MDI required, yet so hard to reach ;)

[Melissa_Dee]

Hi all,

I started out on Delphi3 during the time I worked in a software company. On DOS, I was (once, long ago) passed a copy of TP3 (one floppy) and I was sold on Pascal. Delphi seemed the logical step. Because the company did NOT want to make the switch to (then) windows 3.11/windows95...it went where all dinosaurs went...

Anyway...zipping on, I'm on Linux (exclusively) now and discovered...Lazarus! Whee! 
I'm writing a first real piece of software (after doodling with some small stuff to wet my feet) and it NEEDS (yes, needs) MDI...
I know, there is some resistance to this mode, but this piece will not run efficiently without being in MDI.

I consulted a book (on Delphi 3 - the red one by Duntemann and Michel, somewhat outdated it seems ) as I recall, MDI (back then) was a few clicks away...
Any tut I can read up to get me going?

Thanks a ton

Melissa

[MarkMLl]

Welcome to the community and forum.

You might find something useful in the wiki e.g. https://wiki.freepascal.org/MultiDoc , but to a very large extent (and I know that this isn't really helpful) the design focus appears to have switched to dockable forms rather than MDI.

I can assure you that "I feel your pain", since very often being told "well oi wouldn't start from 'ere if I were you" is unhelpful and offputting.

Would you be able to explain /why/ you need MDI? Will the population of subforms be unchanging? In that case and particularly if their relative position is unchanged you might find frames helpful.

MarkMLl

[zeljko]

With Qt widgetsets MDI works fine under Linux, Windows and MacOS.

[Melissa_Dee]

Thanks all...
Well, the aim is to have several forms open (like Lazarus itself, for example) so the output of an external process can be seen without having to "tab" for it...
Classical (by lack of a better word) MDI is not the aim persée, more an interface with several forms open so see live what's happening.
Melissa

[MarkMLl]

Qt (specifically, Qt5) works well, at least on Linux. However this does sound as though it would be served well by docked forms, provided that somebody can confirm that once docked the forms are always minimised/restored/etc. together.

MarkMLl