Introduction to Docking Panes

Introduction

This topic will explain what docking panes are, how to alter the location of a docking pane, the available positions of docking panes, which docking panes exist, and also explain the controls found in the panes.

Docking Panes

The defining feature of a docking pane, is that it has the flexibility to be docked, i.e., snapped, or placed, in various predefined positions of the main application.

 

Components of a Docking Pane

The most obvious features of a docking pane are the header and the content as seen below.

 

Header

Content

 

The panes also have a few other features at the top right corner, as seen in the images below. These include the pin / unpin button and the close button.

 

Pin / Unpin

Close

 

Lastly, when the pane is docked into the same position as another plane, they will each be tabbed, as you can see in the image below.

 

Tab

How to Use Docking

To move an individual pane from its current position, you can left-click and drag its tab. Once you begin to move your mouse, the docking arrows should appear to show you where the pane can be docked. If you release the left-click button prior to highlighting one of these arrows, you will leave the pane floating right where it is, which can be seen in the first portion of the animation below.




 

Besides leaving the pane to float, you can, of course, dock the panes as well. When docking a pane, you can dock into the main application, or with another pane. When docking with the main application, you can choose between left, right, top, or bottom. When docking with another pane, the a middle dock option will appear. Using the middle dock option on a pane will place the pane in the same position as the pan being docked with, and the panes will the be tabbed so you can choose between them.

 

Docking Options in the Main Application vs. Individual Panes

Main Application

Individual Panes

 

Note: Panes can also be moved by clicking and dragging the header, but when two or more panes are together, you will be relocating all panes when moving from the header.

What Panes can be Docked

Besides the wizards and dialog boxes, every pane in BobCAD-CAM can be docked. These include:

 

The Data Entry Manager

The CAD Tree Manager

The CAM Tree Manager

The BobART Manager

The BobCAD Live Manager

The UCS Manager

The Posting Manager

The Layers Manager