## IupMultiBox (since 3.26)

Creates a void container for composing elements in a irregular grid. It is a box that arranges the elements it contains from top to bottom and from left to right, by distributing the elements in lines or in columns. But its EXPAND attribute does not behave as a regular container, instead it behaves as a regular element expanding into the available space.

The child elements are added to the control just like a vbox and hbox, sequentially. Then they are distributed accordingly the ORIENTATION attribute. When ORIENTATION=HORIZONTAL children are distributed from left to right on the first line until the line does not fits more elements according to the multibox current width, then on the second line, and so on. When ORIENTATION=VERTICAL children are distributed from top to bottom on the first column until columns does not fits more elements according to the multibox current height, then on the second column, and so on.

Because of that its elements can overlap other elements in the dialog, so the ideal combination is to put the IupMultiBox inside an IupScrollBox.

IMPORTANT: the actual element distribution in the container is done only after the natural size of the dialog is computed because it needs the current with or height to determine which elements will fit in the current space according to the orientation. The first time the multibox natural size is computed it returns simply the largest width and the highest height among the children. The next time it will use the size previously calculated with the line/column breaks, to avoid obtaining an outdated layout call IupRefresh or IupMap before showing the dialog (when the layout will be updated again).

It does not have a native representation.

### Creation

    Ihandle* IupMultiBox(Ihandle *child, ...); [in C]
    Ihandle* IupMultiBoxV(Ihandle* child, va_list arglist); [in C]
    Ihandle* IupMultiBoxv(Ihandle **children); [in C]
    iup.multibox{child, ...: ihandle} -> (ih: ihandle) [in Lua]
    multibox(child, ...) [in LED]

child, ... : List of the identifiers that will be placed in the box. NULL must be used to define the end of the list in C. It can be empty, but in C must have at least the NULL terminator..

Returns: the identifier of the created element, or NULL if an error occurs.

### Attributes

CHILDMAXSIZE (non inheritable): when defined limits the size of all children to a given maximum size. Uses the format "widthxheight". This affects each child size.

CHILDMINSPACE (non inheritable): when defined limits the space occupied by a child to a given minimum size. Uses the format "widthxheight". This does not affects the children size.

EXPAND (non inheritable*): The default value is "YES". See the documentation of the attribute for EXPAND inheritance.

GAPVERT, CGAPVERT: Defines a vertical space in pixels between elements, CGAPVERT is in the same units of the SIZE attribute for the height. Default: "0".

GAPHORIZ, CGAPHORIZ: Defines a horizontal space in pixels between elements, CGAPHORIZ is in the same units of the SIZE attribute for the height. Default: "0".

NGAPVERT, NCGAPVERT, NGAPHORIZ, NCGAPHORIZ (non inheritable): Same as *GAP* but are non inheritable.

MARGIN, CMARGIN: Defines a margin in pixels, CMARGIN is in the same units of the SIZE attribute. Its value has the format "widthxheight", where width and height are integer values corresponding to the horizontal and vertical margins, respectively. Default: "0x0" (no margin).

NMARGIN, NCMARGIN (non inheritable): Same as MARGIN but are non inheritable.

NUMCOL (read-only): returns the number of columns when ORIENTATION=VERTICAL. Returns 0 otherwise.

NUMLIN (read-only): returns the number of lines when ORIENTATION=HORIZONTAL. Returns 0 otherwise.

ORIENTATION (non inheritable): controls the distribution of the children in lines or in columns. Can be: HORIZONTAL or VERTICAL. Default: HORIZONTAL.

WID (read-only): returns -1 if mapped.

SIZE, RASTERSIZE, FONT, CLIENTSIZE, CLIENTOFFSET, POSITION, MINSIZE, MAXSIZE, THEME: also accepted.

### Attributes (at Children)

LINEBREAK (non inheritable) (at children only): when defined at a child force a line break after the child when ORIENTATION=HORIZONTAL.

COLUMNBREAK (non inheritable) (at children only): when defined at a child force a column break after the child when ORIENTATION=VERTICAL.

### Notes

The box can be created with no elements and be dynamic filled using IupAppend or IupInsert.

The box will NOT expand its children in any condition.

The number of elements in a line when ORIENTATION=HORIZONTAL can be very different depending on the children sizes and line/column breaks. The same for elements in a column when ORIENTATION=VERTICAL.

### Examples

Browse for Example Files

### See Also

IupGridBox IupVbox, IupHbox