samradelie2 years ago
Wow. Stellar work. The TS looks really proper on first glance. I think you're right on zeitgeist -- we're going to need a lot more fundamental tools like this to build AI apps.
Technically speaking, I've long wondered about mount/unmount of components as panels are dragged about and their visibility changed. Sometimes it's more costly to mount/unmount than to display:none.
Second, you have basically a declarative structure for these panels, are there plans to expose a Vite plugin for example that could export saved TS layouts, where functions (ie: TS imports) map to the panel contents? (trying to think outside of JSX and more vanilla TS)
Fantastic work!
achierius2 years ago
I might have missed something -- how do AI apps come into this? Was this application written with AI, or for AI applications in particular? (I don't imagine it uses AI for the actual layout management or anything like that)
ascorbic2 years ago
I'm guessing because things like bolt.new, v0 etc work a lot better when they have high quality building blocks to work with? Still seems a bit of a stretch.
mathuoop2 years ago
no ai :) just a vanilla layout manager. I assume the above comment is by somebody building an ai project that could use a layout manager
buremba2 years ago
It’s much intuitive to provide drag and drop support rather than the user asking AI to change the layout, which is hars bolt.new or v0 works at the moment.
v3ss0n2 years ago
That's I am wondering too.. may be commenter itself is an AI?
mathuoop2 years ago
In terms of rendering modes both approaches are supported
https://dockview.dev/docs/core/panels/rendering
There are options to maintain the panels content within the DOM at all times (using an approach like you mentioned with display: none) and options to remove content from the DOM.
In terms of vanilla TS the library is almost entire written in vanilla TS with small wrapper libraries for Vue and React.
In theory wrappers could be written for other frameworks such as Angular (which is something I would like to get done this year)
Loading and saving state is supported though
https://dockview.dev/docs/core/state/save
Let me know if that answers the question
bossyTeacher2 years ago
This is really impressive. Can I also give you major props for the following:
- Zero dependencies: wow, this is really good for a js package.
- Documentation: nice, clear and with examples
- Transparent builds: this should be a standard
I wish more js packages were like yours
herpdyderp2 years ago
> - Transparent builds: this should be a standard
Can you explain what "Transparent builds" means in this context?
From my understanding after a quick search, it is the standard. If any package requires me to figure out a manual build process after installing it, to get it to work, I simply do not use it.
mathuoop2 years ago
This is in related to the publication of the package to npm. All of the publications are verified with provenance statements as supported by NPM directly; it's something I believe all NPM packages should be required to use but as of now it's optional; it simply provided verifiable signatures as to what was built and how it was built.
fc417fc8022 years ago
[dead]
itsafarqueue2 years ago
Attestation
alluro22 years ago
Dockview is phenomenal, and congrats to @mathuo on a great project - I've recently thoroughly tested 6-7 available libraries in this category, and dockview is certainly in the top. GH is also very active and well maintained.
The only reason I in the end went with FlexLayout (https://github.com/caplin/FlexLayout) for a recent project was lack of support for predefined/restricted dimensions, - which was since added in a very good way - and that I really liked how FL handles side panels, with vertical tabs, and their predefined behavior.
Looking very much forward to using Dockview in one of the next projects.
popcorncowboy2 years ago
Both look great. The aesthetics of FlexLayout's drag box are _really_ nice, and the vertical tab handling is such a good touch. Dockview looks like a strong contender though, and the HN effect on stars may well give it momentum to integrate the relatively small edges that FlexLayout enjoys.
somytomy2 years ago
I literally have been working on something like this for a spare-time project, and am so glad to find this. Now I can throw out my code and move to the next stage of the project.
diob2 years ago
How does this compare to golden layout? Inspired by it?
I really enjoyed that project back in the day, but unfortunately support completely stopped (it had some folks take over, but I didn't see a real feasible upgrade path despite their passionate work on updating it).
This looks great! I'd be interested in giving it a try.
mathuoop2 years ago
golden layout is the OG JavaScript layout manager, used it for many years beforehand.
Orginally yes it was inspired by some of the other layout managers, include golden layout. The main goal here was to have zero depenedencies and to be written in Vanilla TypeScript with wrapper libraries for frameworks such as Vue and React.
Any feedback is appreicated, the website demo shows most of the current capabilities and there are many more planned in the Issues list.
joshribakoff2 years ago
I just tried using golden layout the other day. The demo on their website with react support is v1 and when I installed it, I got v2 which apparently drops react support and has no documentation or examples on the website. With v1, it only supported class based components. While in theory you could maintain your own adapter logic for golden layout, it seems somewhat defunct, there are other newer libs that may even have better feeling drag and drop like this one. I also recall about six years ago when I went to use Golden layout on another project I ended up implementing my own with vanilla type script because of some (perceived) issues with it. My experiences have always been that although it is ubiquitous it’s not that great.
karol2 years ago
Nice project. I would appreciate putting some common content in the demo, such as videos, dropdowns, large amount of text and large size text to show how they can be handled.
