Table of Contents

Dock documentation

Welcome to the Dock documentation. This landing page provides a structured overview of the docking system, the conceptual model behind it, and how to approach the guides and reference material. Use the left navigation for the full table of contents.

Dock at a glance

Dock is a docking layout system for Avalonia. It provides document and tool panes, floating windows, docking targets, and layout persistence. Dock is designed to support both declarative XAML layouts and code-first factories, with multiple model implementations to match common MVVM frameworks.

Core concepts

Dock is built around a small set of concepts that you will see throughout the documentation:

  • Dockables: documents and tools that appear inside docks and windows.
  • Docks: containers that host dockables (document docks, tool docks, split docks, stack docks).
  • Root dock: the top-level dock that represents the layout for a window.
  • Dock windows: floating or secondary windows created from dockables.
  • Dock manager and services: runtime coordination of drag/drop, focus, and docking rules.
  • Layout state: serializable representation of dock positions and active items.

Architecture overview

Dock separates the model from the view:

  • Model layer (Dock.Model): abstract layout, state, and docking rules.
  • View layer (Dock.Avalonia): Avalonia controls that render and interact with the model.
  • Integration layers: framework-specific implementations such as ReactiveUI or Prism.

This separation lets you customize layouts, replace view models, or integrate with different MVVM frameworks without rewriting the layout engine.

What you can build

Dock supports a wide range of UI patterns:

  • Multi-document interfaces (MDI) with tabbed documents.
  • Tool panes that auto-hide, pin, or float.
  • Split layouts with proportional sizing and drag handles.
  • Floating windows with docking indicators.
  • Managed floating windows hosted inside the main window.
  • Persisted layouts that restore across sessions.

Key features

  • Document and tool docking with configurable rules.
  • Floating windows, docking targets, and drag gestures.
  • Layout persistence and restoration.
  • Custom themes and styling.
  • Control recycling for performance.
  • Overlay systems for busy states and dialogs.

How to approach the documentation

Start with the Quick start, then continue with the content guides and the framework-specific integration that matches your app. The Concepts section explains behavior and terminology, while the Reference section documents the API surface in detail.

If you are building a full application, the sample projects are the best end-to-end reference for layout construction, navigation, and overlays.

Sample applications

Sample apps demonstrate complete layouts and patterns:

  • Browse the sample projects in the samples folder.
  • Use them as reference implementations for navigation, overlays, and window orchestration.

Packages

Dock is published on NuGet. Common packages include:

  • Dock.Avalonia
  • Dock.Model
  • Framework integrations such as Dock.Model.ReactiveUI

See the repository README for the full list and build instructions: project README.

Getting help

For troubleshooting and common issues, see the FAQ in the docs. For questions, issues, or contributions, use the GitHub repository: Dock on GitHub.

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