A WPF docking library supporting MVVM

Question

I've already seen some questions like this one, but the docking library I'd like to use must have an important feature, which was not asked: it must support MVVM.

So, among Telerik, DotNetBar, DevZest, and the other libraries around there (excluding AvalonDock, which I have already tested), is there one you actually use with MVVM?

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

Hello Mike try with this:

1. Easy way: Implement Sofa, An adaptation of AvalonDock for Prism

2. Using AvalonDock and implementing a custom region adapter like this:

   public class ResizingPanelRegionAdapter : RegionAdapterBase<DockingManager>
   {
   public ResizingPanelRegionAdapter(IRegionBehaviorFactory factory)
       : base(factory)
   {
   
   }
   protected override IRegion CreateRegion()
   {
       return new AllActiveRegion();
   }
   
   protected override void Adapt(IRegion region, DockingManager regionTarget)
   {
       region.Views.CollectionChanged += delegate(Object sender, NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs e)
       {
           OnViewsCollectionChanged(sender, e, region, regionTarget);
       };
   }
   
   private void OnViewsCollectionChanged(object sender, NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs e, IRegion region, DockingManager regionTarget)
   {
       if (e.Action == NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Add)
       {
           foreach (object item in e.NewItems)
           {
               UIElement view = item as UIElement;
               if (view != null)
               {
                   //Get 
                   ResizingPanel resizingPanel = GetResizingPanel(regionTarget.Content);
                   resizingPanel.Background = Brushes.White;
                   DocumentPane document = GetDocumentPane(resizingPanel.Children);
                   //document.Background = Brushes.White;
   
                   DocumentContent newContentPane = new DocumentContent();
                   newContentPane.Content = item;
                   var itemView = (item as IViewBase);
                   if (itemView != null)
                       newContentPane.Title = itemView.Title;
                   //When contentPane is closed remove the associated region
                   newContentPane.Closed += (contentPaneSender, args) =>
                   {
                       region.Remove(item);
                       newContentPane.Content = null;
                   };
   
                   document.Items.Add(newContentPane);
   
                   if (!resizingPanel.Children.Contains(document))
                       resizingPanel.Children.Add(document);
   
                   regionTarget.Content = resizingPanel;
   
                   newContentPane.Activate();
                   region.Activate(item);
               }
           }
       }
       else if (e.Action == NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Remove)
       {
   
       }
   }
   
   private DocumentPane GetDocumentPane(UIElementCollection collection)
   {
       foreach (object item in collection)
       {
           var documentPanel = item as DocumentPane;
           if (documentPanel != null)
               return documentPanel;
       }
       return new DocumentPane();
   }
   
   private ResizingPanel GetResizingPanel(object content)
   {
       var resizingPanel = content as ResizingPanel;
       if (resizingPanel != null)
           return resizingPanel;
       return new ResizingPanel();
   }    
   }
   

And your in your XAML you could implement it like this:

<avalon:DockingManager prism:RegionManager.RegionName="MainRegion">
</avalon:DockingManager>

How it works? Simple, first at all you have to keep in mind that Region adapters are responsible for creating a region and associating it with the control. This allows you to use the IRegion interface to manage the UI control contents in a consistent way.

And a DockingManager is the core control in AvalonDock. It arranges contained panes, handles fly out panes and floating windows.

So, following this example you could have implemented a custom region adapter for avalon, I worked with this implementation in a project getting awesome results.

Regards