The JadeDockBase control is an abstract superclass of the JadeDockBar and JadeDockContainer classes. Most of the functionality for the two control subclasses is defined in the JadeDockBase class. The two docking subclasses are very similar in operation and differ mostly in regard to the default values for the properties, the way that the children are aligned, and whether docking is allowed within the control subclass.
The control subclasses are as follows.
A JadeDockBar control is a container for other standard JADE controls and it defines the logical unit that can be dragged and floated.
A JadeDockContainer control is a container for JadeDockBar controls that are not aligned to their container but can also be used in many other circumstances. This control can also be dragged and floated.
As docking and floating features are not available in Web forms, you should treat docking controls in the same way as a Frame control.
You can use control docking if you want to drag a docking control (and all of its children) to a new position on the form or to cause that control to float in an independent floating window.
The horizontal and vertical minimum and maximum sizes of controls are always honored. This can mean that the client area of the parent may not be filled or the controls may not all fit the client area if all of the children have the horizontal and vertical maximum and minimum sizes set. If at least one child does not have a maximum or minimum size set, the filling of the client area of the parent occurs.
Docking controls enable you to have multiple StatusLine controls, multiple Frame controls aligned to the top or bottom of the form, to align all controls that use the space remaining on the parent, and to align all multiple controls in the same parent so that they share the space remaining after other siblings have been aligned.
Although docking and floating functionality is usually associated with the painter and tool-type actions, you can utilize this functionality in many other situations.
For a summary of the constants, properties, and methods defined in the JadeDockBase class, see "JadeDockBase Class Constants", "JadeDockBase Properties", and "JadeDockBase Methods", in the following subsections. See also "Floating a Docking Control" and "Docking a Control", later in this section.