Docking questions

[Omry Levy]

Hi there,

I have some questions regarding the DockingManager:

1) If i use LoadDockState() and do not supply the docking manager the information for the controls that i want to dock by using: DockControl() or FloatControl() the docking manager doesn''t use the file to dock the controls automatically, the file is xml and valid, it seems that the scheme behind LoadDockState() was: the code should supply default info and then the load will override it, why is that ? can i override it somehow ?

2) If i pass DragProviderStyle.Standard to the docking manager a control can dock fill a valid docking area but if i use the other 2 provider styles it can not dock fill it can only split the area, the button in the middle is not doing anything ?

3) Can i add some metadata of my own to the perssistance of the docking manager ?

Thanks in advance
0L

[Joy K George]

Hi 0L, Thanks for your queries 1.I am afraid,In the current implementation of docking architecture you need to dock controls before applying the dockstate. You could achieve the behaviour you want by persisting the information about controls in the dock serialization stream.Then you could recreate the controls and apply dockstate on them. Please refer this knowledge base article to get more idea. 2.The Standard drag provider exhibits the behaviour of VisualStudio versions 2002&2003 while the other 2, VS2005 and Whidbey exhibits the behaviour of drag provider style in VisualStudio2005. The middle button has 2 functions.One is to make tabbed controls and other is to convert a Docking Window into MDIChild Window. 3.Yes.You could persist your own data in the dock persistance stream.Please refer the sample attached in the knowledge base article mentioned above. Please let me know ,if you need more assistance. Regards, Joy

[Omry Levy]

Joy,
Thanks for your answers, but regarding question number 2 , i understand know what is the purpose of the middle button but you didn''t answer my question:

I''ve investigated your sample under the docking samples: SimpleCode.
Ok this sample shows how to dock some controls at runtime, and i''ve noticed that if i use Standart drag provider style then i can dock any of the controls to occupy the whole area of a not used docking space on the form , the border shows me the options and one of them is to use all of the available space.
But when i use the other 2 drag providers i can not use the whole area for docking only part of it.

Why is that ?

[Joy K George]

Hi 0L, I am afraid ,I was not able to perform the operation you mentioned using Standard DragProvider(Docking controls to occupy the whole area of a form which is not used by any other controls).Could you please provide us any screenshots which will help us to do the operation? The VS2005 and Whidbey drag providers are based on the dragproviderstyle used in VisualStudio2005.If you are using VisualStudio2005 you could verify the behaviour yourself.Also let me know, if you have got any compatibility issues with VisualStudio2005 dragprovider. I have attached a sample to demonstrate the use of middle button in VS2005 dragprovider. 1.Run the sample. 2.Grab a panel and drag over another.You could see dragprovider. 3.Drop the window on the middle button.Both the docked controls will get tabbed together. 4.Now again drag the control and drop on the middle button.The docked controls will became MDIChild windows. Please let me know , if you have queries regarding this. Regards, Joy

sample45.zip

[Administrator]

Hello Joy, I''ve attached a zip file with screen shots that should help my questions i hope, I began with the image: providerStandart_1.JPG this is my starting point and the provider is standart. Then image: providerStandart_2.JPG shows that it allows me to occupy the whole area (look at the border) and then image: providerStandart_3.JPG shows that i droped it on the whole area. On the other hand when using the 2005 provider we start of with image: provider2005_1.JPG and again i want to occupy the same area and the following images shows that i can drop on several areas but non of them will give me the behaviour of the standart docking , they will not fill the whole area but parts of it (corners). Why is that ? Thanks, 0L

Syncfusion12.zip

[Joy K George]

Hi 0L, Thanks for sending us screenshots.But I was not able to perform the same operation.Please refer the attachment and let me know, if I missed anything. Also let me know the version of EssentialStudio and .net framework which you are using. Regards, Joy

drag.zip

[Omry Levy]

Joy, Your movie shows my point exactly , the 2005 provider allows you to dock to different areas of the available empty area , but it doesn''t allow you to occupy the whole area as the standart provider does (providerStandart_2.JPG) By the empty area i mean the area bellow the window and the end of the form, the area that is not occupied by anything. So why is the difference ? 0L

[Joy K George]

Hi 0L, I have again attached a video in which I used VS2005 drag provider.Please note the result of both the videos is same. Please let me know exact reproduce steps if this didn''t meet your requirement. Thanks for your co-operation. Regards, Joy

drag_vs2005.zip

[Omry Levy]

Joy, look at the picture i''ve send you video_2005.JPG, in red it is the area that i want the window to occupy also, i want it to occupy the whole area, and not half of it (the lower half). Take the simple docking sample , change the provider to standart , arange the windows as i did and you will see that in standart mode i can occupy the whole area as in my picture: providerStandart_3.JPG. The question is simple why is there a difference between: providerStandart_3.JPG and video_2005.jpg 0L

SyncFusion13.zip

[Joy K George]

Hi 0L ,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

I could reproduce the behaviour using the Standard DragProvider and could not using the other two.

The reason for this difference in behaviour is,the VS2005 and Whidbey dragproviders are based on the dragprovider style used in VisualStudio2005.You could not do the same operation(filling entire free space) using the dragprovider style used in the VS2005.You may check this, if you have VS2005 installed in your system.

Please let me know, if you have any queries regarding this.

Thanks for your patience.
Regards,
Joy

[Omry Levy]

George K[Syncfusion],

I am happy that you have managed to reproduce this behaviour , i wasn''t dreaming it after all,
i understand from your reply that this behaviour is by design , and i have no problem with that but isnt it a bit strange that one can not use the whole space available, from the user side it is not friendly nor logical.

so i would be happy if that would be added as an option or something.

0L

[Joy K George]

Hi 0L, I have created a feature request regarding your requirement.You could track progress of implementation using the link below. Feature Request #986 - Need ability to dock a control to fill entire free space using the VS2005 and Whidbey dragproviders Regards, Joy