BeepDockingManagerDesigner

Overview
Key Features
Designer Verbs
Smart-Tag
Design-Time Behavior
Wiring Architecture
Examples

Overview

Namespace: TheTechIdea.Beep.Winform.Controls.Design.Server.Docking.Designers
Inheritance: ComponentDesigner (NOT a ControlDesigner — this is a tray component)
Visibility: internal sealed

BeepDockingManagerDesigner is the design-time experience for BeepDockingManager. Since the manager is a non-visual component, it appears in the component tray below the form designer rather than on the form surface. This follows the same pattern as Krypton's KryptonDockingManager.

It provides 15 designer verbs for adding, moving, stacking, and validating dock panels entirely from the Visual Studio designer.

Key Features

Tray component — Sits in the component tray, not on the form surface
15 designer verbs — Context menu commands for panel management
Smart-tag — BeepDockingManagerActionList for property configuration
Auto host-form detection — On InitializeNewComponent, finds parent Form and assigns HostForm
Panel validation — ValidatePanels() checks all associated panels for missing Keys
IComponentChangeService integration — All mutations route through wiring for proper serialization
Krypton parity — Follows KryptonDockingManager design-time pattern

Designer Verbs (15)

Category	Verb	Description
Add Panel	Add Panel Left	Creates a new DockPanel docked to the left edge
	Add Panel Right	Creates a new DockPanel docked to the right edge
	Add Panel Top	Creates a new DockPanel docked to the top edge
	Add Panel Bottom	Creates a new DockPanel docked to the bottom edge
	Add Panel Fill	Creates a new DockPanel filling remaining space
Move Panel	Move Selected Panel Left	Moves currently selected panel to left edge
	Move Selected Panel Right	Moves currently selected panel to right edge
	Move Selected Panel Top	Moves currently selected panel to top edge
	Move Selected Panel Bottom	Moves currently selected panel to bottom edge
	Move Selected Panel Fill	Moves currently selected panel to fill
Stack	Stack Selected with Previous Panel	Groups selected panel into tab stack with previous
	Stack Selected with Next Panel	Groups selected panel into tab stack with next
Management	&Validate Panels	Checks all panels for missing/duplicate Keys
	Attach &Host Form	Auto-detects and assigns Manager.HostForm

Smart-Tag

The BeepDockingManagerActionList exposes these properties in the smart-tag panel:

Property	Type	Description
HostForm	Form	The hosting form. Setting this calls ManageControl().
Theme	string	Theme name for docking chrome.
UseThemeColors	bool	When true, reads from Beep theme.
Style	BeepControlStyle	Control style for docking surfaces.
PanelCount	int (read-only)	Number of currently managed panels.

Design-Time Behavior

InitializeNewComponent

When first dropped on a form, the designer detects the parent form via the designer host and assigns it as Manager.HostForm. This mimics the Krypton behavior where the manager automatically binds to its hosting form.

Panel Operations

All panel Add/Move/Stack/Remove operations delegate to BeepDockingDesignerWiring which handles:

Creating new DockPanel components via IDesignerHost.CreateComponent()
Setting panel properties (Key, Title, DockPosition)
Notifying IComponentChangeService for serialization
Refreshing the host layout

Wiring Architecture

BeepDockingManagerDesigner (ComponentDesigner)
  │
  ├── AddPanel(position)  ──┐
  ├── RemovePanel(panel)  ──┤
  ├── MoveSelectedPanel() ──┤
  ├── StackSelectedWith() ──┤
  └── ValidatePanels()   ──┤
                              │
                    ┌─────────▼────────────┐
                    │ BeepDockingDesignerWiring │
                    │ (static helper class)      │
                    │                            │
                    │ CreateComponent(DockPanel) │
                    │ IComponentChangeService    │
                    │ Designer.cs code-gen       │
                    └────────────────────────────┘

Examples

Using the Docking Manager at Design Time

// 1. Drop BeepDockingManager from toolbox onto form
//    → Appears in component tray
//    → Auto-detects form as HostForm
// 2. Right-click → "Add Panel Left"
//    → Creates DockPanel with unique Key
//    → Appears docked to left edge
// 3. Right-click panel → "Dock Right"
//    → Panel repositions to right edge
// 4. Right-click manager → "Validate Panels"
//    → Checks all panels for valid configuration

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