Hi,
I am just curious what the differences are between the WinDockManager's Panes and the WinToolbarManager's Task Panes. I have an application that currently uses WinDockManager for docking all the panes, but I'm wondering if it would be better to use Task Panes, at least for some of them.
I have some docking panes that should really be opened to perform a certain task and then closed when finished. This seems like what the Task Pane should be used for. I have other panes that give status of things, or act as explorers. I would think these should be docking panes since they aren't related to a specific task.
How do you know which one to use? Do they serve different purposes? Do they really behave differently enough for it to matter which one is used? Is it OK to have an application that uses both?
Thanks,
~Karen
There is no problem with using both of these.
Panes from the UltraDockManager and be grouped in tabs or horizontal and vertical splits. Task panes from the UltraToolbarsManager can have multiple tools holding different controls. There is also a built in toolbar at the top of a task pane which holds navigations buttons, the caption of the selected task pane tool, and a drop down button from which to select different tools.
Determining which one to use is really something that needs to be considered on an individual basis. I recommend defining your pane as a custom UserControl. Then you can add an instance of that UserControl to your Form and place it in either the dock manager or the toolbars manager. If you don't like way it works, just remove it and add it as a pane in the other type of component. This will make it easy to switch.