5. Container :

 Container: it is portrayed with a blue frame: it limits a layer con configurable dimensions and coordinates; Its functions are as follows:

A)   It is used to provide both Media Objects and Panels with position coordinates so that the designer may have total control over their position. The designer can introduce a media or a panel inside a container and then edit that container in order to modify its position coordinates on the screen.

B) It also allows the designer to provide all the media inside a container with the same dimensions.

C) The designer can name the container, which is necessary whenever Malted Interactions are used.


1.
Creating a container
: In the Frame Management, by rightclicking on any blank part of the work area, choose Insert a container.

 2. Edit: Doubleclick the container or right click on it to select it (when selecting a container, its blue frame turns into yellow); then, click on Edit from the Menu. A dialogue box called Container will open. Key in the container's name on the top right hand side field of the box. Below you will find two thumbs which allow the designer to personalize the properties of the container:





Dimensions Thumb:

- Container Boundaries: Left and Top are the left top coordinates of the container. Height and Width define the container's dimensions. These coordinates can be predetermined in this dialogue box or the designer can also adjust the container graphically, that is, placing the mouse over its borders and dragging to obtain the right position and dimension.


- Size of inside objects :
  for this option to be editable, you must tick the Uniform box, which allows to predetermine the height and the width of all the media included inside the container making them uniform as regards size.

If the height and the width of the media are not specified, the tools provides uniform media so as to fill in the container's interior, by generating 2x2, 3x3 boxes, and so on:
The Fit Container button adjusts the dimensions of the media objects, so that it reaches the inner boundary of the container.



- Other properties:
Transparent:
it makes the container's background transparent. This property applies to any media objects inside the container, although the designer can edit each separate media to configure its transparency.

Random layout : the media objects inside a container are shown randomly. This random layout is not shown while working with Malted Editor, but when the frame is run; (it is necessary to save the frame before running it).

Checkbox layout : it places a checking box to the left of each media object inside the container. Every media inside that same container will have that property, although the designer can edit each separate media and disable that option if wished.

Label Properties Thumb:
This thumb lets the designer configure the font features, its format and background colour of all the media objects inside the container. These properties can be separately modified editing each media object if the designer would rather all the media objects did not have a total uniform style.



Overlapping Containers:
If the designer would like to change the order of the layers of several overlapping containers or those with overlapping areas, the xml frame code should be edited. In order to do this, the frame must be saved first and then we should click XML icon or select Edit script from the Edit menu. The xml code is opened in Windows with WordPad. The containers are shown with labels in the code

<BOUNDS></BOUNDS> for instance:

<BOUNDS NAME="new" UNIFORM="true" LEFT="413" TOP="365" WIDTH="100" HEIGHT="100" RANODIM="false">

</BOUNDS>

The containers are ordered in layers depending on their position in the code. Those appearing in the upper part of the code are placed in layers on top of those appearing further down in the code. So, changing the layer where the container is placed is as simple as changing its position within the code by cutting and pasting.

Once the code has been modified, we must save the xml document in WordPad and return to Malted window. Then, select Reload frame from the Edit menu and all the changes made to the code will apply.


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