70-526 MCTS

Lining up controls in a graphical environment can be a difficult process. Having the grid on the form can help this process, but sometimes you need to line up several controls on a common line. Under the Format menu, there are many items that can help you to align and size controls on a particular placement or to a particular control.

The Format menu is in general used on groups of controls. When highlightng a group of controls, one of the controls will be the main control. The sizing handles of this control are coloured white, while the other controls have sizing handles coloured black. When applying any of the format options that are on this menu, the main control will be the one from which all of the other controls get sizing and formatting options applied to them.

Align

This sub-menu allows the alignment of selected controls with each other using the main control as the alignment reference.

Alignment	Description
Lefts	Puts the left-most edges in line with the main control.
Centers	Puts the center of the controls in line with the main control.
Rights	Puts the right-most edges of the controls in line with the main control.
Tops	Puts the top of the controls in line with the main control.
Middles	Puts the middle of the controls in line with the main control.
Bottoms	Puts the bottom of the controls in line with the main control.
To Grid	Snaps the top left of the selected control to the closest grid.

Make Same Size

Using the main control as a reference, the Make Same Size menu option makes the other selected controls the same size as the main control.

Sizing	Description
Width	Adjusts the width of all selected controls to the width of the main control.
Height	Adjusts the height of all selected controls to the height of the main control.
Both	Adjusts both the width and the height of all selected controls to the width and height of the main control.

Horizontal Spacing

The options under this menu change the horizontal spacing between selected controls.

Spacing	Description
Make Equal	Makes equal space between the selected controls using the left and right controls as the end points.
Increase	Increases the horizontal spacing by one grid unit based on the control with focus.
Decrease	Decreases the horizontal spacing by one grid unit based on the control with focus.
Remove	Removes the horizontal space so that the controls are aligned with their edges touching, based on the control with focus.

Vertical Spacing

The options under this menu change the vertical spacing between selected controls.

Spacing	Description
Make Equal	Makes equal space between the selected controls using the top and bottom controls as the end points.
Increase	Increases the vertical spacing by one grid based on the control with focus.
Decrease	Decreases the vertical spacing by one grid based on the control with focus.
Remove	Removes the vertical spacing so that the controls are aligned with their edges touching, based on the control with focus.

Center in Form

The items in this menu center the selected objects on the central axes of the form.

Centering	Description
Horizontally	Aligns the middles of the selected controls to a horizontal line in the middle of the form.
Vertically	Aligns the centers of the selected controls to a vertical line in the center of the form.

Order

The items in this menu change the order of the selected objects on a form.

Order	Description
Bring To Front	Moves the selected controls to the front of all other objects on a Form.
Send To Back	Moves the selected controls behind all other objects on a Form.

Lock Controls

From the Format menu, you can choose the Lock Controls menu. When this is selected, all of the controls currently on the Form will be locked in place. Any attempts to move the controls will be unsuccessful until they are unlocked. Any controls added to the Form after the lock takes place will be unlocked.