gui-cs.Terminal.Gui/docfx/docs/View.md

View Deep Dive

View Lexicon & Taxonomy

Hierarchy

• @"Terminal.Gui.View" - The base class for implementing higher-level visual/interactive Terminal.Gui elements. Implemented in the @Terminal.Gui.View base class.

• SubView - A View that is contained in another view and will be rendered as part of the containing view's ContentArea. SubViews are added to another view via the @"Terminal.Gui.View.Add(Terminal.Gui.View)" method. A View may only be a SubView of a single View. Each View has a @Terminal.Gui.View.Subviews property that is a list of all Subviews that have been added.

• @"Terminal.Gui.View.SuperView" - The View that is a container for SubViews. Each View has a @Terminal.Gui.View.SuperView property that references it's SuperView after it has been added.

• Child View - A view that holds a reference to another view in a parent/child relationship. Terminal.Gui uses the terms "Child" and "Parent" sparingly. Generally Subview/SuperView is preferred.

• Parent View - A view that holds a reference to another view in a parent/child relationship, but is NOT a SuperView of the child. Terminal.Gui uses the terms "Child" and "Parent" sparingly. Generally Subview/SuperView is preferred.

Layout

See the Layout Deep Dive and the Arrangement Deep Dive.

Drawing

See the Drawing Deep Dive.

Navigation

See the Navigation Deep Dive.

Application Concepts

• TopLevel - The v1 term used to describe a view that can have a MenuBar and/or StatusBar. In v2, we will delete the TopLevel class and ensure ANY View can have a menu bar and/or status bar (via Adornments).

  • NOTE: There will still be an Application.Top which is the View that is the root of the Application's view hierarchy.

• Runnable - TBD

• Modal - Modal - The term used when describing a View that was created using the Application.Run(view) or Application.Run<T> APIs. When a View is running as a modal, user input is restricted to just that View until Application.Run exits. A Modal View has its own RunState.

  • In v1, classes derived from Dialog were originally thought to only work modally. However, Wizard proved that a Dialog-based class can also work non-modally.
  • In v2, we will simplify the Dialog class, and let any class be run via Applicaiton.Run. The Modal property will be set by Application.Run so the class can detect it is running modally if it needs to.