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| 1 | +# Stack: Introduction into screen layouts |
| 2 | + |
| 3 | +Stack uses [XAML](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/desktop-wpf/fundamentals/xaml) |
| 4 | +for screen layouts. It is a technology, that Microsoft |
| 5 | +developed to define user interfaces in 2010. |
| 6 | + |
| 7 | +## Concepts |
| 8 | + |
| 9 | +Stack is build around screen **layouts**. **Layout** is a text file, that |
| 10 | +defines how to cut screen into pieces, and what should be in those pieces. |
| 11 | + |
| 12 | +The most important thing you can put in a piece of a screen layout is a **Zone**. |
| 13 | +**Zone** is an area of the screen, where windows can be placed. Typically, |
| 14 | +every window fills the entire **Zone** it is added to, but you can also tell |
| 15 | +Stack to stack windows in the **Zone** vertically or horizontally. |
| 16 | + |
| 17 | +The [version of Stack sold in Windows Store](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/stack-window-manager/9p4rj8rl7qgs) also supports **Tabs** element, which you can place anywhere on |
| 18 | +the screen, and it will display all the windows in a **Zone** or multiple zones |
| 19 | +like the browser tabs do. |
| 20 | + |
| 21 | +In addition to that you can place many other stuff on your desktop via |
| 22 | +a **layout**, like images, videos, or even simple |
| 23 | +[3D scenes](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/framework/wpf/graphics-multimedia/how-to-create-a-3-d-scene). Windows Store version also provides widgets and |
| 24 | +various ways to display data from the Internet. See more information in |
| 25 | +[widgets documentation](https://github.com/losttech/Stack.Widgets/blob/master/README.md). |
| 26 | + |
| 27 | +## Basic layout |
| 28 | + |
| 29 | +We recommend [WPF Tutorial](https://www.wpftutorial.net/LayoutProperties.html) |
| 30 | +to get basics about how can you divide screen into parts, and put zones into |
| 31 | +them. Start with one of the out of box layouts to get a hang of how things work |
| 32 | +in practice (remember to make a copy: all out of box layouts are overwritten |
| 33 | +after each app update!). |
| 34 | + |
| 35 | +## Zones |
| 36 | + |
| 37 | +This is an example of a **Zone** in a **layout**: |
| 38 | + |
| 39 | +```XML |
| 40 | +<zones:Zone x:Name="LargeZone" Id="MyLargeZone"/> |
| 41 | +``` |
| 42 | + |
| 43 | +### Zone overlapping |
| 44 | + |
| 45 | +Zones in Stack can overlap arbitrarily. A common scenario is to have a large |
| 46 | +**Zone**, that has two or more *subzones*. When you drag a window around, you |
| 47 | +want to be able to place it in either one of the subzones, or in the large |
| 48 | +**Zone**. |
| 49 | + |
| 50 | +In order to achieve that, out of box layouts typically put the large |
| 51 | +**Zone** on the screen first, and then cover it with subzones. That way you can |
| 52 | +easily drop the window in one of the subzones. |
| 53 | + |
| 54 | +To be able to drop a window in the large **Zone** however, one has to define |
| 55 | +some area above the subzones, so that if you leave the window there, it will |
| 56 | +expand to the large **Zone**. You can do that in your layout by creating a |
| 57 | +**drop Zone**, and setting its `Target` to the large **Zone** like this: |
| 58 | + |
| 59 | +```XML |
| 60 | +<zones:Zone x:Name="MyDropZone" |
| 61 | + Target="{Binding ElementName=LargeZone}"/> |
| 62 | +``` |
| 63 | + |
| 64 | +When you drop your windows on `MyDropZone` they will end up on `LargeZone` |
| 65 | +instead. |
| 66 | + |
| 67 | +## Tabs |
| 68 | + |
| 69 | +Tabs display can be placed anywhere in the layout, and show list of all windows in |
| 70 | +a zone or multiple zones. You can have many tab displays on your layout, and |
| 71 | +the same different tab lists can show the same window if necessary. |
| 72 | + |
| 73 | + |
| 74 | + |
| 75 | +When adding tabs to the layout, you just need to specify the source for the list |
| 76 | +of windows via `ItemsSource` like this: |
| 77 | + |
| 78 | +```xml |
| 79 | +<zones:WindowTabs VisibilityCondition="AlwaysVisible" |
| 80 | + ItemsSource="{Binding Windows, Source={x:Reference YourZoneName}}" /> |
| 81 | +``` |
| 82 | + |
| 83 | +Here, `VisibilityCondition` can have one of the following values: |
| 84 | + |
| 85 | +- **MultipleItems** (default) - only appear when there are multiple windows. |
| 86 | +- AlwaysVisible - tabs are always visible (and take screen space). |
| 87 | +- OneItem - tabs appear only when there's at least one window open. |
| 88 | + |
| 89 | +## Dynamic layout: data binding and triggers |
| 90 | + |
| 91 | +XAML, the language of Stack layouts, permits [**data binding**](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/desktop-wpf/data/data-binding-overview) and [**triggers**](https://www.wpf-tutorial.com/styles/trigger-datatrigger-event-trigger/). |
| 92 | +That means, that you can tell layout elements to change how they look like |
| 93 | +depending on some conditions, like number of windows open, which one |
| 94 | +is active, where your mouse is, etc. You can even use external conditions, |
| 95 | +like your local weather or current price of some stock through our |
| 96 | +[widgets library](https://github.com/losttech/Stack.Widgets/blob/master/README.md). |
| 97 | + |
| 98 | +For the list of things, that you can bind to in Stack (in addition to the |
| 99 | +standard things in XAML), check out [Data you can bind to](DataToBind.md). |
| 100 | + |
| 101 | +## Extras |
| 102 | + |
| 103 | +Please, see [What's New](https://losttech.software/stack-whatsnew.html) for the |
| 104 | +extra features, that have been added recently, and might not have been |
| 105 | +described here. |
| 106 | + |
| 107 | +Also, check out [our blog](http://stack.blogs.losttech.software/) for some cool |
| 108 | +stuff we made using Stack layouts. |
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