Dock

Dock Views Guide

Dock renders Document and Tool instances using standard Avalonia data templating. This guide shows how to present your own controls for these items.

💡 New to Dock content setup? For a comprehensive guide with step-by-step examples and troubleshooting, see the Document and Tool Content Guide. For modern automatic document management, see DocumentDock ItemsSource.

Using DataTemplate

The easiest approach is to define templates for the view models representing your documents and tools. Add them to App.axaml or another resource dictionary:

<Application.DataTemplates>
  <DataTemplate DataType="vm:DocumentViewModel">
    <views:DocumentView />
  </DataTemplate>
  <DataTemplate DataType="vm:ToolViewModel">
    <views:ToolView />
  </DataTemplate>
</Application.DataTemplates>

DockControl will automatically apply these templates when the corresponding view models are activated in the layout.

Using a ViewLocator

More advanced scenarios can use a view locator. The sample ViewLocator in samples/DockMvvmSample implements IDataTemplate and returns views from a dictionary of factory functions:

[StaticViewLocator]
public partial class ViewLocator : IDataTemplate
{
    public Control? Build(object? data)
    {
        if (data is null)
        {
            return null;
        }

        var type = data.GetType();

        if (s_views.TryGetValue(type, out var func))
        {
            return func.Invoke();
        }

        throw new Exception($"Unable to create view for type: {type}");
    }

    public bool Match(object? data)
    {
        return data is ObservableObject || data is IDockable;
    }
}

The [StaticViewLocator] attribute generates the s_views dictionary at build time. Register this locator in App.axaml:

<Application.DataTemplates>
  <local:ViewLocator />
</Application.DataTemplates>

With either approach in place, documents and tools will show your custom controls when they are displayed.

Common Issues

If you’re experiencing problems with content setup such as:

• “Unexpected content” errors when adding documents
• Empty or blank document/tool tabs
• Missing dock types in XAML

See the Document and Tool Content Guide for detailed troubleshooting and multiple setup approaches.

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