front to back ordering od docks

[Chad]

I am writing an application that allows a user to add many docks to the same page at once.  Currently, when a dock is added, it is placed "in front" of all the previous docks so that if more than one occupy the same screen area, the last one added will be in front of all the others.

I'm looking for a way to set the order of these docks so that the user can choose which docks are in front and in back.  The functionallity I'm looking for can be thought of as a kind of  "bring to front, send to back" type functionallilty seen in many programs.

I've played around with setting the z-index and that works fine when creating a dock in a CreateRadDock() Function using the following code.

dock.Style("z-index") = "1000"

This same code also works in a dock command to set the z-index to a higher or lower number depending on the command.

The problem comes on postback when running CreateRadDockFromState().  Apparently the dock state doesnt store the front to back order of the docks.  Or at least I cant see it if it does.  So I have no way of determining the current value of z-index for the dock being created from a previous state.

Are there any suggestions or code samples to accomplish this?  Here is my relavant code: 

    Private Function CreateRadDock() As RadDock
        Dim docksCount As Integer = CurrentDockStates.Count
        Dim dock As New RadDock()
        dock.Left = LeftPane.Width.Value - (Width / 2) + (ContentPane.Width.Value / 2)
        dock.Top = ContentPane.Height.Value / 4
        dock.Attributes.Add("onclick", "onDockClick(this);")
        dock.Resizable = True
        dock.Style("z-index") = "1000"

        'dock.DockMode = DockMode.Floating
        dock.UniqueName = Guid.NewGuid().ToString()
        dock.ID = String.Format("RadDock{0}", dock.UniqueName)
        dock.Text = String.Format("Added at {0}", DateTime.Now)
        dock.OnClientResizeEnd = "onDockResizeEnd"
        dock.OnClientDragEnd = "onDockClientDragEnd"
        dock.OnClientCommand = "onDockCommand"

        Dim cmdSendToBack As New DockCommand
        cmdSendToBack.Name = "SendToBack"
        cmdSendToBack.Text = "Send To Back"
        cmdSendToBack.AutoPostBack = True
        dock.Commands.Add(cmdSendToBack)

        AddHandler dock.Command, AddressOf dock_Command
        Return dock
    End Function

   Private Function CreateRadDockFromState(ByVal state As DockState) As RadDock
        Dim dock As New RadDock()
        dock.ID = String.Format("RadDock{0}", state.UniqueName)
        dock.Attributes.Add("onclick", "onDockClick(this);")

        dock.ApplyState(state)
        dockdock.Text = dock.UniqueName
        AddHandler dock.Command, AddressOf dock_Command

        dock.OnClientResizeEnd = "onDockResizeEnd"
        dock.OnClientDragEnd = "onDockClientDragEnd"
        dock.OnClientCommand = "onDockCommand"

        Dim cmdSendToBack As New DockCommand
        cmdSendToBack.Name = "SendToBack"
        cmdSendToBack.Text = "Send To Back"
        cmdSendToBack.AutoPostBack = True
        dock.Commands.Add(cmdSendToBack)


        Return dock
    End Function

    Sub dock_Command(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As DockCommandEventArgs)
        Select Case e.Command.Text
            Case "Send To Back"
                Dim myDock As RadDock = DirectCast(sender, RadDock)
                myDock.Style("z-index") = "500"
        End Select

    End Sub

[Sophy]

Hi Chad,

If you want to save in the state the z-index of the RadDock which you have set when creating the control I suggest you try to pass it to the RadDock's Tag property. The dock's Tag is a property which is saved in the dock's state and allows to store and load some information needed for recreating the control which is not saved in the state by default. In the MyPortal online example the dock's Tag is used for storing the needed information to create the custom control.
If you need further assistance, do contact us again.

Kind regards,
Sophy
the Telerik team

Instantly find answers to your questions at the new Telerik Support Center

[Rich]

I am already using dock.tag to store the value of a user control that is contained in the dock.

Can dock.tag store more than one value?

[Sophy]

Hi Rich,

The dock.Tag accepts a string as a value. You can store the needed values as a string separated by semicolons, for example, and retrieve their values afterwards splitting the string, e.g.:

RadDock1.Tag = "string1;string2";
string[] strings = RadDock1.Tag.Split(';');

If you have any other questions, do contact us again.

Sincerely yours,
Sophy
the Telerik team

Instantly find answers to your questions at the new Telerik Support Center