I would like to make a consideration on the consistency of the object model of the LayoutControl.

When you create a LayoutItem instance by code you write a bunch of code like this.

ItemX = MyGroup.AddItem( ItemBase, InsertType.Left [Rigth|Bottom|Up]), this statement creates a new item

and establish a relation with another item, a base item. A full layout, many items are related one another into a network.

Item0 -->

item1 -- Left --> Item0

item2 -- Bottom --> Item1

The question is,how can the developer access to this relations?. If you presents to the user a default layout and if the

user change it by customizing it how can you manage the rebuild of the user layout. Forget the XML.Layout produced automatically,

It is too naive for a professional use of the LayoutControl.  In a serious system layout info are associated to sigle fields inside a database metadata tables.

If it is not possible to browse the network of items, i believe LayoutControl is totally unuseful for an extreme (not quick and dirty) usage. It is a good toy, but nothing more

because i would be inconsistent.

Michele,

The XtraLayoutControl is a universal layout manager that has no rows or columns. It maintains proportionally resizable layout for any non-overlapping set of items. The disadvantage of this approach is that item relations are too complex, and we decided that it would be more efficient for end-users to store a layout item's bounds, rather than to allow them to manage these relations.

At the moment a developer has two approaches

1. Use Save/Restore layout methods

2. Save item bounds as required and restore them in the group.BeginInit(); ...group.EndInit(); block. Please let me know if you need any assistance.