Hi,

I'm trying to use the NDockManager in a specific way and I'm running into some difficulty. My requirements are that various User Defined Controls should be able to be added and removed from the NDockManager when a user clicks a button or selects a menu item. I have a code base that works for the most part except when I get the following error: "Unable to cast object of type 'Nevron.UI.WinForm.Docking.l1lIlll' to type 'Nevron.UI.WinForm.Docking.NDockingPanelHost'."

Could you please explain what exactly is the type: 'Nevron.UI.WinForm.Docking.l1lIlll' ? Why the funny string of | (bars), I (capital I's), and 1 (ones) ? What does this represent?

However, my main issue is that I cannot reliable find and remove a control (and its panel & panelHost) if a user has been moving and re-docking panelHosts. Perhaps I am using a bad approach. Any suggestions would be extremely welcome. Thanks!!

This is how I'm adding controls to the NDockManager:

private void AddControl(string text, string key, Control control, DockStyle dockStyle)
{
 // === The control. This is a user defined control that we have written.
 control.Tag                             = key;
 control.Dock                            = DockStyle.Fill;

 // === The panel.
 NDockingPanel panel                     = new NDockingPanel();
 panel.Key                               = key;
 panel.Text                              = text;           
 panel.Dock                              = dockStyle;
 panel.Closing                           += new PanelCancelEventHandler(_panel_Closing);
 panel.Controls.Add(control);

 // === The panel host.
 NDockingPanelHost panelHost             = new NDockingPanelHost();
 panelHost.AddChild(panel);

 // === The dock manager.
 nDockManager1.RootContainer.RootZone.AddChild(panelHost, nDockManager1.RootContainer.RootZone.Children.Count);
}

Example of trying to remove a control from the dock manager:

private bool removeControlFromWhereEverItIs(string key)
{
 Control controlToRemove             = null;
 NDockingPanel panelToRemove         = null;
 NDockingPanelHost panelHostToRemove = null;
 bool foundTheControl                = _removeControlFromWhereEverItIs(key, null, ref panelHostToRemove, ref panelToRemove, ref controlToRemove);

 if (foundTheControl)
 {
  if (controlToRemove != null) // We have to remove the control OUTSIDE of the iterating over the panel.Controls collection.
   panelToRemove.Controls.Remove(controlToRemove);

  if (panelToRemove != null) // We need to remove its panel also.
   panelHostToRemove.RemoveChild(panelToRemove);

  if (panelHostToRemove != null) // We need to remove its panel also.
   nDockManager1.RootContainer.RootZone.RemoveChild(panelHostToRemove);
 }

 return foundTheControl;
}
private bool _removeControlFromWhereEverItIs(string key, INDockZoneChild recursiveCanBeNullForTopLevel, ref NDockingPanelHost panelHostToRemove, ref NDockingPanel panelToRemove, ref Control controlToRemove)
{
 bool foundTheControl                    = false;

 if (recursiveCanBeNullForTopLevel == null)
 {
  foreach (INDockZoneChild ph in nDockManager1.RootContainer.RootZone.Children)
   if (!foundTheControl)
    foundTheControl = _removeControlFromWhateverZoneItsIn(key, ph, ref panelHostToRemove, ref panelToRemove, ref controlToRemove);
   else
    break;
 }
 else
 {
  NDockingPanelHost prototype         = new NDockingPanelHost();
  NDockingPanelHost panelHost         = (NDockingPanelHost)recursiveCanBeNullForTopLevel; // <<--== ERROR OCCURS HERE: 'Nevron.UI.WinForm.Docking.l1lIlll' to type 'Nevron.UI.WinForm.Docking.NDockingPanelHost'

  foreach (NDockingPanel panel in panelHost.Children)
  {
   foreach (Control control in panel.Controls)
   {
    if (control.Tag.ToString() == key)
    {
     controlToRemove         = control;
     panelToRemove           = panel;
     panelHostToRemove       = panelHost;
     foundTheControl         = true;
     break;
    }
   }
   if (foundTheControl) break;
  }
 }

 return foundTheControl;
}