Fancy Front Panel objects

[PaulOfElora]

I wonder if anybody can help me understand what's going on in this front panel.  I inherited this code and there are things on the panel I don't understand  Some controls are grouped in some sort of "containers".  One of these (the big one on the left) will 'hide' controls placed 'under it' (so is there some sort of order, front to back?).  None of the "Containers", "panes" or whatever they are have any properties that I can see.  I've read about splitter bars and panes, but I don't know if that's what these objects are.  If I could get some pointers about what they are, I might just learn something! Thanks for any ideas, paul

[BertMcMahan]

I don't have 2019 so I can't open it (File->Save for Previous, maybe 2016?), but it sounds like it's either a simple decoration or a cluster. It might also be grouped with the icons. Click the item and press "delete" on your keyboard. Do the icons go away? If so, it's either a cluster or grouped items. If not, it's just a decoration.

To see if it's grouped or not, click it, then click the "Grouping" button at the top right of your toolbar. It's a blue and yellow circle/arrow thing, then click "ungroup".

[Gregory]

Yes, controls have a layering order. You can click the blue and yellow arrows chasing each other to see these options. 

Move forward ctrl+k

Move backward ctrl+j

Move to front ctrl+shift+k

Move to back ctrl+shift+j

[PaulOfElora]

Oops for some reason it didn't save properly to the 2015, tried again with shorter paths... I guess most of the controls might be missing, but maybe you can tell what the objects are

[PaulOfElora]

ahah! I was able to Ungroup.  That "detaches" them from the "container", but the controls are still acting as a group - moving one moves them all.  What's really freaky is that I can't click on the 2 large boxes at all, it's like they're not there, but they will hide objects under them!

[PaulOfElora]

OK, I'm being thick-headed. I Ungrouped again, and the individual controls are free to move separately.

[BertMcMahan]

Ah, ok I figured it out. I have to admit I hadn't used this functionality. This is an intended behavior. The two boxes are decorations, but they're "Locked". You have to select it by dragging a box around the whole thing, then using the Grouping menu, select "Unlock", and now you can mess with them again.

I never knew you could even do that 🙂

[pallen]

Locking down a tab or some decorations is often how a start a new UI.  

Helps to keep me from drawing outside the lines.   😉 

[billko]

I knew about that stuff, but not sophisticated enough to implement them.  😉