Q: Is there a way to create a form (or some other window/thing) that can dock like the built in dockable windows do?
I'm getting started with SlickEdit, and am starting to write a bunch of macros to customize the editor to my liking. I am thrilled at how customizable the editor is. Ideally, I'd like to write my own dockable tool window to replace the built in Preview window.
Specifically, the Preview window isn't laid out quite how I'd like, and there is too much unused screen real estate for my liking. Ideally maybe the SlickEdit folks can have an option to select the layout I'd like (which I'll describe in a moment), but even if that is added, I am still very interested in being able to create my own dockable forms to extend the editor more elegantly.
Current Preview Layout: So first, here is how the Preview window is currently laid out:
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Preview [X] |
+-------------------+----------------------------------------+----+
| symbol1 | filename | |
| symbol2 +----------------------------------------+ |
| | comments |Tool|
| | |bar |
| | | |
+-------------------+----------------------------------------+ |
| source | |
+------------------------------------------------------------+----+
The vertical toolbar on the right has some dead space above it and also gets cut off on the bottom at the default height, the source portion of the window is very small (it can be resized, but doing so takes away from the main editing area, of course), the comments portion is big, the filename above it takes up a lot of space, and the symbols portion frequently is mostly blank due to short symbol lists.
Desired Alternative Layout: So here is an alternative that I imagine, and would like to code up myself if there is a way to make my own dockable tool windows, or perhaps see a variation of this built into the editor:
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
| Preview - filename [X] |
+-------------------+----------------------------------------+----+
| symbol1 | source or comments |Tool|
| symbol2 | |bar |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
+-------------------+----------------------------------------+----+
And the "source or comments" pane could have four modes: only source, only comments, auto, both. The "auto" mode would show a comment if one exists, otherwise show the source. The "both" mode would show a comment window above a source window. Personally I would use the "only source" mode.