How Do I Create Docking Effects as in Visual Studio.NET 2003?

[Guest]

Hello VB Users,
I am about ready to start working on a small VB.NET 2003 project for my
company. I will be creating an MDI application that will using docking
extensivily. So far, I was able to create a MDI application and then able to
create a small form that would dock to the left side of the parent form. I
was able to do this but my question is... How do I get the child form to
display as it would in Visual Studio.NET 2003. For example, the toolbox in
VS.NET 2003 is docked to the left side of the screen in the Visual Basic
Profile but, does not display the blue frame border. It does, however,
display the title bar at the top of the child dialog as Toolbar with a pin
icon to anchor the form and a x for closing the dialog. I also notice that
when a bunch of these dialogs are put together there are then tabs created at
the bottom to flip between the different dialogs. How can I apply this same
kind of tecnnique in my application. Is this possible in VB.NET 2003 or do I
have to purchase some kind of 3rd party component? Please let me know.
Thank you

Craig Holdheide

 

[Bob Powell [MVP]]

This is a laborious write it yourself thing. Possibly months of work if you
start from cold, or get a third party library such as Crownwood Consulting's
Magic tools.

--
Bob Powell [MVP]
Visual C#, System.Drawing

Find great Windows Forms articles in Windows Forms Tips and Tricks
http://www.bobpowell.net/tipstricks.htm

Answer those GDI+ questions with the GDI+ FAQ
http://www.bobpowell.net/faqmain.htm

All new articles provide code in C# and VB.NET.
Subscribe to the RSS feeds provided and never miss a new article.