Types of layout
You can construct all kinds of sophisticated UIs for section items/headers by laying out multiple components vertically, horizontally, or through combination of the two.
vertical
In a vertical layout, the item's components flow vertically, from top to bottom.
Example
{
"$jason": {
"head": {
"title": "vertical layout demo"
},
"body": {
"sections": [{
"items": [
{
"type": "vertical",
"components": [{
"type": "label",
"text": "John Doe"
}, {
"type": "label",
"text": "33"
}, {
"type": "label",
"text": "A normal guy with a normal name"
}]
}
]
}]
}
}
}
Above JSON will render into the following view:
horizontal
In a horizontal layout, the item's components flow horizontally, from left to right.
Example
{
"$jason": {
"head": {
"title": "horizontal layout demo"
},
"body": {
"sections": [{
"items": [{
"type": "horizontal",
"components": [{
"type": "image",
"url": "https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/557061751150112768/eMwi4Xz2.jpeg",
"style": {
"width": "80"
}
}, {
"type": "label",
"text": "Ethan",
"style": { "font": "HelveticaNeue-Bold" }
}]
}]
}]
}
}
}
Above JSON will render into the following view:
Nested layout
A layout can also contain another layout as one of its components. This way you can create any type of sophisticated layout you want by nesting one layout inside another.
Here's an example:
{
"$jason": {
"head": {
"title": "nested layout demo"
},
"body": {
"sections": [{
"items": [{
"type": "horizontal",
"components": [{
"type": "image",
"url": "https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/557061751150112768/eMwi4Xz2.jpeg",
"style": {
"width": "80"
}
}, {
"type": "vertical",
"components": [{
"type": "label",
"text": "Ethan",
"style": { "font": "HelveticaNeue-Bold" }
}, {
"type": "label",
"text": "Gliechtenstein"
}]
}]
}]
}]
}
}
}
Above JSON will render into the following view:
Types of layout - EBF Additions
grid
A grid layout will display its components in rows and columns. The grid view will show as many columns per row as possible, based on component_width
, in order to accomodate for differnt screen dimensions. The height of a row is automatically calculated and must be equal to the height of the tallest item of that row. Components within a grid layout will be centered horizontally and vertically if they don't occupy all availble column space.
syntax
type
:"grid"
component_width
: The text to displaygrid_border
: The color in color code of the 1px border between grid items ornone
if hiddenstyle
:background
: background color of the grid layout
components
: grid items
example
{
"$jason": {
"head": {
"title": "grid layout demo"
},
"body": {
"sections": [{
"items": [{
"type": "grid",
"component_width": "200",
"grid_border": "#abcdef",
"components": [{
"type": "image",
"url": "https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/557061751150112768/eMwi4Xz2.jpeg",
"style": {
"width": "80",
"padding": "10",
"border": "#123456"
}
}, {
"type": "image",
"url": "https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/557061751150112768/eMwi4Xz2.jpeg",
"style": {
"width": "80",
"padding": "10",
"border": "#123456"
}
}]
}]
}]
}
}
}
Styling a layout
syntax
■ padding
the space surrounding the layout itself, in pixels.
If not specified, the default value is 10
.
■ spacing
the space among each immediate children components, in pixels.
■ background
background color code (Example: {"background": "#ff0000"}
, {"background": "rgba(0,0,0,0.4)"}
)
■ z_index
specifies the stack order of the layout, defining whether the layout is displayed on top of another or below. Default is 0. (Example: {"z_index": "-1"}
■ opacity
opacity (between "0" and "1")
■ align
How the children components will be aligned perpendicular to the layout's direction.
-
For vertical layout
left
: align leftcenter
: align center horizontallyright
: align right
-
For horizontal layout
top
: align topcenter
: align centerbottom
: align bottomfill
: stretch all children vertically to fit the layout height equally
■ distribution
Describes how the children components should be distributed in relation to one another.
