:
"I need to implement 3 to 4 panes in my form application. Is that possible?"
Assuming you mean to manipulate 3 or 4 independent container controls within
one form ?
Most helpful, I think, would be if you would specify your requirements a
little more specifically : is it the case that that one of your "panes" is
always displayed simultaneously with another "pane" or does the end-user
have the choice of seeing only one pane; is one ... or more ... panes of the
set of panes always visible ? Do you wish the user to have the capability to
re-size, move, or dock the panes within the master container as well as
control pane visibility ?
Yes, many different ways you could approach that. As "raw materials" you
could use SplitContainers, as others have suggested, regular panels, even
other Forms. You could go "retro" and trot out the old classic MDI
windows-in-main-window facilities (bias : personally, I don't like MDI
interfaces).
If you really want to "think outside the box" you can make each of your
containers a separate window (Form) and show them independently on the
screen (or move them to display inside another Form if you wish at
run-time). Note that I am NOT saying you should do that
"Is there a way for the user to configure in real time (the pane number)?"
A lot depends on what you want the interface to present to the user at
run-time in terms of pane management : independent showing/hiding of your
"panes" from a menu, control of individual "panes" by go-away hickeys like
forms have, hiding of "panes" by dynamic resizing of a SplitContainer's
split-control through the user clicking and dragging at run-time ...
switching between pre-sets of fixed relations of panes ?
Yes, again many ways to approach this. Hiding panels within SplitContainers;
using independent regular panels and adjusting their docking or anchoring at
run-time depending on what's being shown, etc. You might want to check out
FlowLayoutPanel and TableLayoutPanel briefly for some more ideas to round
out your sense of what's possible with WinForms' container controls.
"Is there some reference or a sample anywhere in the Internet that is close
to that?"
Check MSDN for documentation/examples/tutorials on SplitContainers.
Experiment. You might look at Chris Sells' excellent book on WinForms.
Search CodeProject for SplitContainer, perhaps filtering by .NET language of
your choice.
best, Bill
