Adding Attachments to Frame Controls

Making the Attachments

After you initiate define attachment mode, you actually define the attachments by clicking the mouse button in one component and dragging it to another. Each component can be attached at one of five different points: each side of a component and its center.

You can define only one attachment from each of these points. However, you can create many attachments to a single component section by defining the attachments at an attachment point from another component.

The section that owns the attachment is the section from which you initiate the drag. This section is referred to as the defining section. Knowing which section defines that attachment is important when you perform certain actions on the attachment. For example, to delete an attachment, you select {pseudo} in the Define Attachments window and then click in the defining section for that attachment.

Attaching the components from the side and from the center causes different results:

To...	Attach the regions from the...
resize the child component when the parent component is resized	side
move the child component when the parent component is resized	center

You can use side attachments to control component size, as explained in the following example:

Both a and b have their right sides attached to their common parent's right side, and b also has its bottom attached to its parent's bottom.

[Both a and b have their right sides attached to their common parent's right side, and b also has its bottom attached to its parent's bottom.]

If the parent grows from the right side, the right side of both a and b move along with the parent's right side, but the left sides of a and b do not.

[If the parent grows from the right side, the right side of both a and b move along with the parent's right side, but the left sides of a and b do not.]

If the parent grows by moving the bottom down, the bottom of b moves down as well.

[If the parent grows by moving the bottom down, the bottom of b moves down as well.]

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