Question

Using a tab window and giving the shell a fixed size, how can I make the content – meaning the whole shell – scrollable, if there’s not enough space? Is this a setting of the shell, the tab host or the individual tabs?

Answer 1

Use a ScrolledComposite which contains you whole content. This way it will scroll if there is not enough room to display it.

The following code should give you an idea on how it works:

public static void main(String[] args) {
    final Display display = new Display();
    final Shell shell = new Shell(display);
    shell.setLayout(new FillLayout());

    // Create the ScrolledComposite to scroll horizontally and vertically
    ScrolledComposite scrolledComp = new ScrolledComposite(shell, SWT.H_SCROLL | SWT.V_SCROLL);

    // Create a child composite for your content
    Composite content = new Composite(scrolledComp, SWT.NONE);
    content.setLayout(new FillLayout());

    // Create some content
    new Button(content, SWT.PUSH).setText("Button1");
    new Button(content, SWT.PUSH).setText("Button2");

    // add content to scrolled composite
    scrolledComp.setContent(content);

    // Set the minimum size (in this case way too large)
    scrolledComp.setMinSize(400, 400);

    // Expand both horizontally and vertically
    scrolledComp.setExpandHorizontal(true);
    scrolledComp.setExpandVertical(true);

    shell.pack();
    shell.open();
    while (!shell.isDisposed()) {
        if (!display.readAndDispatch()) {
            display.sleep();
        }
    }
    display.dispose();
}

Run it, decrease the window size and you will see the scroll bars.