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Lesson 6 : Tips and tricks

This is the 6th part of the VLDocking Framework tutorial for Java Swing applications.

In this tutorial, you will learn some useful tips about VLDocking.

Visual tips

Notifications

A notification mecanism is available on the DockKey component.

Although simple, it gives you a means to attract user attention on a Dockable.

The default implementation makes the title bar/autohide-button blink until the dockable container gets the keyboard focus.

To use it, simply call setNotification(true) on the dockable's DockKey.

Changing the default location of auto-hide buttons

You have a two level access to the border used to show auto-hide buttons :

  • Global : use AutoHidePolicy.getPolicy().setDefaultHideBorder(DockingConstants.Hide hide);

This will put the auto-hide button on the selected border.

For example, to put the buttons at the bottom of the desktop, use :

    AutoHidePolicy.getPolicy().setDefaultHideBorder(DockingConstants.HIDE_BOTTOM);
  • Local : use the DockKey instance method setAutoHideBorder(DockingConstants.Hide hide) to select the border used for that Dockable.

The Local setting is evaluated before the Global setting, and global setting is used only if the local setting is null.

For example, to put the editorPanel button on the right border of the desktop, use :

    editorPanel.getDockKey().setDefaultHideBorder(DockingConstants.HIDE_RIGHT);

Note : Have a look at the AutoHidePolicy class, as it contains other customizations of the auto-hide buttons and borders (gap between buttons, click or rollover selection...).

Other tips

The DockingSelectorDialog

The com.vlsolutions.swing.docking.DockingSelectorDialog will have its own lesson soon. From now on, look at its javadoc : it is a helpfull class you can use to let the user choose the dockables to show and those to close.

It is also customizable : you can change the "wizard label", and every other text displayed.

Look at the following screenshot to have an idea of what it looks like :

The Docking Selector Dialog

Next : Lesson 7 - Heavyweight components