We are considering the addition of the new WinForms SDI ribbon template with the OfficeNavigationBar component on it in v16.1, so I wanted to share our initial thoughts on it and also ask a few questions. First, this is approximately what it would look like in action:
Expectedly, there will also be animated transitions while switching the screens (like in our WinForms Outlook Inspired App demo). Pixel-hunters might also notice there are less borders between the navigation panel and the view site. The latter is possible because the navigation control is no longer hosted inside a dock panel (so no floating is available as well), which confused application end-users in the past and caused other difficulties. As a result, we hope the whole UI is more clean and easy to read than it was before.
At this stage, we planned to add only a single template with OfficeNavigationBar that will be used when FormStyle=Ribbon and UIType=SDI. That is mainly because this modern Office-like navigation feature is more natural for the ribbon menu. Another reason is that we want to avoid creating more templates due to increased maintenance for us + due to the fact that it will likely add more complexity and confusion for the XAF developers thinking which template to customize from the already long list.
Questions:
Q1: Is this new SDI mode (with the OfficeNavigationBar-based ribbon template) something your clients would like to use?Q2: What do you think about the removal of the navigation dock panel that will help have less borders and more clean UI for other WinForms templates?
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My team and I are looking forward to hearing from you in comments to this post. Thanks in advance!