The Blaise Template Designer overview IBUC 2010 Pre Conference - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

the blaise template designer
SMART_READER_LITE
LIVE PREVIEW

The Blaise Template Designer overview IBUC 2010 Pre Conference - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The Blaise Template Designer overview IBUC 2010 Pre Conference workshop What is it? A custom tool to design: Blaise layout templates: Master page templates Field pane templates Other template types Grouping, Dialogs,


slide-1
SLIDE 1

The Blaise Template Designer

  • verview

IBUC 2010 – Pre Conference workshop

slide-2
SLIDE 2

What is it?

  • A custom tool to design:
  • Blaise layout templates:
  • Master page templates
  • Field pane templates
  • Other template types
  • Grouping, Dialogs, Popups, etc.
  • Styles
  • A “domain specific” designer.
  • Doesn’t replace tools like Adobe Illustrator or Microsoft

Expression Blend. Aimed to offer the tools for the vast majority of design needs.

  • The quickest and easiest way to customize survey layout!
slide-3
SLIDE 3

What is a template?

  • The blueprint for (parts of) the layout of an instrument
  • Consists of template elements
  • Shapes
  • Texts
  • Input controls
  • Containers
  • Placeholders
slide-4
SLIDE 4

Template hierarchy

Masterpage template X Question placeholder Previous Next

Survey title

Field pane template Y

Question text placeholder

Field pane template Z

Question text placeholder

A B C

slide-5
SLIDE 5

Element types

  • GRID
  • Is a container element that can hold other elements
  • Most flexible control for layout
  • All templates have a grid at the root level
  • Has columns and rows
  • Can contain more than 1 element
  • Can contain sub-grids
slide-6
SLIDE 6

Element types

  • STACKPANEL
  • Is a container element that stacks other elements
  • Can contain more than one element

Element 1 Element 2 … Horizontally Element 1 Element 2 … Vertically OR

slide-7
SLIDE 7

Element types

  • BORDER
  • Is a container element that holds another element
  • Can contain only one element

Element x

slide-8
SLIDE 8

Element types

  • PLACEHOLDER
  • Is a container element that reserves space for elements that are

dynamically inserted (at run-time).

  • You cannot add elements to a placeholder in the designer (at

design-time).

Content area

slide-9
SLIDE 9

What is a placeholder?

  • An element that reserves space for other elements or

template instances.

  • Example “Content area”:
  • Has to be placed on a master page template to determine where

questions should appear.

  • Example “Question text placeholder”:
  • Has to be placed on a field pane template to position the question

text.

slide-10
SLIDE 10

Styles?

  • Styles set properties of elements
  • Colors
  • Font type, size, weight etc.
  • Margins
  • etc.
  • Changing a style changes all elements that refer to it.
  • Useful for consistent layout and increased productivity.
  • A style element is a combination of a key, an attribute and a

value.

  • Examples:

Key Attribute Value DefaultBackground BackgroundColor Green InputControlMargin Margin 5

slide-11
SLIDE 11

Style X

Applying a style

Masterpage template X Question placeholder Previous Next

Survey title

Field pane template Y

Question text placeholder

Field pane template Z

Question text placeholder

A B C

slide-12
SLIDE 12

Style Y

Applying a style

Masterpage template X Question placeholder Previous Next

Survey title

Field pane template Y

Question text placeholder

Field pane template Z

Question text placeholder

A B C

slide-13
SLIDE 13

Important notices

  • Layout preferably is dynamic, not fixed
  • Element sizes are based on
  • Their content
  • Environment variables like
  • Screen resolution
  • DPI settings in OS
  • Font sizes
  • Language settings
  • Designing templates for dynamic layout makes them

more flexible in the (unpredictable) run-time environment.

slide-14
SLIDE 14

Important notices

  • Styles and templates are related
  • An element refers to a specific style key that the style definition

should contain.

  • Master page templates and field pane templates are related
  • Esthetics: They probably need to “fit” together.
  • Consistency
  • Exception: “Lookless” templates (inherit their style from their

parent element)