Getting Started

Getting up and running with Docking & MDI controls is extremely easy.

This topic's information will assume you are using Visual Studio to write your XAML code for control that will contain docking windows and/or MDI.

Add Assembly References

First, add references to the ActiproSoftware.Shared.Wpf.dll and ActiproSoftware.Docking.Wpf.dll assemblies. They should have been installed in the GAC during the control installation process. However, they also will be located in the appropriate Program Files folders. See the product's Readme for details on those locations.

Getting Started with Docking & MDI

This xmlns declaration in your root XAML control allows access to the various controls in this product:

xmlns:docking="http://schemas.actiprosoftware.com/winfx/xaml/docking"

This code shows the base XAML that you can use to create a simple docking window layout with several windows:

<docking:DockSite>
	<docking:SplitContainer>
		<docking:Workspace>
			<docking:TabbedMdiHost>
				<docking:TabbedMdiContainer>
					<docking:DocumentWindow Title="Document1.txt" Description="Text document" FileName="Document1.rtf">
						<TextBox BorderThickness="0" TextWrapping="Wrap" Text="This is a document window." />
					</docking:DocumentWindow>
				</docking:TabbedMdiContainer>
			</docking:TabbedMdiHost>
		</docking:Workspace>
		<docking:ToolWindowContainer>
			<docking:ToolWindow Title="Tool Window 1" />
			<docking:ToolWindow Title="Tool Window 2" />
		</docking:ToolWindowContainer>
	</docking:SplitContainer>
</docking:DockSite>

This code shows the base XAML that you can use to create a simple docking window layout that leverages MVVM support:

<docking:DockSite DocumentItemsSource="{Binding DocumentItems}" DocumentItemContainerStyle="..."
			ToolItemsSource="{Binding ToolItems}" ToolItemContainerStyle="...">
	<docking:Workspace>
		<docking:TabbedMdiHost />
	</docking:Workspace>
</docking:DockSite>

Several ways of opening the windows are shown in the MVVM examples found in our Sample Browser.

The Visual Studio Item Templates

If you have Visual Studio, several item templates named "Docking & Standard MDI Window (WPF)", "Docking & Standard MDI Page (WPF)", "Docking & Tabbed MDI Window (WPF)", "Docking & Tabbed MDI Page (WPF)", "Docking Inner Fill Window (WPF)", and "Docking Inner Fill Page (WPF)" should have been installed during the WPF Studio installation procedure.

When you wish to create a new Window or Page with a tabbed MDI, standard MDI, or inner fill in your application, simply choose Add New Item in Visual Studio and select the appropriate item template. A DockSite with several tool and documents already defined will be added to your project and opened.

The use of item templates is the fastest way to get started with our products in your own applications.

Further Study

There are fair number of controls and concepts to understand when working with this product. We encourage you to at a minimum, read through the Term Definitions and Control Hierarchy topics since they cover some essential things to know.

Also, please run through the feature documentation and also look at the numerous QuickStarts located in the sample project. The documentation is very thorough and the sample project demonstrates almost every feature of the controls.

If you require further assistance after looking through those, please visit our support forum for the product.