Adding a User Interface Panel

iTool Programming: Creating a Custom iTool Widget Interface

Adding a User Interface Panel

iTool user interface panels are created using the CW_ITPANEL compound widget. User interface panels can be used to display a selection of widgets in a tab interface on one side of the iTool interface.

Note
If you are creating a custom iTool user interface that includes both regular IDL widgets and iTool compound widgets in a standard base widget, it is unlikely that you will also need to create a user interface panel. (If you want your interface to display other panels that are registered with the iTool system, such as the image, map, or volume panels, you must include a CW_ITPANEL widget.) Conversely, you may be able to avoid creating an entire custom user interface if you can place the extra widget controls you need on a user interface panel, which requires significantly less code. See Creating a User Interface Panel for information on creating a user interface panel that can be displayed with your iTool.

The signature of the CW_ITPANEL function is:

Result = CW_ITPANEL(Parent, UI [, KEYWORDS])

where:

Parent is the ID of the base widget on which the panel will be displayed.

UI is the user interface object associated with the interface.

KEYWORDS are keywords either handled explicitly by the widget or passed through to the widgets that make up the compound widget.

Modifying User Interface Panel Contents

The contents of a user interface panel can be modified based on the current state of the iTool via one or more callback routines, as described in Creating a User Interface Panel.

Resizing User Interface Panels

The CW_ITPANEL compound widget defines a separate procedure, CW_ITPANEL_RESIZE, that accepts as an argument the new height of the panel. This procedure handles all calculations necessary to properly resize the panel, taking into account the fact that panels can themselves include scrolling base widgets. See CW_ITPANEL for complete details.

IDL Online Help (March 06, 2007)