Also is there a version without window chrome, just panes?
mlajtos2 years ago
Instead of content, put there webview/iframe – https://github.com/mlajtos/mosaic
crooked-v2 years ago
After tinking with some similar toy projects, I feel like iframes with a well-defined APi to use with postMessage() (and maybe a small library to provide frame-internal matching toolbars/controls) are definitely the way to go here, since they remove the need to tightly couple your "OS" with your "apps".
mlajtos2 years ago
What kind of apps?
bsnnkv2 years ago
I maintain a tiling wm written in Rust, and I just cannot imagine having the patience to do this kind of work in JS/TS. My respect to mathuo! One of the coolest things I've seen on HN recently.
mathuoop2 years ago
Appreciated :)
therein2 years ago
Really nice. SolidJS support would be nice too. I lately have no preference between React and Solid but I have some projects that could use this that happens to be in SolidJS.
AlexErrant2 years ago
This exists https://github.com/lyonbot/solid-dockview
mlajtos2 years ago
Time to rebuild Mosaic. https://github.com/mlajtos/mosaic
ofrzeta2 years ago
Did you never come across https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCSA_Mosaic ? :)
mlajtos2 years ago
mattlondon2 years ago
Brilliant.
Is anyone aware of any sort of similar sort of zero-dep vanilla libraries for common desktop controls beyond what HTML offers? E.g. menus etc?
chris_st2 years ago
I use DaisyUI [0] for all kinds of controls; it's CSS only.
f0ur2 years ago
another: https://bulma.io
dahdum2 years ago
Kept getting this error when navigating: This page crashed Try again Right side of assignment cannot be destructured
The video looks awesome, but I couldn’t get the demo to work using an iPad, so I assume mobile isn’t supported fully? I’d use it for my personal dashboard and for organizing llama.cpp chats if I could.
mathuoop2 years ago
Most likely, touch devices are not officially supported however support is planed. Also the demo has some issues running on Safari which will be fixed.
rk062 years ago
it is great to say support for vanilla js & vue in addition to react, for other js framework to consume
low_tech_punk2 years ago
Looks like a very high quality library, great work! I wonder if it will eventually support auto truncating tab titles when the tabs fill up the horizontal space, just like how chrome display large number of tabs.
scrivna2 years ago
for people looking for a quick getting started to using dockview-core with vanilla javascript on a web page, see here... https://gist.github.com/scrivna/3186d73bc2680088748d752a9c91...
pdyc2 years ago
wow, very well thought out layout manager. I want to start a project just to use it :-)
Is there a way to add gaps between the elements so it looks like a dashboard rather than panel?
garbagepatch2 years ago
Does this use the new moveBefore API to move DOM elements while preserving their state? Or is it going to recreate the elements eitherway due to React/Vue?
lolinder2 years ago
I'd be surprised if it uses moveBefore for something that seems to have put so much thought into being portable. moveBefore doesn't even have an entry in MDN yet, the only references I can find to it suggest it's still only available behind a flag in Chrome canary.
samhh2 years ago
It could support it as a progressive enhancement.
lolinder2 years ago
I personally wouldn't even bother with that yet.
Once it's available in even one browser not behind a flag, sure, but while it's still entirely undocumented and only available to people who both use Chrome Canary and know to go turn on a specific flag?
mathuoop2 years ago
There are multiple ways in which you can specify how the panel renders.
https://dockview.dev/docs/core/panels/rendering
Options exist for multiple cases:
1. Where you never want the elements DOM position to move (`always` rendering mode) and the HTMLElement is simply hidden (display: none) when not visible. 2. Where you only want the DOM element to exist when the panel is visible (`onlyWhenVisible` mode)
In the case of React the React Tree is always maintained in either mode.
[deleted]2 years agocollapsed
mlajtos2 years ago
Safari can't handle the demo. https://dockview.dev/demo
mathuoop2 years ago
demo fixed on Safari
mathuoop2 years ago
will take a look https://github.com/mathuo/dockview/issues/826
qwertox2 years ago
Absolutely incredible! Everything is perfect. All dragging, resizing, moving, everything works without errors.
Even nested panels...
peppertree2 years ago
Demo doesn't load in macOS Safari.
mathuoop2 years ago
demo fixed on Safari
andix2 years ago
Same issue on iPadOS (18.3) Safari.
mathuoop2 years ago
will take a look https://github.com/mathuo/dockview/issues/826
andix2 years ago
Great. Sadly I can't provide any more details, I have no debugger connected to the iPad to investigate the issue, it's a bit tricky without a Mac.
ukuina2 years ago
andix2 years ago
I think there are also open source tools to get a Safari remote debugger working on Linux and Windows. I would prefer that over an app on the tiny iPad screen.
mathuoop2 years ago
demo fixed on Safari. There is touch support for some the core features.
Jonovono2 years ago
Looks awesome! I want something like this for managing Electron base windows & Web contents views :)
Onavo2 years ago
Do you plan to add touch device support? It doesn't work well on tablets and phones.
mathuoop2 years ago
Yes, it's something that is planned. Currently some features work with touch inputs but not all of them.
MortyWaves2 years ago
Does this support disabling the ability to have floating popout windows?
cyanydeez2 years ago
Neat. Any mobile touch plans?
mathuoop2 years ago
Yes, it's something that is planned. Currently some features work with touch inputs but not all of them.
mathuoop2 years ago
small issue on website preventing demo working on Safari browsers is now fixed.
toastercat2 years ago
SEXY!
gavmor2 years ago
Oh hell yeah, dude!
T3RMINATED2 years ago
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urronglol2 years ago
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todotask2 years ago
I have a look at SonarSource website, their homepage looks awful.