Screen Layout

I am seeing something that I don’t quite understand. I have a screen with a bunch of components, including a button that opens another screen. If I open that screen, but then drag it out of the way (so that only part of it is visible on the screen), the components on the other screen are dragged with it after I release the mouse. Do you understand what I mean? Is there a way around this?

I think I know what is gonig on. By dragging the one window “out of the way” you are increasing the size of the underlying workspace. Your other window is probably maximized, which means that it fills in all available space that is not occupied by docked windows. So, it stretches to fill out the larger workspace.

Ok, I think I have it working a different way now (just for the benefit for anyone else who might be doing something similar). This smaller window is sort of a log viewer (like the Console in FPMI), and typically they will want to drag it out of the way, look at something, and drag it back. What I did was make it a floating container within the parent window, and I can drag the container completely out of the way without distorting anything. I’m not sure why a container won’t make the window stretch, but it works.

They just don't. Window bounds don't change because of anything in their interiors. Contents of a window can be outside the window's visible area. The workspace (aka desktop) bounds on the other hand have to accomodate all of the open windows.

Your workaround sounds great.

I’ve attached a custom palette that contains a floating container that is ready to use in case someone can find a use for it. It has the underlying code that makes it work right out of the box. Just change the garish green to something normal, drop some controls in it, and it’s ready to go.
Float.fpal (1.94 KB)

Thanks, this sort of contribution is really appreciated.

Cheers for this little code sample. Works like a charm!