Adding Components and Controls
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The ExpressDocking Library provides three components that are displayed within the ExpressBars palette: TdxDockingManager, TdxDockSite and TdxDockPanel. This topic briefly describes each component and provides information on when to use them.
Dock Panels
Dock panels are the main building blocks of a docking application’s interface. They represent dock windows’ client areas and serve as containers for VCL controls. Dock panels can be located on individual floating forms or on your application’s forms (floating or docked). By default, when a dock control is placed on a form, it floats automatically. If you need to allow dock panels to be docked to forms, you should use the TdxDockSite component described later in this topic.
The image below shows a floating dock panel with a memo control containing two buttons.
Placing components on dock panels is similar to placing them on forms. Note, however, that when removing, copying, pasting controls and other similar operations involving a floating dock panel, you should use the control’s context menu to perform such operations.
An important point about dock panels is that they can be docked to each other to form container controls. There are two container types available – tab containers and side containers. Container controls can also be joined into containers. For instance, you may join a side container and a panel into a tab container. Note: there is no limit to container nesting levels.
Please refer to the Dock Controls Hierarchy topic for additional information on the dock panels and containers available.
Dock Sites
Dock sites are components that support the placing of panels onto forms. Note: these sites can only accept docking controls (panels or containers).
However, you will not want dock sites to be visible on forms, since they will display as empty rectangles if no controls are docked. To avoid this, the following techniques should be used:
Fill the entire form with a dock site and place a panel on the site. The panel will represent the form’s client area and also hide the dock site. End-users will still be allowed to dock other panels and containers on the site. Please refer to the Creating a Visual Studio.NET like Interface topic for additional information.
Set a dock site’s AutoSize property to True. This allows you to create extremely small dock sites that are automatically stretched as panels or containers are placed on them. Please refer to the Using Dock Controls in MDI Applications topic for details.
Docking Manager
The docking manager component enables you to provide centralized control over all or part of the dock controls. Note that it is not necessary to use this component. If it is not placed on any form within your application, the docking controller will manage dock controls. However the docking controller doesn’t allow you to change the dock controls’ settings, it only provides the default values. Thus, you will generally need docking manager components.
Please refer to the Docking Controller and Docking Managers topic for additional information on the docking manager and docking controller. The topic explains when you should use the docking manager and when it is not required. For detailed information on the features provided by the docking manager component, see the Docking Manager Features topic.