Docking and anchoring controls on Windows Mobile

Before reading the text, let's talk about how Windows Mobile's UI design feels. Develop Windows Mobile Device Applications in different environmentsProgramThe interface design is also difficult. When you first create an MFC Application for Pocket PC 2003se in evc4.0, the size of the dialog interface under resource is specified by the user. In order to make the dialog interface consistent with the interface of the real device, we need to manually adjust the dialog size. The biggest headache is that the interface will not change automatically when the screen is switched between portrait and landscape. In Visual Studio 2005, if C ++ is used for nativeCodeThe development interface is similar to that in evc4.0. However, using C # For management code development is much better. Because the form is the same as the form on the real device, this can be viewed directly from the Form Designer.
Back to docking and anchoring controls on Windows Mobile. "Docking", as its name implies, is to dock a control on the top, bottom, left, right, or middle of the form (called fill ). "Anchoring" means anchoring. It means that if a ship encounters a storm, it needs to be anchored in the harbor. I think when using Visual Studio, you can drag windows such as solution, debug, and property to dock them at a certain position. This is what docking and anchoring mean.
So how can we set the docking and anchoring of the control on Windows Mobile? The method is simple. We can implement this function without writing a line of code. In the Property Window of a control, there are two items: anchor and dock. We can set them in these two places. As shown in 1:

Figure 1: Control anchor and dock options

So what is the difference between using anchor/dock and not using anchor/dock? By comparing the two images below, we can intuitively feel it. Figure 2 shows the screen in portrait mode. Figure 3 and figure 4 show the screen in Landscape mode. Figure 3 shows the screen without using docking and anchoring. Figure 4 shows the screen with docking and anchoring. As you can see, if docking and anchoring are used, the control is automatically adjusted when the screen is switched in portrait and landscape modes. Its role is self-evident.

Figure 2: screen in portrait Mode

Figure 3: docking and anchoring screens not used in portrait Mode

 

Figure 4: docking and anchoring screen in portrait Mode

Through the comparison above, we can clearly feel the role of docking and anchoring in the Windows Mobile UI design. Docking and anchoring are good features for developers and users.