looking for design ideas for an easily editable list

[David Schwartz 426]

I'd like to have a check-list, but I want the user to be able to edit its contents easily, mostly by adding new entries and maybe reordering them.

 

(I'm using checkboxes to avoid deleting things that may be used sometimes but not always. It's not going to be common to delete things in this case.)

 

The way I've done this in the past, and how I've usually seen it done, is to somehow overlay a memo and a checklistbox of some sort, maybe using a page control.

 

If you want to edit it, the data is loaded into a memo and the memo is displayed.

 

When you want to go back to select items, the data is loaded into the checklistbox and it is displayed instead.

 

Most line-oriented controls like TListBox and TListView aren't easy to edit. Memos are what people are most used to.

 

I'm curious if anybody has any other approach that's worth trying?

[Stefan Glienke 2002]

Virtual TreeView

[Trevor S 2]

I suggest considering the TVirtualTreeview control 

https://www.jam-software.com/virtual-treeview/

 

It can be configured to behave like a Listbox or checklistbox and supports inline editing of the text.

[dummzeuch 1505]

I second VirtualTreeview, but be prepared for a steep learning curve.

 

(Every time I use it in a new project I have to look up how to use it.)

[David Schwartz 426]

Yeah, I've suffered through using that sucker a few times. I think it's more work than I want to put in.

 

Any other ideas?

 

[Stefan Glienke 2002]

21 minutes ago, David Schwartz said:

I think it's more work than I want to put in.

Learning about one of the most powerful and free controls the VCL has to offer - yeah what a waste of time 😜

[David Heffernan 2345]

34 minutes ago, David Schwartz said:

Yeah, I've suffered through using that sucker a few times. I think it's more work than I want to put in.

 

Any other ideas?

 

I guess it depends on what motivates you. Do you want to optimise for the quality of your program's UX, or is it more important to you that you can create the UX as quickly as possible, irrespective of how well it works?

[David Schwartz 426]

I appreciate these suggestions. Right now I'm just building a prototype of something and I don't want to get distracted learning to use a control for a something that might not even end up being used.

 

I'm just curious what other solutions might be available ... how others may have solved this problem.

Edited August 7, 2019 by David Schwartz

[Darian Miller 361]

Depending on the count of items...you could use a list of dynamically created frames within a scroll box.  Each frame has your checkbox/memo and you add a way to Add/Edit/Delete items.  I've done this a few times with success.

[Uwe Raabe 2057]

What about a TClientDataSet connected to a TDBGrid or TDBCtrlGrid?

[Микола Петрівський 10]

35 minutes ago, Uwe Raabe said:

What about a TClientDataSet connected to a TDBGrid or TDBCtrlGrid?

This is, probably, the simplest possible solution, if you limit yourself to "out of the box" solutions. By the way, TClientDataSet can be replaced with TFDMemTable.

Edited August 7, 2019 by Микола Петрівський

[David Schwartz 426]

On 8/6/2019 at 6:39 PM, Darian Miller said:

Depending on the count of items...you could use a list of dynamically created frames within a scroll box.  Each frame has your checkbox/memo and you add a way to Add/Edit/Delete items.  I've done this a few times with success.

 

I guess that would work. It also makes me think of accordion controls.

 

23 hours ago, Uwe Raabe said:

What about a TClientDataSet connected to a TDBGrid or TDBCtrlGrid?

No, that seems backwards.  But I think I get your idea. 🙂