DockableWindow/TabStripPanel .NET Controls

Overview

The DockableWindow control mimics the user-interface style of drag and drop, dockable tool windows found within the Visual Studio .NET IDE. See the DockableWindow Test Application for an example of what you can do with dockable tool windows.

The TabStripPanel control provides much of the functionality of the various tab controls found in the Visual Studio .NET user interface. TabStripPanel includes four styles which set the appearance and functionality of the control: Fit, Hover, DocumentList, and HighContrast. Each of these styles is shown in detail within the provided Test Application. You may also view the source code of the TabStripPanel Test Application to see how to use the control.

Licensing

Under the terms of the Evaluation License, you may not distribute any of the files associated with the control. In order to distribute files marked as Redistributable in the EULA, you must purchase a Single Developer License.

In the Evaluation Version of the control, a popup About window is displayed whenever the control is instantiated. This is removed upon the purchase of a Single Developer License.

Purchasing a Single Developer License

Each individual developer on a project using a component requires a separate license, whether they directly use the component or not! This means "one license for EVERY developer on the project", NOT "one license per developer using the component." After all, your entire project benefits by using the component. Discount volume licenses and site licenses are also available.

Installation

1. Unzip the downloaded .ZIP file to any folder.
2. Run the setup application
3. Read and agree to the End-User License Agreement (in EULA.html)
4. Load a solution into Visual Studio.NET.
5. Execute the solution.

Reusing the Controls / Adding a Toolbox Item for the Controls

1. In Visual Studio .NET, click the Tools/Customize Toolbox command.
2. On the window that opens, click on the .NET Framework Components tab.
3. Click the Browse button and select the ActiproSoftware.DockableWindow.dll file.
4. Click the Browse button and select the ActiproSoftware.TabStripPanel.dll file.
5. Ensure that the DWManager, FitTabStripPanel, DocumentListTabStripPanel, HoverTabStripPanel, and HighContrastTabStripPanel items in the components list are checked.
6. Press the OK button.
7. The components should appear in the Toolbox.

Documentation

Complete documentation is available in the Documentation.chm HTML Help file. We also recommend looking at the test application source code since that application makes use of much of the components' functionality.

Support

Other .NET Components

Actipro Software LLC

Release History

• Indicates a normal addition or change.
• Indicates a breaking change in the object model.

6/6/2004 - Version 2.0.0207

DockableWindow

• Added code to make floating tool windows move within the working area of the screen if they are moved completely off.
• Added code to allow auto-hiding of tool windows after the pin is unpressed if the mouse is outside the bounds of the tool window.
• Added overloads to DWManager.CreateToolWindow and DWManager.CreateDocumentWindow that accept Image parameters.
• Added an Image property to the DWToolWindow and DWDocumentWindow classes.

TabStripPanel

• Added the TabStripPanelItem.Image property.

3/21/2004 - Version 2.0.0206

DockableWindow

• Exposed the OwnerDrawMainMenu class.
• Cursors that were previously set to Cursor.Default are now set to null.
• Fixed bug where hidden tool windows would sometimes now appear in their formerly docked position.

10/14/2003 - Version 2.0.0205

DockableWindow

• Added a IgnoreAutoHideMouseClicks property to be set while a popup on an auto-hide tool window is displayed. This prevents the auto-hide window from closing when the popup is clicked.
• Removed code that automatically disposes DocumentWindow child controls when the document window is hidden. If this functionality is still desired, the child control can be disposed manually in the DocumentWindowClosed event.
• Fixed bug where focus was not always set to document window child controls when the tabs were clicked.
• Fixed bug where GetFocusedToolWindow would still return that focus was in a just-hidden tool window if another tool window was not yet selected.
• Fixed bug that allowed tool windows to extend over the workspace when the main window was shrunk.

9/2/2003 - Version 2.0.0199

DockableWindow

• Added DWToolWindow.CanHide property that will hide all close button UI for the tool window.
• Added DWManager.HideAllAutoHideToolWindows method.
• Adjusted MDI drag cursors so that a document drag cursor appears when moving over a document container tabstrip.
• Fixed bug where new document containers didn't check the DWManager.ShowDocumentAreaCloseButtons property.

