-height int] [-highlightColor float float float] [-isObscured] [-manage boolean] [-noBackground boolean] [-numberOfChildren] [-numberOfDivisions int] [-numberOfPopupMenus] [-parent string] [-popupMenuArray] [-preventOverride boolean] [-useTemplate string] [-visible boolean] [-visibleChangeCommand script] [-width int] [string]

formLayout is undoable, queryable, and editable.

Controls have four edges: top, left, bottom and right. There are only two directions that children can be positioned in, right-left and up-down. The attach flags take the direction of an attachment from the argument that names the edge to attach (the second argument). Any or all edges of a child may be attached. There are six ways to attach them:

• Attach to Form - Attaches an edge to the relevant side of the form layout. Thus -attachForm button3 "left" will attach the left edge of the button to the left edge of the form.
• Attach to Opposite Side of Form - Attaches an edge relative to the furthest side of the form layout.
• Attach to Another Control - Attaches an edge to the closest edge of the other control named.
• Attach to Opposite Side of Another Control - Attaches an edge relative to the furthest side of another control.
• Attach to Position - Attaches an edge to a position on the form layout. The position is given as a fixed fraction of the -nd/numDivisions value and as this value defaults to 100 it is easiest to think of it as a percentage of the form's size.
• Attach to Nothing - Attaches an edge to nothing. The size of the child control will determine this edge's position.

Each edge attachment may have an offset that acts to separate controls visually.

There is no default positioning relationship so to have children appear in the form they must have at least one edge attached in each direction.

Note: In the flag definitions the arguments follow these rules:

• control must be the name of an immediate child of the form layout.
• edge must be one of "top", "left", "bottom", or "right".
• position may range from 0 to the number of divisions as specified with the -nd/numberOfDivisions flag and gives the fraction of the width of the form as a measurement. This normally means 0-100 so position may be thought of as a percentage.
• offset is an integer value in pixels.

These are multi-use flags so any number of attachments may be made in a single command.

Note: Avoid making control attachments that form a loop in control dependencies. For example:

window;
string $form = `formLayout`;
string $btn1 = `button`;
string $btn2 = `button`;
string $btn3 = `button`;

formLayout -edit
    -attachControl $btn2 "top"   2 $btn1
    -attachControl $btn3 "top"   2 $btn2
    -attachControl $btn1 "right" 2 $btn3
$form;

showWindow;

$btn2 is attached to $btn1, $btn3 is attached to $btn2, and $btn1 is attached to $btn3. Thus, the placement of $btn1 is dependent on the placement of $btn3, which is dependent on the placement of $btn2, which is dependent on the placement of $btn1. The last control attachment will have created a loop in the dependencies.

To prevent runtime errors, Maya will ignore this attachment and instead issue a warning that a cyclical control attachment has been detected in the script.

Return value

In query mode, return type is based on queried flag.

