Panel (computer software)

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In graphical computer software a panel is "a particular arrangement of information grouped together for presentation to users in a window or pop-up."[1] In ISPF, a panel is "a predefined display image that you see on a display screen.".[2]:p.16

A panel widget is commonly packaged as part of a widget toolkit for a graphical user interface. See toolbar and dialog box.

Panels in widget toolkits

Panels in widget toolkits often have no specific graphic characteristics, but are mainly used to group child widgets together. They provide better control on the layout of the widgets.

For example, in this XUL definition, two horizontal hbox panels are enclosed in a vertical vbox panel, alongside with two buttons. This insures that the label and the textboxes for the Login and the Password fields are correctly aligned.

<vbox>
  <hbox>
    <label control="login" value="Login:"/>
    <textbox id="login"/>
  </hbox>
  <hbox>
    <label control="pass" value="Password:"/>
    <textbox id="pass"/>
  </hbox>
  <button id="ok" label="OK"/>
  <button id="cancel" label="Cancel"/>
</vbox>

References

  1. IBM Corporation (1992). CUA Basic Interface Design Guide. 
  2. IBM Corporation (2011). Interactive System Productivity Facility (ISPF) User's Guide Volume I. 

See also

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