Docking/MDI vNext - How Should We Improve MVVM Support?

by Avatar Bill Henning (Actipro) - 5 comments
Thursday, August 20, 2015 at 2:20pm

PostBannerWPFControlsDevNotes

As mentioned in this previous post, we've been looking for ideas to further improve our WPF Docking/MDI product, which already is the market leader for docking tool window and MDI functionality.  We've committed to working on a complete internal restructuring of the product that we will call Docking/MDI vNext.  We're doing our best to keep the same general API surface, while providing even more advanced features in every area of the product.  We've collected suggestions from our customers over the past several years and are working to meet them as best we can with Docking/MDI vNext.

Our current production version of Docking/MDI fully supports the optional MVVM pattern for managing both tool and document windows.  The design generally follows that of a standard ItemsControl.

We are revisiting all of this right now in our vNext implementation and want to hear from you, our customers, on what improvements or feature additions would help you out when working with MVVM-based docking windows.

  • What API additions/changes would you like to see?
  • What MVVM-related functionality would you like to see added?
  • What are any pain points you've encountered with MVVM support in the current version?
  • What MVVM framework, if any, do you use within your app that you'd like to integrate docking windows with?

If you could reply to the above questions in the comments or email our support address, it would be most welcome.  Now is the time to send your feedback as we are currently working in this area.  Thanks!

WPF and WinRT Controls Updated for Visual Studio 2015 Compatibility

by Avatar Bill Henning (Actipro)
Tuesday, July 28, 2015 at 2:53pm

VisualStudio

Visual Studio 2015, the latest version of Microsoft's IDE, officially released the other day and we updated our WPF and WinRT controls yesterday for compatibility with it.  Grab the latest maintenance releases from our download page.

The new maintenance releases also contain a number of other minor updates as described in these announcement posts:

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Docking/MDI vNext - Tabbed MDI New Tab Button

by Avatar Bill Henning (Actipro)
Tuesday, July 14, 2015 at 7:54pm

PostBannerWPFControlsDevNotes

As mentioned in this previous post, we've been looking for ideas to further improve our WPF Docking/MDI product, which already is the market leader for docking tool window and MDI functionality.  We've committed to working on a complete internal restructuring of the product that we will call Docking/MDI vNext.  We're doing our best to keep the same general API surface, while providing even more advanced features in every area of the product.  We've collected suggestions from our customers over the past several years and are working to meet them as best we can with Docking/MDI vNext.

In our previous post, we showed several new tabbed MDI features including read-only glyphs, tab layout kinds, and context menu options.  In today's post we'll show another new feature coming to tabbed MDI, which is the optional new tab button.

Feature Description

When the new tab button is enabled, a button shows up at the end of the tab list.  This tab button is best used when the tab overflow mode is set to shrink tabs.  Upon clicking the new tab button, an event fires allowing you to be notified that the end user is requesting a new tab.

Here's a small demo we made with tabs that look like a Chrome browser.  The animation sequence shows how tabs can be dragged around in an animated fashion and then when the new tab button is clicked, new tabs are added.

ChromeBrowser

The sample above is using a completely custom tab and new tab button chrome.  Default styling of a new tab button has a plus button glyph.

Summary

New tab buttons are great for use in certain application scenarios such as browsers.  vNext easily brings the option of using them to your own apps.

Docking/MDI vNext is currently still in mid-development stages but is progressing very well.  Please contact us via email if you are an existing customer and would like to sign up as a beta tester for vNext.  If you have any other suggestions for improving Docking/MDI, now is the time to get them in.  We'll post more updates on our vNext improvements soon.

In the meantime, please download our current Docking/MDI control product and give it a spin.

TaskDownload TaskLiveDemo TaskBuyNow

Docking/MDI vNext - New Tabbed MDI Features

by Avatar Bill Henning (Actipro) - 4 comments
Monday, July 6, 2015 at 5:23pm

PostBannerWPFControlsDevNotes

As mentioned in this previous post, we've been looking for ideas to further improve our WPF Docking/MDI product, which already is the market leader for docking tool window and MDI functionality.  We've committed to working on a complete internal restructuring of the product that we will call Docking/MDI vNext.  We're doing our best to keep the same general API surface, while providing even more advanced features in every area of the product.  We've collected suggestions from our customers over the past several years and are working to meet them as best we can with Docking/MDI vNext.

In the last post, we showed how vNext will support full-featured tabbed MDI with docked tool windows in a floating container.  In today's post, we will focus on several other new features coming to tabbed MDI.

Feature Description

First, we have a new built-in read-only glyph that shows in a tab when the document window is marked read-only.  You can see it at the beginning of the animation sequence below.

TabbedMdiTabKinds

Second, we've added the ability to designate the kind of layout a tab will use when in tabbed MDI mode.  The default option is Normal.  There also is a Pinned layout kind.  Pinned tabs appear to the left of normal tabs and have an unpin button on them.  When unpinned, a pinned tab returns back to Normal state.  A third state is a Preview state where the tab appears on the right side of the container using an alternate appearance, and has a Keep Tab Open button on it, also available on the context menu.  Clicking that button returns the tab to a Normal state.  A preview tab is generally used as a temporary tab that can disappear when no longer needed.

Third, we've added more menu items to the context menu that shows for tabbed MDI.  In the animation sequence, you can see new Close Others and Close All Documents menu items.  Close Others will close all other tabs in the same container.  Close All Documents will close all tabs in any tabbed MDI container.

Summary

These are all advanced features that have been requested by our customers and are coming to Docking/MDI vNext.

Docking/MDI vNext is currently still in mid-development stages but is progressing very well.  Please contact us via email if you are an existing customer and would like to sign up as a beta tester for vNext.  If you have any other suggestions for improving Docking/MDI, now is the time to get them in.  We'll post more updates on our vNext improvements soon.

In the meantime, please download our current Docking/MDI control product and give it a spin.

TaskDownload TaskLiveDemo TaskBuyNow

Actipro Blog 2015 Q2 Posting Summary

by Avatar Bill Henning (Actipro)
Thursday, July 2, 2015 at 8:35pm

BlogSummaryBlogPostBanner

What We Accomplished

In this quarter, we published the 2015.1 versions of our WPF, Silverlight, and WinRT/XAML controls, along with maintenance releases of our WinForms controls.  These versions included several new controls and some big feature enhancements for our existing controls.  Check out the release posts for more detail.

What’s Coming Next

In recent weeks, we've been primary focused on the development of our Docking/MDI vNext product.  We are completely reworking the internals of our popular Docking/MDI for WPF product, adding an enormous number of major new features along the way.  Most of the new features are a direct result of customer requests.  We've started detailing some of the new features in blog posts and watch for many more to posts come.  For instance, updates to tabbed MDI are progressing well and you'll soon have new features at your fingertips like pinning tabs, having preview (right-aligned) tabs as in Visual Studio, etc.

Blog Post List

Control Product Development and Releases

Docking/MDI vNext Development