The NetXP Docking Suite

Introduction

The NetXP docking suite provides the following features:

The docking suite supports custom rendering.

Terminology

In order to use the docking suite effectively, certain key terms must be made clear.

Usage

Tutorial

To create a simple application consisting of docked windows, create a new Windows Forms application then follow the steps below.

  1. Add NETXP.Controls.Docking.dll to your toolbox if necessary.
  2. Drag and drop the DockingManagerExtender to your form.
  3. Set the ContainerControl property to your form.
  4. Add a new tree view control to your form and dock it to the left.
  5. Set the tree view's AllowDocking property to True. This allows the docking manager extender to take over and make the tree view control into a dock object at runtime.
  6. Add a new list view control and dock it Fill. This will be the inner control, so set the docking manager extender's InnerControl property to the list view. Having an inner control allows you to create a form whose layout consists only of docking windows.

Now you've learned how to use the DockingManagerExtender to add docking window support to controls on your form.

The resulting application should look something like this:

At runtime, use the underlying DockingManager from the DockingManagerExtender to perform operations with the DockObjects or to change renderers.

Showing and Hiding Dock Objects

Use the following code to hide a docked window with the title "Settings":

	dockingManagerExtender1.DockingManager.HideDockObject(
		dockingManagerExtender1.DockingManager.DockObjects["Settings"]);

Conversely, you can use the ShowDockObject method to show a dock window.

Saving and Loading Layouts

To automatically save and load layout, you can set the AutomaticStatePersistence property of the docking manager extender to True. If you wish to load and save layout manually, use the DockingManager.SaveConfigTo... and DockingManager.LoadConfigFrom... methods.

More Information

For more information on DockingManagerExtender and DockingManager, refer to the NetXP reference documentation.