dockable side panels

by **silly freak** » 29 Jun 2009, 20:23

http://mtgrares.blogspot.com/2009/04/new-version.html

Tim said...

Feature request:

Is there any way the right hand panel (the one that contains card information and picture) could be removed?

Could it:
be incorporated into a different column?
be changed into a panel that only appears while your mouse is over a card?
be made dockable?
be made minimizable?

It would give you a lot more play area real-estate...
April 27, 2009 7:28 AM

i thought that a possible way to do this would be JToolBar: It allows to place things dockable in the border of a border layout, with the option for moving it out of the window (enabling more efficient use of multi-screen environments)
however, since this is not the intention of JToolBar, the options are limited: at each side, there can only be one tool bar.

it can be easily incorporated in the code, by:
snippets from GuiDisplay3#initComponents()

Code: Select all: ... JPanel left = ... ... JToolBar bar = new JToolBar(); bar.add(left); getContentPane().add(bar, BorderLayout.WEST); ... JPanel right = ... ... bar = new JToolBar(); bar.add(right); getContentPane().add(bar, BorderLayout.EAST); ...

a real docking framework would be better of course. there are a few out there with wide range in scope and licensing. on the other side it needs more effort. promising options are
https://jdocking.dev.java.net/
http://www.infonode.net/index.html?idw
haven't looked at any of them though

by **mtgrares** » 30 Jun 2009, 16:29

I like the idea of dockable side panels. I've been thinking about trying to update the gui. Since many of the cards use JOptionPane no really big improvements could be made like using a videogame graphics library. I could update the mana pool and maybe let the user select a background. It would be nice if the right "card detail" panel would slide in when the mouse is over a card and then slide out.

by **Rob Cashwalker** » 30 Jun 2009, 19:23

I'd even suggest (if feasable) that the mouse-over effect be a pop-up panel with the text and graphic. Just embed the existing panels inside another, which is hidden by default. Then when mouse-over a card, it moves the panel to the mouse location and is unhidden. Mouse moves off the card, the panel is hidden again.

by **mtgrares** » 02 Jul 2009, 18:45

Yeah displaying the full size card image when your mouse is over a card sounds good. I'm not sure whether to show both things, and by "both" I mean the card text as MTG Forge sees it and the card image.

by **Rob Cashwalker** » 02 Jul 2009, 20:48

The MTGForge text includes important info like counters and damage... it's vital. The card image can be scaled down a bit, and they can be side-by-side.

by **DennisBergkamp** » 03 Jul 2009, 08:03

These are all good ideas. Too bad coding GUIs in Java is such a headache. Not much unlike repeatedly slamming your head against a brick wall ](*,)