Windows Forms Dock Manager Control

Click here to watch the WinForms single-click, style docking control video. (Duration: 2:08)Maximize your users screen real-estate by creating complex layouts using WinDockManager™. Windows can be grouped with horizontal or vertical splits, stacked into tabbed groups, and pinned or set to auto-hide, just like the windows in Visual Studio 2005 or Visual Studio 2008. Sliding groups let you create windows with groups like the Visual Studio toolbar, and the navigation window offers a preview of the new layout.

 

Features at a Glance

  • Dockable & Floating Windows - Controls can be docked to any side of the host container or displayed in an owned floating window.
  • AutoHide - Docked controls can be unpinned to conserve screen real estate. Unpinned controls are represented by a tab in an area along the outside of the container. The control is displayed in a separate window that slides out when the tab is selected.
  • Toggle State - Double clicking on a pane caption, tab item, or sliding group header will toggle the docked state of the pane(s).
  • Multiple Group Styles - Dockable controls can be grouped together in any combination when docked or floating with support for 4 group styles: horizontally split, vertically split, tabbed groups and sliding groups.
  • WYSIWYG Design-Time Functionality - Easily create and position dockable controls at design-time. Access to the settings for individual docked controls is available in Visual Studio's property grid when the control is selected.
  • Persist Layouts - Save and load docked window layouts at design-time and-run-time.
  • Hierarchical Control Settings - Docked control settings can be set for an individual pane, children of a group, or for all panes.
  • Window Styles - A single property, WindowStyle, affects the default appearance of the pane windows, including the caption and tab styles so you can make it resemble Visual Studio 2005 or 2008 (including fine details such as VS 2008-style on Windows® XP or Windows Vista® operating systems). Fine-tune at the pane- and group- level, and customize the LayoutStyle property to specify how docking panes should manage the client area.
  • Grouping and Moving Panes - Once docked controls have been created, the panes may be dragged around by pressing down on the caption, tab item, or sliding group header of the pane.
  • Preventing Docking - If the CTRL key is held down during the dragging of a pane, the drop location for the pane will always be a floating window.
  • Removing/Undocking Controls - When a docked control is cut, deleted, or dragged out of the dockable window, the associated DockableControlPane is removed. A pane can also be undocked by right clicking on the docked control and unchecking "Dock Controls" on the context menu.

Related Controls

WinLayoutManagers™