Container

Folders are extensively used within the Workplace Shell to logically group objects (represented by their icons) on the desktop. A folder consists of a standard window frame plus a container control which occupies the whole of the client area. A folder can contain other folders, objects representing work items such as reports, or physical items such as printers. The objects displayed by a container control are determined by the application.

Figure "Container Control Used in Folder Window"

Various types of objects may be displayed within a container; these include objects representing printers and other physical devices, as well as those representing items such as files or documents. Information about these objects can be presented in a variety of views. Each view describes the objects in a different format, some giving different and/or additional information. The container supports the following views of its data:

Icon view

This view displays either icons or bitmaps, with accompanying text beneath them, to represent the items in the container. This is the default view for a container.

The user may group the objects as he chooses. He can overlap them, in a "messy desktop" fashion, or can have them automatically positioned. The default icon view is not "gridded"; that is, it has free-form characteristics so data can be placed in various relative positions and still have meaning. However, if a gridded display format is preferred, the objects can also be arranged in rows from left to right and from top to bottom.

This displays either icons or bitmaps with accompanying text to the right of each icon or bitmap, representing the items in the container. Items are arranged in a single column. A variant of the name view is the flowed name view, where items are arranged in multiple columns.

This view is similar to the Presentation Manager list box in OS/2. Text strings are displayed in columns. This view also offers the option of flowing the text into multiple columns to fit the windows when it is sized.

This view allows the user to display detailed information about items in an unlimited number of scrollable columns. The data within each column may be icons, bitmaps, text strings, or national language support (NLS) formatted date or time strings. An optional splitbar may be used to divide the display area into two windows which scroll independently horizontally and dependently vertically.

This presents data in a hierarchical format, similar to the directory layout used in the OS/2 Version 1.3 File Manager. The leftmost items displayed in the tree view are at the root level. Root level items can contain other items called children. These can be displayed in the tree view. If the children are not displayed, the parent item can be expanded to display them as a new branch in the tree view.

Each instance of text in the container can consist of unlimited lines with unlimited characters in each line. In addition, the container control does not limit the number of objects within a container. Objects are automatically arranged within the client area of the container.

Direct manipulation is supported in all views of the container control. This allows the user to drag container items within a current window or from one window to another.

Containers and their use by applications are further explored in OS/2 Version 2.0 - Volume 4: Application Development.

User Interaction

The end user can alter any text field in the container, including the container title, column headings in details view and all container items, through direct editing. Text strings can also be individually set to a "read-only" state.

Objects within a container may be selected through marquee, touch swipe, range swipe, and first letter selection techniques. The container control supports single, extended, and multiple selection types; these are described in the IBM Systems Application Architecture CUA Advanced Interface Design Reference.