Time for action – aligning field editors with a grid

The preference values weren't lined up as might be expected. This is because the default preference field editor uses a FLAT style of rendering, which simply lays out the fields similar to a vertical RowLayout.

1. Change it to be a more natural look by specifying a GRID style of rendering:

   public ClockPreferencePage() {
     super(GRID);
   }

2. Now, when the preference page is displayed, it will look more natural:

   

What just happened?

The default FLAT style does not render well. It was added in 2007 before the popularity of the grid layout increased and typically needs to be overridden to provide a decent user interface experience. Switching to GRID does this, by working out the label length and field lengths and setting up the split accordingly. Furthermore, the view is resizable, with the fields taking up additional stretch space.

If the layout needs further customization or the widget set needs to be extended, then it is possible to create a plain...