Dock Windows

• Jul 23, 2019
• 5 minutes to read

Overview

Instantly emulate the Visual Studio UI and turn even the most complex business application into a fully customizable solution. Dock-able windows help you create extremely flexible and fully customizable interfaces. End-users can temporarily hide unnecessary visual elements and drag & drop panels to build a more efficient UI environment for their business needs. The following features are included. Visual Studio style helper glyphs Tabbed containers Drag & Drop support Closed panels toolbar Float state settings Automatic splitter availability Auto-hide containers User customization options Built-in context menu Layout persistence Multiple monitor support

Learn the Basics
This section contains topics that cover essential concepts of the Dock Windows interfaces. Getting Started A step-by-step walkthrough that guides you through all stages of creation of a dock panel layout. Dock Layout Manager The DockLayoutManager component is a cornerstone of the entire Dock Windows library that provides centralized access to all panels and containers within your window. Dock and Layout Object Hierarchy This document contains a diagram that illustrates all types of panels and containers provided by the Dock Windows library, shows their relationships and briefly describes what each of them does. Examples A set of detailed task-based examples.
Dock Functionality
The DockLayoutManager component solves two tasks, reflected in the component’s name: implementing a docking UI and building a control layout. This section is dedicated to the first task. Note If you only need to dock multiple simple panels to either side of your window and do not require advanced Visual Studio-like features, use the Dock Layout Control instead. Layout Groups Layout groups are base containers that arrange their items either horizontally or vertically. Can host individual panels, panel containers or other layout groups. Each layout contains at least one LayoutGroup (a root group). To build a docking interface, you first need to break down your client area into blocks by adding more LayoutGroup objects to this root group. Then, populate each block with the required content (an individual panel, panel group, tabbed group, etc.). Layout (Dock) Panels Regular dock panels that display your content and can be grouped into various containers. Panels can be docked, floating, auto-hidden or closed (hidden). Tabbed Groups Containers that host layout panels and present them as tabs. Each tab can display a Pin button. Clicking this button transforms the parent TabbedGroup into an Auto-Hide Group and hides all panels from view, leaving only their tab headers visible. Document Groups and Panels DocumentGroup objects implement multi-document interfaces (MDI) with tabbed or floating documents. Documents are represented by the DocumentPanel class instances. Your end-users can also drag regular layout panels to Document Groups. Other Dock Items Typically, you build your dock windows layout by breaking the root layout group into multiple regions. Groups listed below are not included in this root group, but rather kept in corresponding collections of the DockLayoutManager itself. Float Groups FloatGroup containers allow you to represent any dock item as a floating panel. Dock items can be docked to valid dock regions within root layout group. In this case, their float groups are destroyed automatically. Auto-Hide Groups These containers provide auto-hide functionality for layout panels. At runtime, when end-users click panel Pin buttons, AutoHideGroup objects are created automatically. Panels are added to these objects and removed from view, leaving only their headers visible. To view these panels again, end-users should click or hover related headers.
Layout Functionality
Not only does the DockLayoutManager allow you to build the docking UI, it also provides you with the ability to build a layout of controls within individual layout panels. To do so, place a layout group to the required panel and populate it with layout control items. See the links below to learn more. Note If you require a powerful layout management solution without a docking functionality, use the Layout Control component. Layout Control Items UIElements cannot be added directly to your layout. Instead, use layout control items - objects that wrap any control and provide labels for their child elements. Customization Mode Allows end-users to customize your controls layout at runtime. Customization Window The dialog used by your customers to modify, save and restore the layout of controls.
Runtime Features
Documents in this section are dedicated to features available for your customers at runtime. Document Selector Allows end-users to quickly cycle through layout panels and document panels by pressing specific hotkeys. MDI Bar Merging Using document panels and groups, you can implement MDI mode in your applications. In this mode, you can have toolbars in both parent and child MDI windows. To avoid duplicating these toolbars, you can merge them from child into parent windows. If you have Ribbons instead of traditional toolbars, refer to the MDI Ribbon Merging topic instead.
Miscellaneous
This section gathers other features, provided by the Dock Layout Manager component. Saving and Restoring the Layout of Dock Panels and Controls The layout of dock panels and the layout of controls within panels/groups can be saved to a data store (an XML file or stream), and then restored from this data store, overriding the changes made since the layout was saved. This document provides more information on this topic. Managing Dock Panels in Code Learn how to use the Dock Windows API to perform various operation on dock panels in code. MVVM Support - Building Dock UI This topic demonstrates how to build a dock UI using the MVVM architectural pattern. WPF and WinForms Interoperation Limitations Contains information on resolving possible issues when importing WinForms controls into WPF applications.