Layout Manager, Dock Manager & Tile Manager

July 29, 2026 · View on GitHub

Part of the igniteui-angular-components skill hub. For app setup, providers, and import patterns — see setup.md.

Contents

Layout Manager Directives

The Layout Manager is a pair of Angular directives (igxLayout / igxFlex) that wrap CSS Flexbox. Apply igxLayout to any container to control its children's flow; apply igxFlex to individual children to control their flex properties.

import { IgxLayoutDirective, IgxFlexDirective } from 'igniteui-angular/directives';

<!-- Basic row layout -->
<div igxLayout igxLayoutDir="row" igxLayoutJustify="space-between">
  <div igxFlex>Item 1</div>
  <div igxFlex>Item 2</div>
  <div igxFlex>Item 3</div>
</div>

Common Layout Patterns

App Shell (Sidebar + Content)

<div igxLayout igxLayoutDir="row" style="height: 100vh;">

  <!-- Sidebar column -->
  <div igxFlex igxFlexGrow="0" igxFlexShrink="0" igxFlexBasis="240px"
       igxLayout igxLayoutDir="column" class="sidebar">
    <div igxFlex>Nav item 1</div>
    <div igxFlex>Nav item 2</div>
  </div>

  <!-- Main content column -->
  <div igxFlex igxLayout igxLayoutDir="column" class="main">
    <div igxFlex igxFlexGrow="0" class="header">Header</div>
    <div igxFlex class="body">
      <!-- Nested row -->
      <div igxLayout igxLayoutDir="row">
        <div igxFlex>Col 1</div>
        <div igxFlex>Col 2</div>
        <div igxFlex>Col 3</div>
      </div>
    </div>
    <div igxFlex igxFlexGrow="0" class="footer">Footer</div>
  </div>

</div>

Other patterns (centering, wrapping tile grids) follow directly from the directive inputs below — e.g. igxLayoutJustify="center" igxLayoutItemAlign="center" to center, igxLayoutWrap="wrap" + fixed igxFlexBasis children for tile grids.

igxLayout Directive Inputs

InputValuesDefaultDescription
igxLayoutDir'row' | 'column''row'Flex direction
igxLayoutReversetrue | falsefalseReverse flow order
igxLayoutWrap'nowrap' | 'wrap' | 'wrap-reverse''nowrap'Child wrapping
igxLayoutJustify'flex-start' | 'center' | 'flex-end' | 'space-between' | 'space-around''flex-start'Main axis alignment
igxLayoutItemAlign'flex-start' | 'center' | 'flex-end' | 'stretch' | 'baseline''stretch'Cross axis alignment

igxFlex Directive Inputs

InputTypeDefaultDescription
igxFlexGrownumber1How much the element grows to fill space
igxFlexShrinknumber1How much the element shrinks when space is limited
igxFlexBasisstring'auto'Initial main-axis size (e.g., '200px', '30%')
igxFlexOrdernumber0Visual order among siblings

Key Rules for Layout Manager

  • igxLayout affects its immediate children only — nest multiple igxLayout containers for deeper control
  • Combine igxLayoutDir="column" on the outer container with igxFlex on children to create page shells
  • igxFlexGrow="0" on headers/footers/sidebars prevents them from stretching; leave it at 1 (default) for the main content area
  • This is a thin CSS Flexbox wrapper — the container element gets display: flex applied

Dock Manager

The Dock Manager is a separate package (igniteui-dockmanager) and is implemented as a Web Component (<igc-dockmanager>). It provides IDE-style dockable, resizable, floating, and tabbed pane layouts. It is a premium (licensed) component.

Installation

npm install igniteui-dockmanager

Setup

Because Dock Manager is a Web Component, it requires two one-time setup steps:

1. Register custom elements — app.config.ts:

import { defineCustomElements } from 'igniteui-dockmanager/loader';

defineCustomElements();

2. Add CUSTOM_ELEMENTS_SCHEMA to every standalone component that uses <igc-dockmanager>:

import { Component, CUSTOM_ELEMENTS_SCHEMA } from '@angular/core';

@Component({
  selector: 'app-dock-manager',
  templateUrl: './dock-manager.component.html',
  schemas: [CUSTOM_ELEMENTS_SCHEMA]
})
export class DockManagerComponent { ... }

Basic Usage

import { ChangeDetectionStrategy, Component, CUSTOM_ELEMENTS_SCHEMA } from '@angular/core';
import {
  IgcDockManagerLayout,
  IgcDockManagerPaneType,
  IgcSplitPaneOrientation
} from 'igniteui-dockmanager';