Normally you don't need to use this property, but this comes in handy when you just want child components to automatically stretch to each have the same size.
-
For vertical layout
"fill"
: The child components stretch to fill the layout (default)"equalsize"
: The child components have the same size. Use this if you didn't specify height for any of them but want them to just expand to fill the layout each with the same height.
-
For horizontal layout
"fill"
: The child components stretch to fill the layout (default)"equalsize"
: The child components have the same size. Use this if you didn't specify width for any of them but want them to just expand to fill the layout each with the same width.
examples
Example 1. Vertical layout with center align
In case of vertical layout, it describes how the children components should be aligned horizontally.
Below, we see that the vertical layout has "align": "center"
style.
{
"$jason": {
"head": {
"title": "center aligned vertical layout"
},
"body": {
"sections": [{
"items": [{
"type": "vertical",
"style": {
"align": "center"
},
"components": [
{
"type": "image",
"url": "https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/557061751150112768/eMwi4Xz2.jpeg",
"style": {
"width": "100"
}
},
{
"type": "label",
"style": {
"color": "#000000",
"background": "#ff0000"
},
"text": "John Doe"
},
{
"type": "button",
"text": "Follow",
"style": {
"color": "#ff0000",
"background": "#000000"
}
}
]
}]
}]
}
}
}
This would render into the following view:
Notice how all components--image, label, and button--are center aligned.
Example 2. Horizontal align with bottom align
In case of horizontal layout, align
describes how the children components should be aligned vertically.
{
"$jason": {
"head": {
"title": "bottom aligned horizontal layout"
},
"body": {
"sections": [{
"items": [{
"type": "horizontal",
"style": {
"align": "bottom"
},
"components": [
{
"type": "image",
"url": "https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/557061751150112768/eMwi4Xz2.jpeg",
"style": {
"width": "100"
}
},
{
"type": "label",
"style": {
"background": "#000000",
"color": "#ff0000"
},
"text": "John Doe"
},
{
"type": "button",
"style": {
"background": "#ff0000",
"color": "#000000"
},
"text": "Follow"
}
]
}]
}]
}
}
}
Above JSON will render into:
Notice how all components--image, label, and button--are bottom aligned.
Example 3. Padding and Spacing
{
"$jason": {
"head": {
"title": "Padding and spacing demonstration",
"styles": {
"label_class": {
"background": "#ff0000",
"padding": "10",
"color": "#ffffff"
}
}
},
"body": {
"style": {
"background": "#00ff00",
"border": "#000000"
},
"sections": [{
"items": [
{
"type": "vertical",
"components": [{
"type": "label",
"class": "label_class",
"text": "First row"
}, {
"type": "label",
"class": "label_class",
"text": "Second row"
}, {
"type": "label",
"class": "label_class",
"text": "Third row"
}]
},
{
"type": "vertical",
"style": {
"padding": "50"
},
"components": [{
"type": "label",
"class": "label_class",
"text": "First row"
}, {
"type": "label",
"class": "label_class",
"text": "Second row"
}, {
"type": "label",
"class": "label_class",
"text": "Third row"
}]
},
{
"type": "vertical",
"style": {
"padding": "50",
"spacing": "10"
},
"components": [{
"type": "label",
"class": "label_class",
"text": "First row"
}, {
"type": "label",
"class": "label_class",
"text": "Second row"
}, {
"type": "label",
"class": "label_class",
"text": "Third row"
}]
}
]
}]
}
}
}
Above JSON turns into the following view:
★ Here's what's going on:
1. The first row has NO padding and NO spacing values.
As mentioned above, if no padding is specified, the default is 10
.
That's why we see the small gap between the red label and the edges.
2. The second row has a padding of 50
.
That's why we see a larger gap (50
pixels)
3. The third row has the same padding as #2, but also a spacing
of 10
.
The spacing
attribute defines the space in pixels among child components. That's why we now see 10
pixels in between the red labels.