Problems with a DockingPanesFactory when setting the DataContext in XAML

[Eric]

We have an existing WPF application that uses a similar UI library to Telerik. We are considering moving to Telerik for many reasons but one is the MVVM support for the RadDocking control. I have been reading and creating some test code and I came across something odd.

I am setting the DataContext of my View/Window using the following XAML.

 

<Window ...>

    <Window.Resources>
        <vm:MainWindowViewModel x:Key="MainWindowViewModel />
    </Window.Resources>

    <Grid DataContext={StaticResource MainWindowViewModel}">

    </Grid>

</Window>

Inside the Grid I have a RadDocking that uses the DockingPanesFactory. When I set the DataContext in XMAL (shown above), and I put a break point in the AddPane override for the DockingPanesFactory, the radDocking.SplitItems has zero items the first time.  

If I set the DataContext in the code-behind of the View/Window using the following…

public MainWindow(){
    InitializeComponent();
    this.DataContext = new MainWindowViewModel();
}

 …and now look at the AddPane override for the DockingPanesFactory then the radDociing.SplitItems does NOT contain zero items.

 So if I set the DataContext in XAML the Designer in Visual Studio shows the correct layout but at runtime it puts each RadPane in its own container but if I set the DataContext in code behind the Designer does not work at all but it looks as expected at runtime.

 Why does the DataContext of my View/Window have to be set in code-behind to get the DockingPanesFactory to work correctly at runtime?

 Thanks,

   -eric

[Kalin]

Hello Eric,

In order to get it working correctly would need to define the custom DockingPanesFactory at the very end of the Docking definition:

<telerik:RadDocking PanesSource="{Binding Panes}">
    <telerik:RadSplitContainer InitialPosition="DockedLeft">
        <telerik:RadPaneGroup  x:Name="LeftPaneGroup">
        </telerik:RadPaneGroup>
    </telerik:RadSplitContainer>
    <telerik:RadSplitContainer InitialPosition="DockedBottom">
        <telerik:RadPaneGroup x:Name="BottomPaneGroup">
        </telerik:RadPaneGroup>
    </telerik:RadSplitContainer>
    <telerik:RadDocking.DockingPanesFactory>
        <local:CustomDockingPanesFactory />
    </telerik:RadDocking.DockingPanesFactory>
</telerik:RadDocking>

This way everything will load at the correct moment.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Kalin
Telerik

[Eric]

Thank you very much for the reply. I can verify that your suggestion does correct the issue I am seeing. This might be a good addition to the help for the DockingPanesFactory class. Thanks.