Docking Operation Basics
- 2 minutes to read
This topic covers the basics of the docking functionality available to end-users (i.e. the functionality available at design-time when customizing the dock controls’ layout). This topic also describes the main properties affecting the docking behavior of panels, sites and containers.
Common features
Docking operations are performed by dragging panels and containers. Dragging can be initiated in a dock control’s caption. When dragging, a docking frame indicating the dock control’s bounds is painted. The frame’s size and position are changed dynamically to reflect the control’s position if it were to be dropped. Thus, the frame’s size changes when dragging a control over another dock control or a dock site. If you only need to change the dock control’s position without actually docking it to the underlying dock control, hold the CTRL key pressed when dropping. If you need to cancel the docking operation, press the ESC key.
The images below show a sample docking operation (the first image shows the dragging process and the frame shows the panel’s target position, while the second illustrates the result of the docking operation).
There are two docking operation types available. First, you can dock a control to another control’s edge. You can also dock a control so that it fills the target control’s entire area. The dock control’s AllowDockClients property allows you to specify which operation types are allowed for each panel, container or site. The image below shows these settings. (Note that you can control the docking availability for each control’s edge.)
You can also control how panels and containers can be docked to other dock controls. This is controlled by their AllowDock property, which provides similar settings. See the image below.
You can stop a control from floating by setting the AllowFloating property False and force it to float by setting its Dockable property to False.
For additional information on controlling docking operations please refer to the following topics:
Provides links to documents describing each dock control type in detail, including the docking operations required to create a control.
Describes options that affect docking behavior.
Provides common information about controlling docking operations by handling specially designed events.
Describes the dock zones technology introduced by the ExpressDocking Library. This technology gives you unlimited control over docking operations.