WPF Dock Layout Manager - Load an External Window or UserControl into a DocumentPanel

You can define a Window, Page, or UserControl in external XAML files and load their contents into DocumentPanel objects.

This example loads an external Window and UserControl into DocumentPanels in three ways:

1. Use the DocumentPanel.Content inherited property to load the content of MyWindow.xaml into a DocumentPanel at design time (in XAML). The Content property accepts an Uri object that is linked to a XAML file and defines a Window, Page, or UserControl.

   <dxdo:DocumentPanel x:Name="docPanel2" Caption="Panel 2" Content="{dxdo:RelativeUri UriString=CustomWindows\\MyWindow.xaml}"/>

2. The DocumentPanel.Content property is set with a Uri object at runtime:

   docPanel1.Content = new Uri(@"CustomWindows\MyWindow1.xaml", UriKind.Relative);

3. Call the DockLayoutManager.DockController's AddPanel method to create a new DocumentPanel object and load the contents of an external XAML file into the created panel.

   panel1 = dockLayoutManager1.DockController.AddDocumentPanel(documentGroup1,
   
       new Uri(@"CustomWindows\UserControl1.xaml", UriKind.Relative));
   
   panel1.Caption = "Document " + (ctr++).ToString();

In the example, the XAML file defines a UserControl object. The example's code uses the DocumentPanel's Control inherited property to access the loaded UserControl, and then invokes the UserControl's method:

//...

(panel1.Control as UserControl1).SetDataContext(imageInfo);

In the example, you can the Set DataContext for UserControl button to see this in action.

Files to Review

• MainWindow.xaml (VB: MainWindow.xaml)
• MainWindow.xaml.cs (VB: MainWindow.xaml.vb)

Documentation

• Dock UI Items
• DocumentPanel
• DockLayoutManager.DockController
• DockController.AddPanel

More Examples

• WPF Dock Layout Manager - Create a Simple Layout of Dock Panes
• WPF Dock Layout Manager - Create a Complex Layout of Dock Panels
• WPF Dock Layout Manager - Сreate a DocumentGroup with Two Tabs
• WPF Dock Layout Manager - Create Tabbed and Document Groups

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