COMSOL 6.3 - Sketch and Grid Layout

The section in the tab has two options: and . The menu allows you to align groups of form objects relative to each other.

The option displays a sketch grid to which objects are snapped. Note that the grid used in sketch layout mode is different from the grid used in grid layout mode. The default setting for sketch layout mode is to show no grid lines. Without grid lines visible, a form object being dragged is snapped relative to the position of the other form objects.

If the option is selected, the upper left corner of a form object being dragged is snapped to the grid line intersection points.

In the window of the form, you can change the settings for the sketch grid:

The sketch layout mode is pixel based, and the positioning of form objects is indicated as the coordinates of the top-left corner of the form object measured from the top-left corner of the screen. The x-coordinate increases as the object moves to the right, and the y-coordinate increases as the object moves from the top of the screen to the bottom. You can set the absolute position of a form object in the section of its window.

Form objects are allotted as much space as required or as specified by their and values. Form objects are allowed to overlap, when working in sketch layout mode.

Button and toggle button form objects, with their setting set to , have an and option for the and values. The option allows for pixel-based input and the option adapts the size of the button to the size of the string.

Switch to grid layout mode by clicking in the group in the ribbon.

The buttons and menus in the ribbon group give you easy access to commands for:

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Changing the row and column growth rules between , , and , which determine the layout when the user interface is resized ( and ).

After switching to grid layout mode, the form window shows blue grid lines.

To review the example shown here, open the application from the Application Libraries under > .

To define the number of rows and columns, click the button in the ribbon.

The section in the window shows column widths and row heights.

To interactively select a form, as displayed in the Form Editor, click the top-left corner of the form, or select the form in the application tree.

A blue frame is now shown. To interactively change the overall size of a form, you can drag its right and bottom border. The form does not need to be selected for this to work.

Note that if you switch from sketch to grid layout mode, all rows and columns will have the setting and the handles for the frame will not be displayed. If any of the rows and columns have the or setting set to , then the frame will display handles for resizing in the vertical or horizontal direction, respectively.

The size of the interactively resized frame will affect the initial size of the form only if the setting is set to . The size of the frame will also affect the initial size of the if its setting is set to .

Click the leftmost cell of a row to select it. The leftmost cells are only used for selecting rows; form objects cannot be inserted there. When a row is selected, the menu as well as the and commands are enabled in the ribbon tab. The figure below shows the fourth row highlighted.

The and the have the same three options:

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sets the row height or column width to the smallest possible value given the size of the form objects in that row or column.

You can interactively change the row height and column width by dragging the grid lines.

In this case, the number of pixels will be displayed and the or growth policy will be changed automatically to .

As an alternative to changing the or from the ribbon, you can right-click in a row or column (the light-blue area to the left or at the top of the form) and select from a menu.

The menu shown when right-clicking a row or column also gives you options for inserting, removing, copying, pasting, and duplicating rows or columns.

Click an individual cell to select it. A selected cell is shown with deeper blue grid lines.

You can select and to adjust the cell size and layout of your form objects.

When in grid layout mode, you can specify the margins that are added between the form object and the borders of its containing cell.

In the window of a form object, the section has the following options for :

If the or is set to and the growth policy of the column or row allows the form object to be resized, then you can specify a minimum width or height, respectively. The minimum size can be set to or . The option lets you specify a pixel value for the minimum size. The option allows for a minimum size of zero pixels, unless the form object contents require a higher value. The minimum size setting is used at runtime to ensure that scroll bars are shown before the form object shrinks below its minimum size.

Depending on the type of form object contained in a cell, the and values can be set to or , as described in Position and Size.

You can click and drag a rubber box to select multiple cells.

The menu gives you options for aligning form objects within a cell. You can also let a form object dynamically fill a cell horizontally or vertically.

As an alternative, you can right-click a form object and select from a context menu.

You can drag and drop form objects to move them. Click a form object to select it, and then drag it to another cell that is not already occupied with another form object.

If you drop the object in an already occupied cell, then the objects switch places.

If you use one of the more sophisticated Form Wizard templates you will automatically get a layout with a resizable graphics object.

If you do not use these templates, then, in order to make the graphics object of an application resizable, follow these steps:

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Change the setting for any row covering the graphics object to . To change this, click the leftmost column of the row you would like to access. Then, change the setting in the window of the form. Alternatively, right-click and select .

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Change the for any column covering the graphics object to . To change this, right-click the uppermost row of the column you would like to access and select .

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Select the graphics object and change both the and to . You can do this from the window or by right-clicking the graphics object and selecting > and > .

Following the steps above, you may find it easier to make graphics objects resizable by performing grid layout mode operations, such as adding empty rows and columns as well as merging cells. If you are already in grid layout mode, then a graphics object will default to in both directions.

You can select a rectangular array of cells in a form and move it to a new form. First, select the cells by using Ctrl+click or Shift+click.

Then, click the Extract Subform button in the ribbon.

This operation creates a new form with the selected cells and replaces the original cells with a form object of type . In the window of the subform, the reference points to the new form containing the original cells.

By using form collections, forms, and subforms, you can organize your user interface, for example, by grouping sets of input forms. The figure below shows part of a running application with a form collection using sections, forms, and subforms for , , , , and .

For more information on adding subforms to a form, see the previous section and the section “Form”.

To review the example shown here, open the application from the Application Libraries under > . In this example, the setting, available in the node in the application tree, is set to , whereas in the saved example it is set to .

When aligning forms vertically, as in the example above, you may want to ensure that all columns are of equal width. For this purpose, you can use the option in the window of a subform. The figure below shows part of the window for the form (left) with operatingConditions and for the form (right) with mixerProperties. The mixerProperties form has its set to the form operatingConditions.

In the subsection , you can specify the and margins that are added between form objects and the borders of their containing cells. These settings will affect all form objects contained in the form, with their individual set to ; See Cells.