On using DockSiteLayoutSerializer to restore ToolWindows

Comments (4)

Posted 14 years ago by Actipro Software Support - Cleveland, OH, USA

Hi Adam,

The lazy-load feature uses the "name" (as specified by x:Name in XAML) as the unique identifier. So you'd need to make sure that the ToolWindows have a unique name before saving the layout, and then while loading the layout or opening the ToolWindow. Our Sample Browser shows an example of how the lazy-loading feature works.

Also, keep in mind that the lazy-loading allows you to restore the layout of ToolWindows that have not been created/registered yet. So if your ToolWindows are already created/registered, but just not opened/visible, then loading the layout will open them.

Actipro Software Support

Posted 14 years ago by Adam Petaccia

> Also, keep in mind that the lazy-loading allows you to restore the layout of ToolWindows that have not been created/registered yet. So if your ToolWindows are already created/registered, but just not opened/visible, then loading the layout will open them.

So to get the desired effect (Window's aren't automatically spawned, but will come in with previous settings restored)

* Application starts up
* Create docksite
* Retrieve stored DockSiteLayout and apply to docksite created above
* Enter main loop
* When user does something which would spawn a toolwindow (they start off closed) it is created, added to docksite
* At this point, if I understand correctly, you're saying as long as the name is unique and the same as before, the ToolWindow will have the same properties (dimensions, location, rafting, docking direction, etc) as before?

Posted 14 years ago by Actipro Software Support - Cleveland, OH, USA

Hi Adam,

That is correct. If you are seeing something different, then please try it out with our Lazy Loading sample and compare that with your code. If that doesn't help, then please put together a small sample project that reproduces the issue and email it over to our support address.

Actipro Software Support

Posted 14 years ago by Actipro Software Support - Cleveland, OH, USA

Hi Adam,

Thanks for the sample. The issue here is the order of operations. Your code effectively looks like:

Tool Window tw = new ToolWindow(this.dockSite) {
    Name = "MyToolWindow",
};

The problem is this registers the ToolWindow before it's Name is set. So when it looks for the lazy-load layout data, the Name is empty and nothing is found. The code above effectively translates to:

Tool Window tw = new ToolWindow();
this.dockSite.ToolWindows.Add(tw);
tw.Name = "MyToolWindow";

The Name needs to be set before the ToolWindow is registered. So this code works:

Tool Window tw = new ToolWindow() {
    Name = "MyToolWindow",
};
this.dockSite.ToolWindows.Add(tw);

As would the other ToolWindow constructor overload that takes both a DockSite to register with and a Name.

Hope this helps.

Actipro Software Support

The latest build of this product (v24.1.1) was released 2 months ago, which was after the last post in this thread.

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