My boss thinks the VS 2008 IDE Window Manager(autohiding, docking of Solution Explorer, Properties, etc) is the best thing since sliced bread. I can't find a control that resembles that functionality in the Toolbox. Is there a control like that available that you know of? Or should I go ahead and implement it myself? Btw, we're using VS 2008 Express.
A:
You should check out SandDock. The older versions were freely licenced (dunno if they are still available) and the newer versions are relatively cheap, especially considering the amount of time/money/sanity they would save you.
I would strongly recommend against trying to roll your own VM component. There is just too much work involved, and it wouldn't be worth it, if it wasn't your primary product.
Ishmaeel
2008-10-09 06:31:46
A:
There is a very good opensource project just for this. Look on SourceForge for DockingSuite Dock Panel Suite.
leppie
2008-10-09 06:32:20
http://sourceforge.net/projects/dockpanelsuite/ ?
Ishmaeel
2008-10-09 06:35:22
+5
A:
I implemented in a real project the DockPanel Suit by Weifen Luo that worked very well and it is in production right now on a quite complex application (it is an application for the financial market that had very strict UI requirements in terms of performance and stability). It is really a very good implementation.
I even had to do some custom modifications and found the code to be very understandable and well written.
I'm sure there are several comparable comercial implementations from companies like Infragistics and similar, but if you are short on cash or just don't care for commercial support services for your components you can give it a try:
Sergio Acosta
2008-10-09 06:37:09
+11
A:
You don't have to create something that looks like the VS window manager - you can use the actual VS one with the Visual Studio Shell.
I believe it's aimed at creating developer tools, but I see no reason why it would have to be used that way. It's a bit like the Eclipse RCP, as I understand it.
Jon Skeet
2008-10-09 06:39:20
I find that the The Visual Studio Shell isn't that easy to work with.
Mark Cidade
2008-10-09 07:49:25
Can't say I've tried it myself - it's a shame if they've not done a great job with it :(Personally I'm not sure I've found any GUI frameworks that are genuinely easy to work with, but I'm not a GUI guy :)
Jon Skeet
2008-10-09 08:15:17
At over 100MB for either isolated or shell versions of VS, that must be the heaviest docking panel control ever! :) I do find the VS shell interesting though.
leppie
2008-10-09 12:11:23
A:
I personally think Magic Library is the best. Can't remember if it's OSS though.
Jonathan C Dickinson
2008-10-09 06:41:43
+2
A:
I just hope you're not developing a standard line of business app for non-technical users.
I was involved in a line of business app. that tried using the Magic library (from memory) and implemented property windows etc, so it looked "just like Visual Studio".
Then we released a prototype to the end users and they hated it. These were non-technical finance and accounts type people, some even power users. The major complaints were "windows don't stay in the same place", "too easy to accidently drag windows", "too fiddly" "my window keeps disappearing" etc etc.
Just because your boss thinks the Visual Studio IDE is great doesn't mean a thing if your target user group don't.
Don't forget that Visual Studio was designed/built by developers for developers. If your users aren't going to be overly technical it might be very wise to do some prototyping with them first.
Ash
2008-10-09 07:13:13