S&box Wiki

Widget Docking

Widget Docking

Widget docking makes it easy for users to layout the UI you make how they want. The editor makes heavy use of docking to allow for these customizations. If you just want to add a widget to an existing dock window (such as the editor or hammer), read this.

The DockWindow widget provides a DockManager for creating docks and adding widgets to them.

To get started, create a class the inherits the DockWindow widget and add some method of opening it. If you're not sure how to open it, read this.

Create a widget, and add the widget to the dock manager in your constructor like this

public SomeWidgetConstuctor() { //code ... Label dockedWidget = new("a docked widget!", this) { WindowTitle = "this will show up on the tab" }; DockManager.AddDock(null, dockedWidget); }

The result of adding these two lines will look something like this

sbox-dev_YC6iRNpRUI.png

Duplicate the code above, and you will have two docks each with a widget of their own

sbox-dev_Zk3oF04mhJ.png

With just two docks, the widgets can now be dragged around inside the dock window and oriented how the user desires

You can have multiple widgets docked ontop each other by using DockArea.Inside as the third parameter of DockManager.AddDock

Label widgetThree = new("some docked widget", this) { WindowTitle = "widget three" }; DockManager.AddDock(null, widgetThree, DockArea.Inside);

You can choose what widget to dock ontop of by specifying the first parameter

Label widgetOne = new("a docked widget!", this) { WindowTitle = "widget one" }; DockManager.AddDock(null, widgetOne); //docks left of widgetOne Label widgetTwo = new("another docked widget!", this) { WindowTitle = "widget two" }; DockManager.AddDock(null, widgetTwo); //docks ontop of widgetOne Label widgetThree = new("some docked widget", this) { WindowTitle = "widget three" }; DockManager.AddDock(widgetOne, widgetThree, DockArea.Inside);

Which will look like this

sbox-dev_By658ffPBs.png

Dock Properties

Remember that these widgets can be move around however the user wants. If you want to add restrictions, you can use a DockProperty eg.

Label widgetOne = new("a docked widget!", this) { WindowTitle = "widget one" }; DockManager.AddDock(null, widgetOne, DockArea.Left, DockManager.DockProperty.DisallowUserDocking);

This will prevent the widget from being docked elsewhere. The widget can still be closed, so to prevent that you can add the HideCloseButton property.

Label widgetOne = new("a docked widget!", this) { WindowTitle = "widget one" }; DockManager.AddDock(null, widgetOne, DockArea.Left, DockManager.DockProperty.DisallowUserDocking | DockManager.DockProperty.HideCloseButton);
All widgets are forced to use DockProperty.AlwaysDisplayFullTabs as a dock property with the current implementation of DockManager.AddDock

Registering Docks

You may want to let players close and reopen docked widgets. You can do this by registering a dock and creating a widget with the the same name as the dock.

Label hidableWidget = new("another docked widget!", this) { Name = "SomeWidgetName", WindowTitle = "widget two", }; //register the dock, and dont delete it on close DockManager.RegisterDockType("SomeWidgetName", "directions_boat", null, false); DockManager.AddDock(null, hidableWidget);

We will use a view menu in the menu bar to list the widgets that can be hidden. This will let users hide and show the widget.

Add a method in your dock window's class for when the view menu opens

void OnViewMenu(Menu view) { //clear the old options view.Clear(); //it's a good idea to allow resetting to some default state //you can override RestoreDefaultDockLayout to dock the widgets however you want view.AddOption("Restore To Default", "settings_backup_restore", RestoreDefaultDockLayout); view.AddSeparator(); //create an option in the view menu for every registered dock foreach (DockManager.DockInfo dockInfo in DockManager.DockTypes) { if (dockInfo.DeleteOnClose) continue; Option option = view.AddOption(dockInfo.Title, dockInfo.Icon); option.Checkable = true; option.Checked = DockManager.IsDockOpen(dockInfo.Title); option.Toggled += (state) => DockManager.SetDockState(dockInfo.Title, state); } }

Then add the view menu to the menu bar in your dock window's constructor

Menu viewMenu = MenuBar.AddMenu("View"); viewMenu.AboutToShow += () => OnViewMenu(viewMenu);

It should appear like this

sbox-dev_vNSaAgsdjO.png
sbox-dev_uGXGYtezxS.png

Clicking the option in the view menu will now hide and show the widget