Dockable Tabs

Overview

This is a case study of dockable tabs as provided by Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition IDE.

Types of Windows

• Panes:- These are windows docked in the left/right/top/bottom areas. Each pane can have many "Tabs". One can drag and move a pane to dock it in a different area or leave it as a separate window.
• Auto-Hide Panels:- These are panels that show up as tabs on the window border, but when one moves the mouse over them, the panel opens up. These panel cannot have multiple tabs, every tab becomes a separate panel.
• Tabs:- These are simply regular tabs.

Layout

• It's possible to convert from one type of window to any other. eg.
  • Click-and-drag on a "Pane" one can make it a floating window and dock it in some dock-area. Alternatively one can drag the panel into another panel and all the tabs in the dragged panel can be added as tabs in the other panel.
  • Click-and-drag any tab title and it can be made a full-fledged "Panel" (which can be docked etc etc) or added as a tab to another panel.