Floating Dock Adorners

DockSettings exposes an option to display dock target adorners in a transparent floating window. This avoids so-called airspace issues when dragging over embedded native controls.

// Enable floating adorners
DockSettings.UseFloatingDockAdorner = true;

// Via the app builder
using Dock.Settings;

AppBuilder.Configure<App>()
    .UsePlatformDetect()
    .UseFloatingDockAdorner();

When enabled AdornerHelper creates a lightweight DockAdornerWindow positioned above the drag source. The window is transparent and not topmost, so the drag preview window still appears above the adorner because only the preview is marked as Topmost.

Use this option if dock targets fail to appear when dragging over native controls or popups. The default value is false which uses an AdornerLayer inside the same window.

In managed window mode (DockSettings.UseManagedWindows = true), the floating adorner is rendered inside ManagedWindowLayer instead of a native window.

Selectors in a custom overlay template

An overlay can keep its selectors outside the native DockTarget template by assigning DockTargetBase.Presentation to an IDockTargetPresentation. GetSelector supplies the control for each operation; returning null omits that operation. Dock translates pointer coordinates, applies direction and edge limits, and calls the existing visibility and drop-validation policies. SetOperationState receives the resulting selector visibility and active preview state. The controls can belong to another window and can have render transforms.

The presentation owns the custom visuals. Use opacity for policy-driven selector visibility so the controls retain their layout; an explicitly invisible selector cannot be activated. Indicator-only mode hides selectors while keeping the chosen preview active. Reset clears all reported states, and replacing the presentation clears the previous presentation before another hover is evaluated. Clear Presentation when its template or window is discarded. A null value restores the ordinary native template and its registered selectors.