"Kevin Lippiatt" <KevinLippi***@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:F7473B05-42E9-44EC-B3BF-C5BE2F51DCE8@microsoft.com...
> I need to develop a visual designer for xsl style sheets. The user must be
> able to type in the design surface with rich text, draw in tables, images
and
> drag and drop data elements. Imagine ms word - you can type and format
text,
> layout tables, drag and drop images and other elements. Alternatively
imagine
> visual studio .net and asp.net web pages, where in design mode you can
drag
> on html elements and then switch to code view to see the generated html. I
> need to create a screen with tis functionality
> Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can produce such a designer?
> As an extra problem - by requirement I'm limited to visual basic 6 and
> preferably no third party controls that need licenses or paying for!

"Kevin Lippiatt" <KevinLippi***@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:F7473B05-42E9-44EC-B3BF-C5BE2F51DCE8@microsoft.com...
> I need to develop a visual designer for xsl style sheets. The user must be
> able to type in the design surface with rich text, draw in tables, images
and
> drag and drop data elements. Imagine ms word - you can type and format
text,
> layout tables, drag and drop images and other elements. Alternatively
imagine
> visual studio .net and asp.net web pages, where in design mode you can
drag
> on html elements and then switch to code view to see the generated html. I
> need to create a screen with tis functionality
> Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can produce such a designer?
> As an extra problem - by requirement I'm limited to visual basic 6 and
> preferably no third party controls that need licenses or paying for!

"Kevin Lippiatt" <KevinLippi***@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:69382320-0479-4686-9BE5-72310EC98AA4@microsoft.com...
> Of course - but its some of those logical parts i'm not sure how to write:
> My main screen will have two main areas - on the left a simple toolbox of
> elements, and on the right a design/layout screen or 'canvas'.
> Logical Chunk 1:
> The tool box - shold be simple with several ways to attempt it - a simple
> toolbar or listbox or tree, made up of items for standard elements like
> 'Table' or 'Image' and also data elements that are specified in an XML
> Schema.
> Logical Chunck 2:
> The other side of the screen is the 'canvas' for the user - it has two
> tabs
> - on one is the XML/XSL view where the user can see the XML generated and
> edit if they wish. On the other tab is the drag/drop layout area. (This is
> my
> difficult bit) I'm not sure how to create an area where a user can type
> some
> text and format it visually like in word. The user also needs to be able
> to
> drag into the stylesheet, elements from the toolbar, tables, images, data
> elements. The layout must 'flow' like in word where you can type some
> text, a
> new line, some more text then from the toolbar grab a bit of clipart and
> place it between the two lines of text and the text flows down the page to
> allow the image to fit.
> To break this down further:
> 1. Canvas - needs to display the elements visually in a flow layout
> 2. ondragover - needs to indicate with e.g. a cursor or surrounding box
> possible drop positions as the mouse nears them (only one at a time
> whichever
> is the nearest).
> 3. ondrop -  add the element in the position highlighted.
> 4. Object model - this will hold the layout in memory. The canvas will
> render from it. The XML is generated from it. XML will edit/specify it
> (when
> the user types the xml directly). ondrop the element is added to the
> object
> model of the layout and the canvas is re-rendered.
>
> Any suggestions