Fixing Common Alignment Issues in TAdvSmoothDatePicker The TMS TAdvSmoothDatePicker is a popular choice for Delphi developers looking for a visually appealing, smooth-animating calendar component. However, when placing it inside complex layouts, resizable forms, or high-DPI environments, you might encounter frustrating alignment and scaling issues. The text might clip, the drop-down calendar might misalign, or the component may not fill its parent container correctly.
Here is how to resolve the most common alignment and layout bugs in TAdvSmoothDatePicker. 1. Drop-Down Calendar Misalignment
Sometimes, clicking the drop-down arrow causes the calendar popup to appear far away from the actual edit control, especially on multi-monitor setups or inside nested panels.
Turn off ParentFont: Set ParentFont = False on the component. Font size discrepancies between the parent control and the date picker can throw off the internal positioning math of the popup window.
Update the TMS Component Pack: Early versions of the Smooth controls had known bugs tracking absolute screen coordinates. Ensure you are using the latest version, as TMS regularly releases patches for multi-monitor coordinate bugs. 2. Text Clipping and Vertical Misalignment
If the selected date text looks cut off at the top or bottom, or if it is not vertically centered, the internal margins are fighting your font selection.
Adjust TextMargins: Expand the TextMargins property. TAdvSmoothDatePicker relies on explicit internal padding. If you increase the font size, you must manually increase the top and bottom margins to accommodate the taller text bounding box.
Match Edit Height to Font Size: Unlike a standard TEdit, the smooth date picker does not always auto-size its height cleanly based on font changes. Manually increase the Height property of the control if your text is clipping. 3. High-DPI and Resizing Issues
When moving the application between monitors with different scaling factors (e.g., 100% to 150%), the date picker might shrink, expand aggressively, or misalign its internal drop-down button.
Enable ScaleControls: Ensure your form’s ScaleControls property is set to True.
Use DPIScale Properties: TAdvSmoothDatePicker includes internal scaling logic. If components look blurry or disproportionate, check the TMSStyleManager or the component’s specific DPI settings to ensure it inherits the system’s scaling factor.
Avoid Explicit Anchors in Complex Panels: If the control is inside a heavily nested layout, wrap it in a simple TPanel with Align = alClient or alTop, rather than relying heavily on complex Anchors (Top, Bottom, Left, Right), which can distort the smooth control’s internal bounds during runtime resizing. 4. Forced Right-to-Left (RTL) Realignment
If your application supports bidirectional languages (like Arabic or Hebrew), the drop-down button and text alignment might fail to flip correctly.
Toggle BiDiMode: Explicitly set the BiDiMode to bdRightToLeft on the form level.
Set Alignment Property: Do not just rely on parent propagation. Open the date picker’s properties and explicitly set Alignment = taRightJustify to force the internal edit field to align properly with the flipped layout.
To help debug your specific layout, let me know what version of Delphi you are using, if your application uses High-DPI scaling, and if the component is placed inside a nested layout like a grid or page control. Saved time Comprehensive Inappropriate Not working
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