we'd like to add movable panels to an application. presently we've used DevExpress docking library but have found them to be disappointingly quirky & difficult to work with. it also has some limitations that aren't so great.

auto-hide, pinning, and moving of pages by drag-and-drop are all features we'd like to use.

the built-in delphi docking doesn't seem to be full-featured enough to do the things we need (also see sample below). perhaps i should dig deeper into delphi's docking abilities...my initial impression is that they seem very toolbar-oriented rather than something i can drop a frame into.

i'm not experienced at docking topics. my only experience has been with the DevExpress docking library where i needed to programmatically create & dock panels.

is it my imagination or are DevExpress's products unduly difficult to use/learn? the DevExpress Ribbon Bar component compared to the d2009 Ribbon Bar was certainly a useful experience. i will migrate to the d2009 Ribbon Bar as soon as convenient to do so. it was refreshingly straight-forward to learn and use. a sharp contrast compared to the DevExpress equivalent. if it takes 4x as longer to make it using the DevExpress equivalent, it's time to change direction.

what would you suggest in regard to the docking library?

thank you for your suggestions/comments!