7/31/2003 - Version 2.0.0197

DockableWindow

• Fixed problem introduced in a previous version where use of multiple document containers would sometimes prevent new documents from showing.

7/27/2003 - Version 2.0.0196

DockableWindow

• Fixed problem introduced in previous version where design-time image index picking wasn't working.

TabStripPanel

• Added AutoSetFocus property to TabStripPanelBase.
• Fixed problem introduced in previous version where design-time image index picking wasn't working.

6/1/2003 - Version 2.0.0195

DockableWindow

• Added GetNextWorkspaceWindow and GetPreviousWorkspaceWindow methods to DWManager.
• Created a workaround to stop the .NET Framework 1.1 from causing DockableWindow to lock up in certain docking operations.
• Changed context menus so that they all fire on mouse up. Some were firing on mouse down which was causing mouse capture issues.
• Fixed bug where failed layout loads, followed by a call to ClearLayout were causing an exception.
• Fixed bug where deactivated event didn't fire for tool windows when there are multiple tabs in a tool window container.

TabStripPanel

• In selected tab change, moved code that hides the currently selected tab's child control to after the point where the new selected tab's child control is displayed to prevent flicker.

3/30/2003 - Version 2.0.0190

DockableWindow

• Auto-hide windows now close when mouse moves away from them for an interval.
• DWToolWindow AutoHideSize and PreferredSize properties added.
• Fixed problem where selecting a ComboBox dropdown item on an auto-hide tool window would hide the tool window.
• Fixed bug where cursor sometimes stuck when resizing auto-hide tool windows.

TabStripPanel

• Created an EnsureVisible method.
• Created an AnimatedOffsetBounds method.
• Adjusted timer on HoverTabStripPanel to attempt to workaround timer issues in the 1.1 version of the .NET framework.

11/3/2002 - Version 2.0.0188

DockableWindow

• Fixed bug where DWToolWindow.Hide() method was firing deactivated event twice.
• Fixed bug where document containers would not resize without a call to ClearLayout() or a layout being loaded.
• Fixed bug where auto-hide window would not hide that occurred because of obfuscation.
• Fixed bug where loading of layouts repetitively would sometimes cause an exception.

10/7/2002 - Version 2.0.0186

DockableWindow

• Added DWWindowBaseCollection.Move method to reorder document windows within a document container.
• Disposes DWDocumentWindow child controls when document windows are hidden.
• Added workaround for framework bug that prevented Form from sometimes closing when document windows were closed.
• Fixed a bug where when a tool window was hidden and reactivated, it sometimes would move to a slightly different position.
• Fixed a rare bug where an exception was raised when docking a tool window around the document area.

TabStripPanel

• TabStripPanel.Text property flagged as Localizable.

9/11/2002 - Version 2.0.0184

DockableWindow

• Can now drag and drop to reorder tabs in a ToolWindowContainer.
• Added the RequireUniqueNamesForChildControls property which controls whether an exception is raised when duplicate named child controls are found on the parent Form.
• Added the ToolWindowDocumentAreaStateChange event to notify when a tool window enters or exits the MDI area.
• Added the PreferredWidth and PreferredHeight properties of DWDocumentContainer objects to aid in programmatically controlling their size.
• Fixed bug that kept close button on TopLevelForm objects when ShowToolWindowUI was false.
• Fixed bug that undocked attached tool windows when a close button was sometimes clicked fast.
• Fixed bug that was sometimes causing tool window previous dock positions to be inaccurate.
• Fixed bug that sometimes caused redocked tool windows from a hidden state to have inaccurate sizes

TabStripPanel

• Can set minimum length of tab items.

