VLDocking 2.1 - Features

Here is the list of enhancements brought to you by VLDocking 2.1

Quick access :

Docking : moving and anchoring components by drag and drop

An application can be divided into sub-sets : the "dockables".

  • Each Dockable can be precisely positionned by the user, by a drag and drop gesture issued from its title bar.
  • Dockables can be grouped into tabbed panes.


Drag and Drop of a Dockable

Docking features

Every Dockable is given a title bar with a set of common functions (and keyboard shortcuts) :

  • Maximize / Restore : the Dockable takes all the available space on the desktop
  • Detach/Attach : the Dockable is extracted from its parent window
  • Iconify / Restore : the Dockable is changed into a side button : it appears only when the mouse is moved over it
  • Contextual pop-up menus : customizable title bars and tabs
  • Close / Closable tab


A Dockable has been maximized by a double click on its title bar


A Dockable has been detached and "floats" above its parent window


Zoom on an iconified Dockable apprearing upon mouse rollover.


A contextual pop-up menu is associated to title bars and tabs.

VLToolBars : enhanced toolbars

Bringing more features to standard swing toolbars (JToolBar), VLDocking allows dynamic reordering of its toolbars ().


Example of toolbar usage with 3 toolbars (file, clipboard, and text)


The user clicks on a toolbar "gripper"...


... and moves the toolbar to another side of the component

Workspaces

The integrated loading and saving of desktop configurations (as XML streams) can be used to define multiple workspaces.

The user can then choose between them , for example to accomplish different tasks :

  • an "overview" workspace to start working on a task
  • a task-oriented workspace, where some dispensable Dockables are hidden

Closable tabs

VLDocking 2.1 integrates closable tabs, a feature not found in the default Swing JTabbedPane. Here are some examples .


Windows XP Look and Feel


JGoodies Plastic3D Look and Feel

Note : As you can see, this feature works with any look and feel.

Look and Feel

VLDocking 2.1 works well with any Swing Look and Feel (it uses a UI-Independant set of components).

Also, its new design is built on "UI delegates" that can be used to change every painting aspect of the framework.


Windows XP Look and Feel


Java "Ocean" Look and Feel


JGoodies Plastic3D Look and Feel


Mac Os Look and Feel

Heavyweight component support

VLDocking 2.1 can manage native components and display them as Dockables (which is not possible with the default Swing JInternalFrame).

Note : This feature requires Java 1.5 (J2SE 5.0)


A JOGL canvas nested into a Swing desktop.

This opens the framework to a whole new set of applications usually excluded from Swing :

  • Java3D applications
  • Applications relying on Open Cascade engine
  • JOGL renderers
  • Other applications based on a native UI component

Multi-Desktop Applications support

This feature makes sharing dockable across multiple desktops possible.

You can define an application with, say, 3 windows, two of them containing docking desktops with dockables sharing enabled, and the last one containing another desktop where sharing isn't possible.

Compound Dockable Containers

Compound Dockables are specialized dockables used to create complex nesting hierarchies of dockables.

For example, you may want to have a tabbed pane containing multiple dockables per tabs, some of them also containing other tabbed panes...

Supported Environments

Although Java is a cross-platform language, there are small differences of implementation between operating systems (for example, the order of mouse event processing). VLSolutions tests and supports VLDocking 2.1 on the following configurations :

  • J2SE 1.4 to 1.6
  • Windows 98 to XP
  • Mac Os X
  • Linux (Gnome / KDE).

This qualifies VLDocking 2.1 on the majority of Desktop user computers...

Back to VLDocking 2.1 main page.