I've just begun to familiarize myself with the Dock controls to learn if and how they can be of use in my applications. And, for the most part, I've ignored or discounted them, assuming their use is limited to the very specific, portal-type, personal UI's. But now I'm revisiting that assumption and wonder if/how they could be of great usefulness if implemented in like-scenario as follows:
Utilize the RadDock controls in their obvious/intended use, to organize and manage site layout, persisting state to xml or db, etc etc.. nothing unusual there. But- in a non-portal-like, public UI- limiting that functionality to site owners/administrators only. The browsing public, or non-auth users, would see the admin-prescribed layout/content, but without any of the the docking chrome or layout functionality. I suppose I think of these as two modes; admin/normal, edit/view, enabled/disabled... etc.
I've toyed with and have had some success creating custom controls; docks and zones inheriting from RadDock and RadDockZone in order to add some custom properties, override where needed, etc. I've created and am very happy with the functionality and outcome of the 'admin or enabled' mode and am looking into accomplishing the 'disabled' mode.
I'm confident I can do this- one (hacky) way or another- but in order of seeking the most logical, elegant way of doing it-- I would appreciate any input from Telerik or anyone with insight, suggestions, or tips.
A couple thoughts:
- I thought I could dynamically load docks/content OnInit and then, when not admin, just disable the controls to inhibit rendering the scripts, leaving only chrome to deal with. Not so.
- In a 'disabled mode'.. would hope to not render anything dock-related; UI or script, as opposed to disabling, removing or hiding things on the client.
- Regardless of if/how I can achieve this now.. it seems this kind of functionality could/should be baked-in to the Docking. ??
Thanks a bunch and I appreciate the input!
David
Utilize the RadDock controls in their obvious/intended use, to organize and manage site layout, persisting state to xml or db, etc etc.. nothing unusual there. But- in a non-portal-like, public UI- limiting that functionality to site owners/administrators only. The browsing public, or non-auth users, would see the admin-prescribed layout/content, but without any of the the docking chrome or layout functionality. I suppose I think of these as two modes; admin/normal, edit/view, enabled/disabled... etc.
I've toyed with and have had some success creating custom controls; docks and zones inheriting from RadDock and RadDockZone in order to add some custom properties, override where needed, etc. I've created and am very happy with the functionality and outcome of the 'admin or enabled' mode and am looking into accomplishing the 'disabled' mode.
I'm confident I can do this- one (hacky) way or another- but in order of seeking the most logical, elegant way of doing it-- I would appreciate any input from Telerik or anyone with insight, suggestions, or tips.
A couple thoughts:
- I thought I could dynamically load docks/content OnInit and then, when not admin, just disable the controls to inhibit rendering the scripts, leaving only chrome to deal with. Not so.
- In a 'disabled mode'.. would hope to not render anything dock-related; UI or script, as opposed to disabling, removing or hiding things on the client.
- Regardless of if/how I can achieve this now.. it seems this kind of functionality could/should be baked-in to the Docking. ??
Thanks a bunch and I appreciate the input!
David