Immersive Panels

You can interactively modify and configure the layout of the immersive graphical user interface (GUI).

This task shows you how to:

Before you begin: This scenario provides generic information about the immersive GUI. For app-specific information, see the guide of interest.

Snap Immersive Panels

You can position an immersive panel anywhere in the work area, or attach it to other immersive panels.

  1. To move the panel, drag the title bar and position the panel in the work area.
    Note that you can drag the panel outside its tab.
  2. To attach an immersive panel another immersive panel, position your pointer over an edge of another immersive panel.
    The moved panel becomes transparent and a visual feedback is displayed on the target snapping area to let you know where the panel is to be snapped.



    If you release the mouse button while the visual feedback is displayed, the moved panel is attached to the target dialog box. This means that they are dependent from each other for future interactions (move, resize, and so on).

    Tip: A panel is automatically snapped when one of its edges is close to another snappable panel. To temporarily deactivate automatic snapping, hold down Shift while moving or resizing the tab.

    A panel can be attached to another panel at the following snapping areas: top, bottom, left, or right side. When attaching a panel on top or bottom of another panel, the width of the moved dialog box is the same as the width of the receiving panel.



    When a panel is attached to another panel, a group is automatically created and a title bar is added on top of the group. A group can contain as many panels as required and can also be resized.

  3. To attach a group to another group, drag its title bar and move it close to another group.
    The two groups are then merged into a single group.
    Note: When attaching a group on top or bottom of another panel, the group must contain only one column of panels, otherwise the attachment is forbidden.
  4. To detach a panel from a group, drag the title bar of the panel and move it away from the group.

Dock Immersive Panels

You can dock immersive panels or groups of immersive panels to the four docking areas available in each tab.

  1. To dock a panel or a group, drag it with the pointer close to an edge of the tab.
    The moved item becomes transparent and on hover over a valid drop (a space the panel can dock into called the "docking area"). A visual feedback is displayed to let you know that you can drop the panel there.

    Note: The visibility status of the tree and of the other docked panels has an impact on the visual arrangement of the docking areas.

    If you release the mouse button while the visual feedback is displayed, the moved item is attached to the target area. Focus is automatically on the newly docked item (its tab is visually “on” and its content is visible).

    If another panel is already docked on the same area, the docked panels are organized into tab pages. Clicking a tab changes the tab in focus and the docking area slides out to reveal the content.

  2. To hide or display a docking area, click the appropriate arrow.

    Arrow Description
    or Hide or display the top docking area
    or Hide or display the left docking area
    or Hide or display the right docking area
    or Hide or display the bottom docking area

  3. To undock a panel, drag its title bar and move it away.

    If the undocked panel is the only one in the docking area, then the docking bar disappears because it is not relevant anymore. Otherwise, the last selected docked panel is made visible in the docking area.

    Note: When a panel is interactively undocked, you can keep it as a stand-alone floating panel, or you can dock it to another valid docking area.

Collapse Immersive Panels

You can collapse immersive panels, whether docked or not.

  1. Double-click the title bar of the panel you want to collapse.
    In the example below, the bottom panel is collapsed:

  2. Inversely, to expand a collapsed panel, double-click its title bar again.


Pin or Unpin Docking Areas

You can make the contents of the docking areas always visible or not. By default, docking areas are unpinned if they are empty. Whenever an immersive panel is docked into a docking area, the area is pinned.

  1. Click the Unpin arrow in the docking bar to take advantage of the auto-hide capability.
    When the docking area is unpinned, its contents are collapsed by default and is visible only when you hover your mouse over the docking bar.

    The docking area stays open if your pointer is within the docked dialog box or panel so that you can interact with it as required. The docking area auto-hides as soon as you move your pointer away from the docked dialog box and the contents of the docking area is collapsed.

  2. To pin the docking area, you can: .
    • Click Pin that is displayed when you hover over the docking bar.
    • Click Pin in the docking bar.

    This reveals the contents of the previously selected tab and makes the docking area always visible. In that case, the auto-hide capability is turned off and the arrow changes directions to reflect the pinned state.

    Visible docking area - Pinned state (default)Visible docking area - Unpinned stateHidden docking area - Unpinned state






    The top and bottom docking areas take precedence over the top and bottom docking areas when docking areas are pinned: the top and bottom docking areas automatically shrink in width to avoid overlapping with the left and right docking areas:

    Unpinned docking areasPinned top docking areaPinned top and left docking areas






    Important:
    • Clicking a tab does not change the state (that is, pinned or unpinned) of the docking area.
    • The tree tab is available in the left docking area only and lets you display the tree.