Doing layout with StdCtrlSkinTool is very simple. As shown in the demos, you will just need to integrate the StdCtrlSkinTool into your application, log the controls, then everything left is the configure file.
This documents shows how to create the configure file to do layout. Since the layout table of the StdCtrlSkinTool is really similar to the table in Word, I would recommend using the Word to assist the layout work.
Let’s use demo1 as an example. The dialog of demo1 looks like the image below when using the configure file “demo1_B.cfg.xml”.

When writing the configure file, let’s make a table in word showing the layout design. The table is something like below:
B1 | Property | Tree | |
B2 | Expand x1 | Expand x2 | OK |
B3 | | | |
B4 | | | Cancel |
Then the next step is to write the configure file which describes the table. There are only several things to remember:
- The table will cover the entire window, so it needs “expand=xy” and “weight=1”
- The property control will expand, so its weight value is 1.
- The tree control expands faster than the property control, so its weight value is 2.
- The property and tree controls covered all the four rows, remember to type some empty cell nodes for the cells at row 2 and 4, and then input the cell for the OK and Cancel buttons.
- Make some tests to get desired width and paddings
There are just some minutes required to create the configure file. Just do it and try it.