Question on using MDI windows in WPF

Question

5.00/5 (1 vote)

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WPF

MDI

I am trying to create MDI windows in WPF, similar to what we have in Winforms. How can I do this?

Posted 19-Feb-11 3:56am

Nguyễn Minh Phúc

Updated 19-Feb-11 4:23am

Nish Nishant

v2

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Comments

Sandeep Mewara 19-Feb-11 10:25am

Not clear.

4 solutions

Solution 4

I agree with SA. Trying using dashboard like controls (tab, docks etc).
They allow you to show much more data on the same page.

Posted 20-Feb-11 5:03am

Abhinav S

Comments

Espen Harlinn 20-Feb-11 11:07am

AvalonDock does just that - allowing you to create a UI similar to Visual Studio 2010

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 20-Feb-11 13:51pm

...Which is nothing like MDI.
Do you have good experience with AvalonDock? I was trying to find something for WPF a while ago.
If you do, what's your assessment of its quality?
(Last time I implemented docking UI as based on Weifen Luo docking library (used in SharpDevelop): I had to put my parches, replace one part and ignore some others to put it to work...)

Thank you.
--SA

Espen Harlinn 20-Feb-11 14:37pm

I used to use it before DevExpress came up with an alternative for WPF and SilverLight - I found it quite useful :)

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 20-Feb-11 14:50pm

Thank you. So, no major defect, qualify or performance problems?
How about DevExpress, this is all proprietary, commercial close-source, right?
--SA

Wonde Tadesse 24-May-11 21:31pm

5+

Abhinav S 25-May-11 4:06am

Thanks.

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Espen Harlinn · Accepted Answer · 2011-02-19T05:41:00

Solution 2

Another very good solution on codeplex is AvalonDock[^] - You'll be able to create a flexible UI similar to the Visual Studio tabbed MDI.

Regards
Espen Harlinn

Posted 19-Feb-11 5:41am

Espen Harlinn

Comments

Nish Nishant 19-Feb-11 11:50am

Voted 5, as I think it adds to the thread and gives the OP an alternate option.

Espen Harlinn 19-Feb-11 12:17pm

Thank you Nishant!

Abhinav S 19-Feb-11 11:56am

Agreed with Nish. Good answer.

Espen Harlinn 19-Feb-11 12:18pm

Thank you Abhinav!

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 19-Feb-11 22:12pm

A 5, but again, I added my Answer (please see) with advice not to do that.
I think you already agreed with that.
--SA

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 20-Feb-11 13:53pm

Look very interesting, great to know, my 5.
In my other comment I asked you about it, please tell me.
Thank you.
--SA

Espen Harlinn 20-Feb-11 14:33pm

Thank you SAKryukov!

Wonde Tadesse 24-May-11 21:30pm

Interesting. 5+

Espen Harlinn 25-May-11 13:04pm

Thank you, Wonde Tadesse!

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov · Accepted Answer · 2011-02-19T16:10:00

Solution 3

Technically speaking, Answers by Espen and Nishant are correct.

But do yourself a favor, listen to my good friendly advice: don't do MDI!
There are not so many UI designs that are so inconvenient and cumbersome! Everyone I know (and I know very many computer people, not just developers) hate such user experience and well agree with me. You cannot find any serious company or UI developer using such design.

Instead, use tabbed UI, or dockable (or combined), or controlled by tree/list view TOC-page style, or folding panels or something like that.

—SA

Posted 19-Feb-11 16:10pm

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov

Comments

Espen Harlinn 20-Feb-11 5:24am

My 5, I agree, and AvalonDock provides the features required for a tabbed MDI :)

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 20-Feb-11 13:59pm

Thank you, Espen.
Tabbed MDI is quite possible, better be without MDE part :-)
The problem if more then one-level hierarchy design is practically important. It's more about understanding industrial design then technology. Recently my colleague designed to put another tabbed interface inside a tab page and asked me for a quick fix. It was very confusing, so I replaced inner part with list controlling panel content (TOC-page interface), good for quick fix, but maybe not stilistically consistent. Levels of hierarchy should be visually distinct.
--SA

Abhinav S 20-Feb-11 11:02am

Good comment! 5.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 20-Feb-11 14:00pm

Thank you, Abhinav.
--SA

Wonde Tadesse 24-May-11 21:30pm

5+

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 24-May-11 21:34pm

Thank you, Wonde.
--SA

Nish Nishant · Accepted Answer · 2011-02-19T04:22:00

Solution 1

This might interest you:

http://wpfmdi.codeplex.com/[^]

Posted 19-Feb-11 4:22am

Nish Nishant

Comments

Espen Harlinn 19-Feb-11 11:39am

Good link :)

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 19-Feb-11 22:11pm

A 5, but again, I added my Answer (please see) with advice not to do that.
I think you already agreed with that.
--SA

Wonde Tadesse 24-May-11 21:29pm

Interesting. 5+