Dave Burke : Freelance .NET Web Developer specializing in Online Communities

Staying with DIVElements for Winform controls in VS2005

There's been a big improvement in the sophistication, variety, and management of Winforms (and webforms) Controls in VS2005.  Good job, MS! 

But it's always the small things, that last mile, which is where MS so often comes up short.  No dockable windows, for instance?  Come on.  We developers have used them every day since VS2003 in 2000, yet we don't get them out of the box?  And the ToolStrip and ToolStripContainer controls are great additions, but if I want to drag a menu button with text to a sidebar, why can't the text direction automatically align with the side of the window it is docked to rather than display horizontally?  Who wants that?  There's probably a property to change text direction on docking, but I haven't found it. 

We're still on Beta 2.0, of course, so maybe the release will provide happiness and wholeness.  Somehow I doubt it.

I was going to post on this topic before, but TitusWave mentioned it today and that you can vote for including a dockable window control at the Microsoft Product Feedback Center here.  I voted for it, for kicks, but I'm not holding my breath.  For the suggestion information you'll find that the Status is Closed and the Resolution is Postponed.  The official Microsoft Status of the suggestion is Reviewed, so we can still feel a tingly inside because it was actually "Reviewed."  The Dockable Windows suggestion first appeared on February 2, 2005.  Nahhhh, can't start thinking about a control mod only 10 months before a product release, I guess.  Besides, dockable windows have only been in use in a MS product for five years.  Give us some time here, people! 

Thankfully there's DIVElements, whose controls I am using for both Docking Windows and Toolstrip Menus.  These are used in RSSBandit, for instance, and they rock.

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Posted on 6/9/2005 12:02:00 AM by Dave Burke
Categories: .NET
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Comments (4) -

6/9/2005 9:09:53 AM Permalink

Tim's SandBar also has a really cool and useful feature - the Container Bar.

The closest thing I've been able to do with the default 2.0 controls is a split container controlled by some menuitem. Then you have to add *another* toolstripcontainer within that to even *kinda* look like the IUI you have in Office apps.

You're right - they conviniently left that part out. Tim's controls are still the bees knees.

Chris Frazier |

6/9/2005 9:16:32 AM Permalink

Chris, Thanks for your bees knees confirmation of DIVElement controls.  I'll have to check out the Container Bar.  I know the DIVElement stuff is going to put me in Jake with my bossman when he starts playing with the app.

Yeap, I started with the split container and added the toolstripcontainer to the toolstrips I entered.  Just plain clumsy and buggy.

daveburke |

6/9/2005 5:38:10 PM Permalink

I remember seeing MS demo DOS 6 (maybe it was 5?).  It included DOSKEY to get command line history.  Wow! What an innovation!  3 years after everyone else...

Peter Jones |

6/9/2005 7:24:10 PM Permalink

Thanks for the reminder, Peter.  Some things don't change.  I have to keep myself from raging when I start thinking much about this.  Thank God we're not part of that corporate mentality where that kind of crap is Okay.

daveburke |


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