Flags

Long name (short name)	Argument types	Properties
-annotation(-ann)	string
Annotate the control with an extra string value.
-attachControl(-ac)	string string int string
Arguments are: control, edge, offset, control Valid edge values are: "top" | "bottom" | "left" | "right". Attach a control to another control.
-attachForm(-af)	string string int
Arguments are: control, edge, offset. Valid edge values are: "top" | "bottom" | "left" | "right". Attach the specified control to the form, offset by the specified amount.
-attachNone(-an)	string string
Arguments are: control, edge Valid edge values are: "top" | "bottom" | "left" | "right". Attach a control to nothing.
-attachOppositeControl(-aoc)	string string int string
Arguments are: control, edge, offset, control Valid edge values are: "top" | "bottom" | "left" | "right". Attach a control to the opposite side of another control.
-attachOppositeForm(-aof)	string string int
Arguments are: control, edge, offset. Valid edge values are: "top" | "bottom" | "left" | "right". Attach a control to the opposite side of the form.
-attachPosition(-ap)	string string int int
Arguments are: control, edge, offset, position Valid edge values are: "top" | "bottom" | "left" | "right". Attach a control to a position in the form.
-backgroundColor(-bgc)	float float float
The background color of the control. The arguments correspond to the red, green, and blue color components. Each component ranges in value from 0.0 to 1.0. When setting backgroundColor, the background is automatically enabled, unless enableBackground is also specified with a false value.
-childArray(-ca)
Returns a string array of the names of the layout's immediate children.
-defineTemplate(-dt)	string
Puts the command in a mode where any other flags and args are parsed and added to the command template specified in the argument. They will be used as default arguments in any subsequent invocations of the command when templateName is set as the current template.
-docTag(-dtg)	string
Add a documentation flag to the control. The documentation flag has a directory structure like hierarchy. Eg. -dt render/multiLister/createNode/material
-dragCallback(-dgc)	script
Adds a callback that is called when the middle mouse button is pressed. The MEL version of the callback is of the form: global proc string[] callbackName(string $dragControl, int $x, int $y, int $mods) The proc returns a string array that is transferred to the drop site. By convention the first string in the array describes the user settable message type. Controls that are application defined drag sources may ignore the callback. $mods allows testing for the key modifiers CTL and SHIFT. Possible values are 0 == No modifiers, 1 == SHIFT, 2 == CTL, 3 == CTL + SHIFT. In Python, it is similar, but there are two ways to specify the callback. The recommended way is to pass a Python function object as the argument. In that case, the Python callback should have the form: def callbackName( dragControl, x, y, modifiers ): The values of these arguments are the same as those for the MEL version above. The other way to specify the callback in Python is to specify a string to be executed. In that case, the string will have the values substituted into it via the standard Python format operator. The format values are passed in a dictionary with the keys "dragControl", "x", "y", "modifiers". The "dragControl" value is a string and the other values are integers (eg the callback string could be "print '%(dragControl)s %(x)d %(y)d %(modifiers)d'")
-dropCallback(-dpc)	script
Adds a callback that is called when a drag and drop operation is released above the drop site. The MEL version of the callback is of the form: global proc callbackName(string $dragControl, string $dropControl, string $msgs[], int $x, int $y, int $type) The proc receives a string array that is transferred from the drag source. The first string in the msgs array describes the user defined message type. Controls that are application defined drop sites may ignore the callback. $type can have values of 1 == Move, 2 == Copy, 3 == Link. In Python, it is similar, but there are two ways to specify the callback. The recommended way is to pass a Python function object as the argument. In that case, the Python callback should have the form: def pythonDropTest( dragControl, dropControl, messages, x, y, dragType ): The values of these arguments are the same as those for the MEL version above. The other way to specify the callback in Python is to specify a string to be executed. In that case, the string will have the values substituted into it via the standard Python format operator. The format values are passed in a dictionary with the keys "dragControl", "dropControl", "messages", "x", "y", "type". The "dragControl" value is a string and the other values are integers (eg the callback string could be "print '%(dragControl)s %(dropControl)s %(messages)r %(x)d %(y)d %(type)d'")
-enable(-en)	boolean
The enable state of the control. By default, this flag is set to true and the control is enabled. Specify false and the control will appear dimmed or greyed-out indicating it is disabled.
-enableBackground(-ebg)	boolean
Enables the background color of the control.
-exists(-ex)
Returns whether the specified object exists or not. Other flags are ignored.
-fullPathName(-fpn)
Return the full path name of the widget, which includes all the parents
-height(-h)	int
The height of the control. The control will attempt to be this size if it is not overruled by parent layout conditions.
-highlightColor(-hlc)	float float float
The highlight color of the control. The arguments correspond to the red, green, and blue color components. Each component ranges in value from 0.0 to 1.0.
-isObscured(-io)
Return whether the control can actually be seen by the user. The control will be obscured if its state is invisible, if it is blocked (entirely or partially) by some other control, if it or a parent layout is unmanaged, or if the control's window is invisible or iconified.
-manage(-m)	boolean
Manage state of the control. An unmanaged control is not visible, nor does it take up any screen real estate. All controls are created managed by default.
-noBackground(-nbg)	boolean
Clear/reset the control's background. Passing true means the background should not be drawn at all, false means the background should be drawn. The state of this flag is inherited by children of this control.
-numberOfChildren(-nch)
Returns in an int the number of immediate children of the layout.
-numberOfDivisions(-nd)	int
Specify the number of horizontal and vertical divisions across the form. Value must be greater than 0.
-numberOfPopupMenus(-npm)
Return the number of popup menus attached to this control.
-parent(-p)	string
The parent layout for this control.
-popupMenuArray(-pma)
Return the names of all the popup menus attached to this control.
-preventOverride(-po)	boolean
If true, this flag disallows overriding the control's attribute via the control's right mouse button menu.
-useTemplate(-ut)	string
Forces the command to use a command template other than the current one.
-visible(-vis)	boolean
The visible state of the control. A control is created visible by default. Note that a control's actual appearance is also dependent on the visible state of its parent layout(s).
-visibleChangeCommand(-vcc)	script
Command that gets executed when visible state of the control changes.
-width(-w)	int
The width of the control. The control will attempt to be this size if it is not overruled by parent layout conditions.

Flag can appear in Create mode of command	Flag can appear in Edit mode of command
Flag can appear in Query mode of command	Flag can be used more than once in a command.

MEL examples

string $window = `window`;
string $form = `formLayout -numberOfDivisions 100`;
string $b1 = `button`;
string $b2 = `button`;
string $column = `columnLayout -adjustableColumn true`;
button; button; button;

formLayout -edit
    -attachForm     $b1     "top"    5
    -attachForm     $b1     "left"   5
    -attachControl  $b1     "bottom" 5 $b2
    -attachPosition $b1     "right"  5 75

    -attachNone     $b2     "top"
    -attachForm     $b2     "left"   5
    -attachForm     $b2     "bottom" 5
    -attachForm     $b2     "right"  5

    -attachForm     $column "top"    5
    -attachPosition $column "left"   0 75
    -attachControl  $column "bottom" 5 $b2
    -attachForm     $column "right"  5
$form;

showWindow $window;