@Component({
  selector: 'app-dock-manager',
  templateUrl: './dock-manager.component.html',
  schemas: [CUSTOM_ELEMENTS_SCHEMA],
  changeDetection: ChangeDetectionStrategy.OnPush
})
export class DockManagerComponent {
  layout: IgcDockManagerLayout = {
    rootPane: {
      type: IgcDockManagerPaneType.splitPane,
      orientation: IgcSplitPaneOrientation.horizontal,
      panes: [
        {
          type: IgcDockManagerPaneType.contentPane,
          contentId: 'sidebar',
          header: 'Explorer'
        },
        {
          type: IgcDockManagerPaneType.documentHost,
          rootPane: {
            type: IgcDockManagerPaneType.splitPane,
            orientation: IgcSplitPaneOrientation.horizontal,
            allowEmpty: true,
            panes: [
              {
                type: IgcDockManagerPaneType.tabGroupPane,
                panes: [
                  {
                    type: IgcDockManagerPaneType.contentPane,
                    header: 'File 1',
                    contentId: 'doc1',
                    documentOnly: true
                  },
                  {
                    type: IgcDockManagerPaneType.contentPane,
                    header: 'File 2',
                    contentId: 'doc2',
                    documentOnly: true
                  }
                ]
              }
            ]
          }
        },
        {
          type: IgcDockManagerPaneType.splitPane,
          orientation: IgcSplitPaneOrientation.vertical,
          size: 280,
          panes: [
            {
              type: IgcDockManagerPaneType.contentPane,
              contentId: 'properties',
              header: 'Properties'
            },
            {
              type: IgcDockManagerPaneType.contentPane,
              contentId: 'output',
              header: 'Output',
              isPinned: false  // starts unpinned (auto-hidden)
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    floatingPanes: [
      {
        type: IgcDockManagerPaneType.splitPane,
        orientation: IgcSplitPaneOrientation.horizontal,
        floatingWidth: 300,
        floatingHeight: 200,
        floatingLocation: { x: 200, y: 150 },
        panes: [
          {
            type: IgcDockManagerPaneType.contentPane,
            contentId: 'search',
            header: 'Search'
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  };
}

<!-- Each slot value matches a contentId in the layout -->
<igc-dockmanager [layout]="layout" style="height: 100vh; display: block;">
  <div slot="sidebar">File explorer content</div>
  <div slot="doc1">Document 1 content</div>
  <div slot="doc2">Document 2 content</div>
  <div slot="properties">Properties panel</div>
  <div slot="output">Output panel</div>
  <div slot="search">Search panel</div>
</igc-dockmanager>

Key Rules for Dock Manager

  1. Separate package — igniteui-dockmanager is installed independently of igniteui-angular
  2. Call defineCustomElements() from igniteui-dockmanager/loader in app.config.ts — without this the <igc-dockmanager> element renders as an unknown element
  3. Add CUSTOM_ELEMENTS_SCHEMA to every standalone component or NgModule that uses <igc-dockmanager>
  4. Slot names = contentId values — the slot="..." attribute on child elements must exactly match the contentId string in the layout
  5. Premium component — requires a licensed Ignite UI subscription; verify availability before recommending to users
  6. Not part of igniteui-angular — do not import from igniteui-angular entry points; all Dock Manager types come from igniteui-dockmanager

Tile Manager

Docs: Tile Manager (Angular)
Full API Docs: Tile Manager Web Component

The Tile Manager is a layout Web Component that displays content in individual tiles users can rearrange and resize. It is implemented as an igc-tile-manager container with one or more igc-tile children.

Installation

npm install igniteui-webcomponents

Setup

Register the Tile Manager Web Component before bootstrap:

import { defineComponents, IgcTileManagerComponent } from 'igniteui-webcomponents';

defineComponents(IgcTileManagerComponent);

Add CUSTOM_ELEMENTS_SCHEMA to any component using <igc-tile-manager>:

import { Component, CUSTOM_ELEMENTS_SCHEMA } from '@angular/core';

@Component({
  selector: 'app-tile-manager',
  templateUrl: './tile-manager.component.html',
  schemas: [CUSTOM_ELEMENTS_SCHEMA]
})
export class TileManagerComponent { }

Usage

<igc-tile-manager column-count="2" gap="20px" min-column-width="220px" min-row-height="160px"
  resize-mode="hover" drag-mode="tile-header">
  <igc-tile col-span="2" disable-resize>
    <span slot="title">Wide tile</span>
    <p>Content spanning two columns</p>
  </igc-tile>
  <igc-tile row-span="2">
    <span slot="title">Tall tile</span>
    <p>Content spanning two rows</p>
  </igc-tile>
</igc-tile-manager>

igc-tile-manager properties:

  • column-count: number of grid columns; if omitted or <1, as many columns as fit with a minimum width (200px) are created
  • gap / min-column-width / min-row-height: spacing and minimum track sizes (e.g., "20px")
  • resize-mode: "none" | "hover" | "always" — controls tile resizing
  • drag-mode: "tile" | "tile-header" — enables reordering

igc-tile properties:

  • row-start / col-start and row-span / col-span: grid placement and spanning
  • disable-resize, disable-maximize / disable-fullscreen: opt out of resize / default header actions

Key Rules for Tile Manager

  1. Web Component package — Tile Manager ships via igniteui-webcomponents, not igniteui-angular.
  2. Register components — call defineComponents(IgcTileManagerComponent) once before using <igc-tile-manager>.
  3. Use CUSTOM_ELEMENTS_SCHEMA on Angular components that host the Tile Manager.
  4. Use slots — header content goes into slot="title"; additional actions and custom adorners use the documented slots (fullscreen-action, maximize-action, actions, side-adorner, corner-adorner, bottom-adorner).
  5. Treat it as a layout container — use Tile Manager when users need interactive, resizable and re-orderable tiles, not tabular data (use grids for that).

See Also

  • setup.md — App providers, architecture, all entry points
  • layout.md — Tabs, Stepper, Accordion, Splitter, Navigation Drawer
  • data-display.md — List, Tree, Card and other display components
  • feedback.md — Dialog, Snackbar, Toast, Banner
  • directives.md — Button, Ripple, Tooltip, Drag and Drop