Window panes are similar to standard windows with one major difference; They are attached to other windows. These windows are called Tool Windows. Normally they are attached to the outer edge of Tool windows. As a Tool window gets dragged by a mouse pointer, so do the panes.
They are often used to display commonly used icons in an application.
Window panes are actually defined as a standard window with one difference; within the Window Flags, bit 5 is set to specify it is a pane window.
This flag is used in two different circumstances:
1 | if a pane gets the input focus, the tool window is highlighted |
2 | when toggling the tool window, the Wimp must treat panes as transparent |
Although window panes can increase the productivity of an application it does require more effort. For a start, the application itself must handle the management of window panes in its entirety.
Important aspects to consider when dealing with window panes are:
1 | When a Tool window is closed, any attached panes must also be closed by the application |
2 | When a Tool window is opened, any attached panes must be opened by the application |
Notes: