AutoHide Designing

Hi William,

I don't think we've modified the Docking/MDI designer functionality in quite a long time.  Which specific version did you see it working in before?

I'm pretty sure it was in 2011.2, under Visual Studio 2010.

Hi William,

I just tried it in that version but didn't see anything like what you described.  Could you try it in the older version and tell us how to repro it in one of our samples?

I will try in the next few days, yes. So is it your understanding that this was not a "feature", and more of a fortuitous bug?

Hi William,

I really don't remember ever seeing that working, so if it was, it probably was as you said a fortuitous bug. :)  Let us know what you find.  Thanks!

I have this same problem.

I have multiple windows in the autohide state and I'm getting really frustrated with not being able to see them at design time.

An invisible at design time XAML construct is damn hard to edit in a GUI visual editor.... :-(

My questions:

Is there some way to make auto hide windows and their content visible in either VS (I use 2012) or Blend?

If not, what is the recommended design work flow?

I've been doing property grids in an MDI window then copying the XAML to the auto hide window - which is "a less than satisfacory" work flow approach.

I've thought about making the windows as normal open MDI windows (so they are visible at design time) and then changing them to autohidden programtically when the app starts. I'm not sure yet how to do that (and don't really think it should be necessary).

How do others design invisiable autohide windows?

Dave

Hi David,

Another option is to make the content of your tool windows be UserControls and design the UserControls separately from the main window.

Thanks for that suggestion. I just did that for some items and it's a huge improvement.

Dave