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by hduden 2756 days ago
Boden dev here. Boden currently supports linear layouts (horizontal and vertical). We know that more is needed for a proper UI. Feedback is appreciated - let us know what you would like to see regarding layout options.

Since all widgets are native, you can easily add your own child widgets to the containers. You can gain access to the native view objects via the "View::getCore" method. However, we do not have a good way yet to insert custom widgets into the Boden layout system. That is an area where more work is needed.

Regarding calling platform APIs: since the apps are written in C++ you can call any platform API you like. On Android you can also use the Boden helper classes (bdn::java::JClass, etc.) to make Java calls from C++. On iOS the easiest way is to create an Objective C++ file (.mm file extension). In there you can combine C++ and Objective C code freely.
1 comments
saagarjha 2756 days ago
I'm primarily an iOS developer (though, I've started looking into Android recently), so my point of view will be skewed towards that platform. If you're trying to write an iOS app, you probably want to expose AutoLayout, or at the very least the API provided by UIStackView. Plus, you will need to handle things like the navigation hierarchy, which on iOS does a lot of layout-related things for you.
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hduden 2756 days ago
It is an interesting thought to also use the native layout system on each platform. It might be challenging to provide an abstraction for the native layout that behaves consistently on all platforms, though.

Can you elaborate on why you feel AutoLayout support is needed? If Boden had a layout system of comparable power, would that solve this issue?

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saagarjha 2756 days ago
> Can you elaborate on why you feel AutoLayout support is needed?

That's simply how most apps are designed these days, since it makes it easy to support the ever-growing list of device sizes that iOS apps need to support.

> If Boden had a layout system of comparable power, would that solve this issue?

Sure, but you might need to keep in mind that iOS developers are used to using AutoLayout and need to learn how to do things in your new layout system.

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