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Groups

Groups allow you to lock horizontal starting position and capture the whole group bounding box into one “item”. This lets you use IsItemHovered() or layout primitives such as SameLine() on the whole group.

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BeginGroup

void BeginGroup();
Lock horizontal starting position. All widgets added after this call will be treated as part of a group. Example: 
ImGui::BeginGroup();
ImGui::Text("Group Item 1");
ImGui::Text("Group Item 2");
ImGui::Text("Group Item 3");
ImGui::EndGroup();
if (ImGui::IsItemHovered())
    ImGui::SetTooltip("This is the whole group!");

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EndGroup

void EndGroup();
Unlock horizontal starting position and capture the whole group bounding box into one “item”.
Always call EndGroup() for each BeginGroup(), even if the group is empty.

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Group Usage Patterns

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Horizontal Grouping with SameLine

ImGui::BeginGroup();
ImGui::Text("Label:");
ImGui::SameLine();
ImGui::Button("Button");
ImGui::EndGroup();

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Creating Compound Widgets

ImGui::BeginGroup();
ImGui::Image(my_texture, ImVec2(64, 64));
ImGui::Text("Image Title");
ImGui::EndGroup();

// Drag and drop the entire group
if (ImGui::BeginDragDropSource())
{
    ImGui::SetDragDropPayload("MY_IMAGE", &my_data, sizeof(my_data));
    ImGui::EndDragDropSource();
}

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Capturing Group Dimensions

ImVec2 group_min = ImGui::GetItemRectMin();
ImVec2 group_max = ImGui::GetItemRectMax();
ImVec2 group_size = ImGui::GetItemRectSize();

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Legacy Columns API

The columns API is legacy. Use the Tables API instead for better features and performance.

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Columns

void Columns(int count = 1, const char* id = NULL, bool border = true);
Setup number of columns. Use Columns(1) or Columns() to disable columns.
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count
int
Number of columns (1 to disable)
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id
const char*
Optional identifier
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border
bool
default:"true"
Draw border between columns

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NextColumn

void NextColumn();
Move to next column. If currently in the last column, move to the first column of the next row.

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GetColumnIndex

int GetColumnIndex();
Get current column index (0-based).
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Returns
int
Current column index

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GetColumnWidth

float GetColumnWidth(int column_index = -1);
Get column width in pixels. Use -1 for current column.
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column_index
int
default:"-1"
Column index (-1 for current column)
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Returns
float
Column width in pixels

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SetColumnWidth

void SetColumnWidth(int column_index, float width);
Set column width in pixels.
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column_index
int
Column index
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width
float
New width in pixels

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GetColumnOffset

float GetColumnOffset(int column_index = -1);
Get position of column line in pixels from the left side of the contents region. Use -1 for current column.
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column_index
int
default:"-1"
Column index (-1 for current column)
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Returns
float
Column offset in pixels

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SetColumnOffset

void SetColumnOffset(int column_index, float offset_x);
Set position of column line in pixels from the left side of the contents region.
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column_index
int
Column index
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offset_x
float
New offset in pixels

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GetColumnsCount

int GetColumnsCount();
Get number of columns (1 when columns are disabled).
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Returns
int
Number of active columns

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Migration to Tables

Instead of using columns, prefer the Tables API: 
// Old columns API
ImGui::Columns(3, "MyColumns", true);
ImGui::Text("Col 1");
ImGui::NextColumn();
ImGui::Text("Col 2");
ImGui::NextColumn();
ImGui::Text("Col 3");
ImGui::Columns(1);

// New tables API
if (ImGui::BeginTable("MyTable", 3))
{
    ImGui::TableNextColumn();
    ImGui::Text("Col 1");
    ImGui::TableNextColumn();
    ImGui::Text("Col 2");
    ImGui::TableNextColumn();
    ImGui::Text("Col 3");
    ImGui::EndTable();
}

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