In Visual Studio there seem to be two types of groups of panes:
1. one set that are inside a permanent panel set unchangeably to Group, and
2. one outer set that behave pretty much like netadvantage DockManager set to LayeredWindowWithIndicators.
How can I get that inner group behavior?
Hello Kenneth,
To be honest, I do not understand your requirement. Could you please explain more deeply your final goals and if it is possible please give us concrete example with VisualStudio and / or screenshot.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Regards
OK, here comes the full explanation :)
This is what Visual Studio looks like. Note the docked panes surround an empty area.
This area is not just empty, it is a "permanent" area. (01_visualstudio_permanant_area.png)
I can even drag my pane out again and put it back on the right hand side (06_visualstudio_dragpane_outagain.png)
I am trying to achieve the same using the UltraTabbedMdiManager.
Here is a simple two-pane example with an empty area inbetween.
Because dragging a pane into this area is disallowed. The central symbol of the docking star icon turns my mouse into a no-entry symbol and when I drop, nothing happens.
(unfortunately my screen shot program does not capture the mouse, so you cannot see the no-entry symbol.)
So what I did was set the form's IsMdiContainer to True.
Now the symbol DOES allow me to drop the pane, but the pane is trapped! It is inside a MDI area and I cannot dock it, I cannot float it and I cannot drag it out again!
So what I tried next is create a user control with an UltraDockManager of it's own, set the group's tabs to the top.
This turns the "permanent area" into a dockable area, but the group does not fill the area (despite setting Maximized to True)
Also, the tabs are OUTSIDE of the window, which my client finds looks weird.
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Yes I looked at the source code, compiled and ran it and it behaves just as in the video. Why should it be any different?
I have spent over a week on this, so I know these two controls reasonably well.
As I have been trying to point out throughout this thread:
UltraDockManager supports DragWindowStyle.LayeredWindowWithIndicators,
UltraTabbedMdiManager does ***NOT*** support LayeredWindowWithIndicators.
And this seems to still be the case in version 13 (otherwise your supplied source code would have implemented it?)
I do not intend implementing the LayeredWindowWithIndicators behavior in UltraTabbedMdiManager.
I think the decision makers at Infragistics must sit down and discuss this. Components should have the same look and feel. That is the least we as a purchaser of this components library should expect.
Thank you very much for your feedback. Did you have a time to take a look in the source code of attached sample ? There are two different controls - UltraDockManager and UltraTabbedMdiManager that implement required behavior and if you don`t like "FLOAT" approach from context menu, please feel free to modify it per your requirement. Also please note that product lifecycle of your version 10.2 is expired. More details you could find at: http://es.infragistics.com/help/product-lifecycle/
Feel free to write me if you have any further questions.
Haha! That video is funny!
Yes, if you right-click and select FLOAT and you do it quickly, then nobody notices.
But if the entire paradigm is already based on DRAG 'N' DROP, suddenly having to resort to pop-up menus is not cool.
Try this: Drag a second pane into the middle area.
Now try drag that pane. See what happens? You get a weird wobbly frame instead of the docking rose.
I hope you will agree with me that this is a conceptual break and is not acceptable.
Isn't it a priority at Infragistics to insure consistent behavior over all components?
I have found some freeware components that do this correctly. I have decided to use those.
Here is the sample