Dock

Dock API Scenarios

This short document collects the most common ways the Dock API is used. The examples apply equally to the MVVM, ReactiveUI and XAML approaches.

Dock controls

Dock provides several themed controls that host parts of a layout.

DockControl

The main control placed in your view to display a layout. Set the Layout and optionally the Factory properties from code or XAML:

<DockControl Layout="{Binding Layout}"
             InitializeLayout="True"
             InitializeFactory="True">
    <DockControl.Factory>
        <Factory />
    </DockControl.Factory>
</DockControl>

DocumentDockControl

Displayed inside a DocumentDock to render documents. The control automatically binds to the active document and shows the DocumentControl template.

ToolDockControl

Used within a ToolDock to host tools or side bars. This control handles layout grip behaviour and interacts with PinnedDockControl when tools are pinned or auto-hidden.

Factories

All runtime operations go through a factory. Pick the implementation that matches your project style:

Dock.Model.Avalonia.Factory

The plain Avalonia variant. Useful when creating layouts directly in code or XAML without MVVM helpers.

Dock.Model.Mvvm.Factory

Provides base classes implementing INotifyPropertyChanged. Ideal for traditional MVVM view models.

Dock.Model.ReactiveUI.Factory

Wraps the same API with ReactiveUI types. Commands become ReactiveCommand and properties derive from ReactiveObject.

A typical initialization sequence looks like:

var factory = new DockFactory();
var layout = factory.CreateLayout();
factory.InitLayout(layout);
dockControl.Factory = factory;
dockControl.Layout = layout;

These factories expose methods such as AddDockable, MoveDockable or FloatDockable and raise events like ActiveDockableChanged so you can react to changes.

Use the MVVM, ReactiveUI or XAML samples as references for complete implementations.

Saving and restoring a layout

Layouts can be persisted using DockSerializer from the Dock.Serializer.Newtonsoft package. Binary serialization is available via ProtobufDockSerializer in the Dock.Serializer.Protobuf package. This allows users to keep their preferred window arrangement between sessions.

await using var stream = File.Create(path);
_serializer.Save(layout, stream);

Likewise you can restore a saved layout and reinitialise the factory:

await using var stream = File.OpenRead(path);
var layout = _serializer.Load<IDock>(stream);
factory.InitLayout(layout);
dockControl.Layout = layout;

For an overview of all guides see the documentation index.

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