WinForms Dock

• The drag and drop behavior is quick and flicker-free, and allows for pixel-perfect hit-testing;
• When a DockWindow or DocumentWindow is about to be docked to a zone, the zone is highlighted to show where the object will be placed. The way a zone is highlighted can be customized;
• All docking elements support Z-order. The docking guides are on top of all elements, a semi-transparent hint of the new dropping location is next in the Z index, and the dragged form itself is last in the z-order;
• True layered window guides allow for per-pixel transparency and hot state support (e.g. the docking guide will be rendered differently when the mouse hovers it);
• Completely transparent drag-and-drop API - a service-based semantic allows for plugging entirely custom drag-and-drop behavior, if the scenario requires it.

A prerequisite for any good docking framework is a fine-grained layout system. Solid efforts were put in designing and implementing a flexible and powerful, yet simple to understand and easy to use layout mechanism for Telerik Dock control. For example, all sizing information is stored per panel in a separate object. This allows for easy transition from one state to another and vice-versa without loosing the sizing information for each state.
RadDock's layout mechanism gives several distinct advantages over similar Windows Forms products:

• Complex scenarios made simple. By providing many sizing modes (Auto, Relative, Absolute, Fill) virtually any layout scenario can be easily achieved. The user has complete control over sizing and layout behavior;
• Completely transparent and extensible model. Each RadSplitContainer composes a RadSplitContainerLayoutStrategy, which handles any layout request for this container. If the available size modes are not enough to fit into a layout scenario, then the entire layout strategy may be easily replaced/extended with a custom one;
• Redock support is easier than ever before. Storing all sizing information per panel in a separate object allows for easy transition from one state to another and vice-versa without loosing the sizing information for each state;
• “Load Layout” allows for restoring previous scene at 100%. A layout persistency operation serializes/de-serializes the sizing info of each panel in order to completely store/restore its position on a split container.
• Complete customization of tab orientations (tabs can be positioned at the top/bottom/left/right of the docking container), service automations, and better control over tool windows and documents

The Telerik Dock component features fresh UI, as well as excellent drawing performance, which will certainly impress your users. Some of the most notable features are:

• Sophisticated drag-and-drop mechanism which provides for nimble and intuitive drag and drop behavior with VS2010-style docking guides;
• Floating, docked, hidden, pinned, or tabbed states for each dock window. Depending on the relation of the window to the form, the window's state button shows the available state choices;
• The built-in Redock support (or the transition to the previous docked or floating state of a Dock Window) saves a window’s state just before any dock operation is about to occur, and this state can easily be restored later on, upon user request (such as double-clicking on the window’s caption area). This allows for exact transition to previous state - floating to docked, and vice versa. Even better, if an application requires completely custom redock semantic, it may be easily replaced by registering a custom service, which handles internal Save/Restore requests, made by the framework;
• Different Document Windows can be docked within the Document container itself, meaning that the user can view two or more documents at a time. This feature is very handy for large screen monitors;
• Double-clicking on the titlebar of a floating container with dock all contained windows to their previous position on the form and will restore each window's size and location settings;
• While dragging a floating window, the window's content is fully visible for improved usability;
• Horizontal and vertical splitters help with the dynamic resizing of each section.

• by either pressing the Tab key while Ctrl is held down;
• by using the mouse to select the window they need to navigate to while Ctrl is held down, even if is hidden;
• by using the arrow keys while Ctrl is held down.

The component is shipped with a rich set of themes that allow you to easily build slick interfaces with the look-and-feel of Windows 8, Office 2010, Office 2013, Metro, etc. The themes can be easily switched using a single property.