We’ve been hard at work on some very major new Docking/MDI for WPF features that will be coming in the WPF Studio 2009.2 release. In this post I’d like to give a quick preview of some enhancements: floating documents, maximizing rafting windows, and custom rafting window chrome.
Here is a screenshot showing the new enhancements:
VS 2010-like floating documents
The biggest new feature is the ability for tabbed documents to be able to be dragged outside of the MDI area into a floating state, where they can be placed on a second monitor if desired. In the screenshot, the WelcomeDocument.rtf docking window is a document window. It can be docked anywhere in the tabbed MDI area or can be floated such as it is shown. Note the document’s icon even appears in its titlebar.
Maximizing rafting windows
Rafting windows are containers for docking windows that are in a floating state. Now all rafting windows can have the ability to toggle between maximized and restored states. You can see the maximized button on each of the rafted windows in the screenshot.
Custom chrome for rafting windows
All rafting window titlebars and borders in version 2009.2 will have a custom chrome that matches the current application theme. In the 2009.1 version, rafting windows let the system draw the titlebars and borders. By having the rafting windows be themed, they truly match the application’s theme. This is especially useful for our built-in themes like the Office blue, silver, and black ones. The rafting window in the screenshot that contains the Solution Explorer and Class View shows the new chrome, in this case for Aero theme.
Release timeframe
We have one more WPF Studio 2009.1 maintenance release planned for the coming weeks. After that we will prepare for the first WPF Studio 2009.2 release, which will contain all the functionality described here.
Remember that if you purchase WPF Studio 2009.1 now, you will get the 2009.2 version free when it is released since all WPF Studio license purchases come with a year of free upgrades to new versions.