Independent of what type of area you define for positioning controls (see previous section), it is possible to define subareas inside this area. A subarea is an area with its own x-, y- and z-coordinates and also contains absolutely positioned controls - or again: subareas.

This document covers the following topics:

• Example

• Properties

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Example

The following example shows a page with three groups of absolutely positioned controls - each group holding an icon (ABSICON) and a label (ABSLABEL):

The XML layout definition contains three definitions of an ABSAREA control - with different x-, y- and z-coordinates. Inside the area, the controls are positioned with exactly the same coordinates.

<rowarea name="Absolute Area" height="500">
    <rowabsarea width="100%" height="100%">
        <absarea x="150" y="150" z="10">
            <abslabel x="5" y="5" z="10" name="This is test-position 5,5">
            </abslabel>
            <absicon image="images/remove.gif" x="0" y="0" z="0">
            </absicon>
        </absarea>
        <absarea x="150" y="400" z="10">
            <abslabel x="5" y="5" z="10" name="This is test-position 5,5">
            </abslabel>
            <absicon image="images/remove.gif" x="0" y="0" z="0">
            </absicon>
        </absarea>
        <absarea x="300" y="300" z="10">
            <abslabel x="5" y="5" z="10" name="This is test-position 5,5">
            </abslabel>
            <absicon image="images/remove.gif" x="0" y="0" z="0">
            </absicon>
        </absarea>
    </rowabsarea>
</rowarea>

An ABSAREA control opens its own area on the page, providing its own coordinate system.

In this example, the x-, y- and z-coordinates for each area are defined inside the layout definition. Set the position dynamically by deriving the x-, y- and z-values by the adapter properties.

Properties

Basic
x	X-coordinate (in pixels) of the left top corner of the area.	Optional
y	Y-coordinate (in pixels) of the left top corner of the area.	Optional
z	Z-coordinate (in pixels) of the left top corner of the area.	Optional
xprop	Name of adapter properties for the x-coordinates.	Optional
yprop	Name of adapter properties for the y-coordinates.	Optional
zprop	Name of adapter properties for the z-coordinates.	Optional
comment	Comment without any effect on rendering and behaviour. The comment is shown in the layout editor's tree view.	Optional

Either all of the properties x, y and z have to be defined or all the properties xprop, yprop and zprop have to be defined.