8/25/2002 - Version 2.0.0180

DockableWindow

• Added dockable tabbed MDI document support.
• Added auto-hide features for tool windows.
• Added a ToolWindowActivated event
• Added hooks for producing custom context menus (InitMenuItem event was removed, ShowContextMenu event was added).
• Changed tool bar captions to use rounded corners.
• Added a property to set the color of the workspace.
• Modified splitters and drag windows to use a checker pattern.
• Added a Save command to the editor.
• Added tooltip support to document windows.
• Added an exception that is thrown if a tool window child control name is found on two or more controls on the parent Form.
• Fixed bug that improperly raised the deactivate events when restoring a top-level window.
• Changed DWToolWindow.Parent to return type IDWProgrammaticWindowDockTarget.
• DWToolWindow.Floating property removed and changed to State.
• Added events to allow for reading and writing custom XML data into layout files.
• Enhanced test application with features like MDI, auto-hide, a web browser sample, and more.

TabStripPanel

• Added tooltip support for tab items.
• Added a Reselect event for when a selected tab is re-selected.
• Can set maximum length of tab items.
• Fixed bug where the cursor was reset to the default when the control was opened in design mode.

6/3/2002 - Version 1.1.0151

DockableWindow

• Modified drag and drop start code to use absolute (rather than relative) mouse tracking.

TabStripPanel

• Modified drag and drop start code to use absolute (rather than relative) mouse tracking.

5/19/2002 - Version 1.1.0150

TabStripPanel

• Made all event caller methods (On...) virtual
• Improved focus tracking so that flipping between tabs applies focus to the previously focused bound control child

4/27/2002 - Version 1.1.0147

DockableWindow

• Fixed drag bug that occurred in several multiple monitor situations
• Fixed drag rectangle offset bug when taskbar docked on left side of screen
• Check for Upgrade option from About page

TabStripPanel

• Added code to ensure that painting routines are not affected by other third-party controls
• Check for Upgrade option from About page

3/9/2002 - Version 1.1.0145

DockableWindow

• VB.NET sample project added

TabStripPanel

• Several classes unsealed
• VB.NET sample project added
• Licensing issues resolved

2/23/2002 - Version 1.1.0141

DockableWindow

• Added two new options for the ToolWindowTabStripAlignment property
• Fixed bug with layouts not using neutral cultures for sizes and bounds

2/17/2002 - Version 1.1.0140

DockableWindow

• Added ToolWindowTabStripAlignment property to control which side of tool windows tabs appear
• Reworked the test application to reflect the best practices for applications that use DockableWindow
• Fixed bug in XPath query used when loading layouts
• Fixed bug that didn't allow the DWManager control to move when dragging with the mouse

2/8/2002 - Version 1.1.0138

DockableWindow

• First control release

TabStripPanel

• Object model redesigned: different-styled controls split out into their own classes
• Design-time clicks on tabs show the associated control for the clicked tab
• All styles of TabStripPanels support all horizonal and vertical alignments
• Many color properties added to allow for total color customization
• Drop-down image selection added to ImageIndex property on TabStripPanelItem objects
• Improved documentation

1/16/2002 - Version 1.0.0130

TabStripPanel

• Recompiled for RTM version of the .NET framework

12/26/2001 - Version 1.0.0125

TabStripPanel

• Tweaked colors
• Renamed the ItemRemoved event to ItemRemoving
• Renamed the ItemsCleared event to ItemsClearing
• Removed the GradientBackground property

12/23/2001 - Version 1.0.0124

TabStripPanel

• Improved documentation
• Created new HighContrast style
• Added the ItemDragStart event
• Added the AutoDragDrop property
• Added the CloseButton property

11/27/2001 - Version 1.0.0118

TabStripPanel

• Added a strong name to the assembly
• Added the ItemDoubleClick event

11/2/2001 - Version 1.0.0115

TabStripPanel

• Changed drag and drop so that it doesn't begin until the mouse is moved several pixels

11/1/2001 - Version 1.0.0114

TabStripPanel

• Added full documentation to .ZIP package
• Added design-time support for managing the Items collection
• TabStripPanelItemCollection class now implements IList, ICollection, and IEnumerable
• Added internal drag and drop functionality when the AllowDrop property is set to true
• Added ItemsCleared event
• Fixed bug of DocumentList style controls sometimes scrolling past tab extents

10/7/2001 - Version 1.0.0100

TabStripPanel

• First control release