Component Categories and Preferred Parents
Overview
Component Categories are used to highlight on a screen where an item is expected to be placed.
For example, a Tile Container has the Component Category "Tile Holder". If a user then drags a tile with "Tile Holder" specified as its Preferred Parent onto a screen that has a Tile Container it will highlight with a pink surround.
The PhixFlow palettes contain templates with component categories and preferred parent specified to help make creating screens easier. For example,:
- Header areas highlight when header items are dragged over a screen.
- Button bars highlight when buttons are dragged over a screen.
How to Configure Preferred Parents
Define a Component Category and apply it to an object, then any objects we want to be place in this object have this Component Category set as their Preferred Parent. A Component Category is just a label that is used to create an association. Objects can have multiple Preferred Parents and can also have their own Component Category.
Setup
- For the item you want to be the Parent,
- Open its properties.
- In Basic Settings → Component Category,
- If you have a Component Category already defined, click Component Category and from the window that opens drag the component category into the box.
- If you have not defined a Component Category yet, click Add New to create one.
- For all the template items that you want to be placed in this Component Category repeat the following:
- Open the template section in the repository where your desired items is held.
- It is advised to add this feature to a template, however if you have not yet made your component a template, simply open its properties from where it resides.
- Double click on item to open its Properties.
- In the Preferred Parent Categories section click Component Category.
- From the repository, drag the required Component Category onto the Preferred Parent Categories list and save your changes. This is illustrated below:
- Open the template section in the repository where your desired items is held.
When you are dragging a component from the palette, you can drop it onto any suitable container - it does not have to be a preferred parent. Simply hold the shift key to force the item into the desired location. See Moving Components on a Screen for more help on this subject.