The NetXP Docking Suite

Introduction

The NetXP docking suite provides the following features:

• Docking windows (described in this document)
• Tabbed MDI groups
• Enhanced tab control

The docking suite supports custom rendering.

Terminology

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

• Docking Manager Extender - This component extends the docking manager for design time support. There's nothing very exciting about it at runtime, other than its DockingManager property. To configure the layout more extensively, hook into the Loaded event and configure the dock objects contained by the docking manager there.
• Docking Manager - This is the core component of the docking suite. It manages all dock objects. There should only be one docking manager per form.
• Dock Object - A dock object is simply a control that has NetXP docking capabilities. That is, the user can see a title bar and border around the control, typically containing a close button. The user can drag the dock object around to other sides of the form, as well as make it float. A dock object is an abstraction of a window, containing only essential properties and events.
• Window - A window is a ContainerControl, containing the dock frame and the actual docked controls (Control objects).
• Dock Frame - The border and caption around a docked control.
• Dock Region - A panel that contains multiple windows. Typically, there are four dock regions on a form, one for each side of the form.
• Restore - A class that keeps track of all the serializable settings in the docking layout. There are multiple types of restores, for the different types of dock objects.

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.