App Studio Docking Panes
The docking panes provide ready access to Project data, tools and Properties you need whilst creating and editing your Projects in App Studio. They can be re-sized and moved around the Workspace or Desktop if required, enabling you to customise the App Studio window to suit your own preferences.
There are eight different docking panes: Forms, Data Sources, Resources, Toolbox, Properties, Script Errors, Find Results and Build Requests.
These panes can be displayed in two ways, either docked (attached) to the edges of the main window or floating. To toggle between docked and floating modes, double-click on the caption bar within the appropriate pane.
When floating, you can move a pane by clicking and dragging the pane's caption bar. You can position it anywhere within the Windows Desktop area; it doesn't have to stay within the boundaries of the App Studio window. However, when it is within the App Studio window, a series of markers is displayed to help you easily reposition the pane. Drag the caption bar of the pane you want to reposition over one of these markers and a highlighted area will be displayed showing the new position of the pane if you drop it on that marker. The central, cross-shaped, marker moves within the window as you drag the pane you want to reposition, allowing you to easily place it in relation to another pane. Using the markers to position a Pane turns off floating mode and docks the pane in the new position.
When docked, panes can be collapsed. This means the pane will disappear and a tab labelled with the name of the pane will be displayed on the edge of the App Studio window to which the pane was docked. To collapse a pane, click on the drawing-pin icon on the pane's caption bar. To temporarily bring the pane back into view, click on the tab. Click on another pane to collapse the pane again or click on the drawing pin icon to redisplay the pane in its original position before it was collapsed. Collapsing panes in this way, allows you to give yourself more space to work in or for the display of other panes.
You can also hide panes completely when you're not using them, which means that they are not displayed in the window and no tab is displayed along the window's edge. You can redisplay (show) the pane again at any time. Panes can be shown and hidden in this way from the Ribbon's View tab. On the left of this tab you will find a number of options allowing you to show and hide various parts of the App Studio main window, including the docking panes. Click on the pane you want to show or hide to toggle the display of the pane on and off. If the check box beside the pane is selected, the pane will be displayed, if it is not selected the pane will be hidden.
In addition, docking panes can share the same physical space within the window. In this case, only one of the Docking Panes can be viewed at any one time and tabs for each pane are displayed at the bottom of the physical pane. To change the currently visible pane, simply click on the tab for the pane you want to be displayed. For example, by default, the Forms, Resources and Data Sources Panes overlap down the left-hand edge of the App Studio window. You can overlap panes in this way by moving one pane on top of another. If you collapse a pane (see above), any other panes sharing the same space will also be collapsed and a tab will be displayed at the edge of the window for each collapsed pane.
For more information about the use of the individual docking panes, see the following