Make bottom panel into available dock slot by KoBeWi · Pull Request #108647 · godotengine/godot

KoBeWi · 2025-07-15T21:01:03Z

Supersedes #106426

Adds a DOCK_SLOT_BOTTOM, which corresponds to bottom panel. All bottom panel controls are now docks. For compatibility, the old bottom editors are just wrapped in EditorDock.

This mostly brings changes to the dock popup, but also allows dragging docks between sides and bottom (currently only FileSystem):

godot.windows.editor.dev.x86_64_A0DP2XbvLh.mp4

Other than that, the current dock slot is now properly highlighted, slots unavailable for the current dock are darkened. The "Move to Bottom" button is replaced with a bottom dock slot.

I also added 3 new EditorDock properties: global (whether it appears in dock menu and can be closed), hidden (whether its tab is hidden) and title_color. All old bottom docks are non-global.

Dock's layout is now properly respected, i.e. you can make a dock that is horizontal only (in #106503 the LAYOUT_VERTICAL flag was effectively unused). I also added a LAYOUT_FLOATING flag, which determines whether the dock can float (all legacy bottom docks can't float).

In follow-ups I plan to update legacy docks to the new system, which would allow stuff like vertical ShaderEditor (it's already possible, but the editor is not adjusted for that, so the option is blocked). I will probably open a tracker for that.

A side-effect of these changes is that bottom docks can be rearranged, but I think it's not really a problem 🤔

Also for the future, I think EditorDockManager can be refactored, as it does too much. Some of its code can be moved to EditorDock and some of its code can be delegated to a new EditorDockContainer class extending TabContainer (the bottom panel would inherit it too). Also the main screen could potentially become a dock slot.

lodetrick

Initial thoughts. Regarding the popup interfering with the buttons I can fix that in the refactor.

editor/docks/editor_dock_manager.cpp

scene/gui/tab_bar.cpp

lodetrick · 2025-07-15T21:50:17Z

editor/docks/editor_dock_manager.cpp

 	p_tab_container->set_popup(dock_context_popup);
 	p_tab_container->connect("pre_popup_pressed", callable_mp(dock_context_popup, &DockContextPopup::select_current_dock_in_dock_slot).bind(p_dock_slot));


I personally chose not to have this popup appear for the bottom panel (because it is out of place with the other buttons), but it could also appear as one of the bottom panel's dedicated buttons

lodetrick · 2025-07-15T21:56:28Z

editor/docks/editor_dock_manager.cpp

-	p_tab_container->set_use_hidden_tabs_for_min_size(true);
 	p_tab_container->get_tab_bar()->connect(SceneStringName(gui_input), callable_mp(this, &EditorDockManager::_dock_container_gui_input).bind(p_tab_container));
 	p_tab_container->hide();
+	p_tab_container->set_meta("dock_layout", p_layout);


Is this necessary with the array of DockSlots? I see what you mean about the need for EditorDockContainer.

It was a quick hack, the problem is that _move_dock() takes the new parent directly instead of slot ID. It requires some changes.

editor/gui/editor_bottom_panel.cpp

doc/classes/EditorDock.xml

lodetrick · 2025-07-15T22:19:03Z

editor/docks/editor_dock_manager.h

+	DockConstants::DockSlot occupied_slot = DockConstants::DOCK_SLOT_MAX;
 	TabBar *drop_tabbar = nullptr;

 	Color valid_drop_color;


In my opinion, this PR should be the one to introduce the invalid_drop_color and relevant layout checks in EditorDockDragHint (to visually tell the user that they can/cannot drag onto the bottom dock.

For now I just removed highlight if the slot can't be dropped to.

arkology · 2025-07-16T07:23:46Z

Also, a side-effect of these changes is that bottom docks can be rearranged, but I think it's not really a problem

It will be set to default state (i.e. position) after selection "Reset layout" it top bar menu, right?

KoBeWi · 2025-07-16T13:55:41Z

Currently no. Bottom editors are not part of default layout, their order is semi-random.

editor/debugger/editor_debugger_node.cpp

editor/docks/editor_dock_manager.cpp

arkology · 2025-10-24T09:47:30Z

Not sure this is intended :)

godot.windows.editor.x86_64_slot_HfoZb7nt9F.mp4

arkology · 2025-10-24T16:58:19Z

Something bad is happening with the bottom panel size:

BTW does it happen in master?
I suppose size changes because of #109915
UPD: Yes, it does... Should we treat this as a bug?

KoBeWi · 2025-10-30T21:42:23Z

UPD: Yes, it does... Should we treat this as a bug?

Soo the problem is that previously when you selected Audio tab, the panel would expand height, but then shrink down once you select a smaller dock. Now the new height is permanent, and also bigger than before for some reason. So yeah, it is a bug.

KoBeWi · 2025-10-30T22:33:27Z

I think I resolved all problems.
#106164 still needs to be rebased and merged, so this is going to be a draft for a bit more.

kitbdev

It looks like this creates a warning, the C# code for the MSBuild panel should be changed to not use the deprecated method https://github.com/godotengine/godot/actions/runs/19279142673/job/55126147042?pr=108647#step:17:149 'EditorPlugin.AddControlToBottomPanel(Control, string)' is obsolete

I was thinking we should add a transient or temporary mode for docks that cannot open freely and depend on something, like many bottom panel docks are.

Also for the future, I think EditorDockManager can be refactored, as it does too much. Some of its code can be moved to EditorDock and some of its code can be delegated to a new EditorDockContainer class extending TabContainer (the bottom panel would inherit it too). Also the main screen could potentially become a dock slot.

There can also be a Node for the EditorDockManager so it has a place to respond to notifications like theme change and drag start and process shortcuts without workarounds.

editor/docks/editor_dock_manager.cpp

editor/gui/editor_bottom_panel.cpp

editor/docks/editor_dock_manager.cpp

kitbdev · 2025-11-12T00:17:18Z

doc/classes/EditorDock.xml

 		<member name="dock_shortcut" type="Shortcut" setter="set_dock_shortcut" getter="get_dock_shortcut">
 			The shortcut used to open the dock. This property can only be set before this dock is added via [method EditorPlugin.add_dock].
 		</member>
+		<member name="global" type="bool" setter="set_global" getter="is_global" default="true">


This could be inverted and use permanent, since they cannot close. Or closable.

editor/debugger/editor_debugger_node.cpp

editor/gui/editor_bottom_panel.cpp

KoBeWi · 2025-11-15T18:43:47Z

Ok, I pushed some major changes:

dock_hidden was removed
dock tabs are no longer being hidden, instead you are supposed to open/close the dock
added new open()/close() methods to EditorDock
added transient property. Transient docks don't store their open/closed in editor layout

kitbdev

Opening the Polygon2D bottom panel editor freezes, the console spams Object was deleted while awaiting a callback.

doc/classes/EditorDock.xml

editor/docks/editor_dock_manager.cpp

editor/docks/editor_dock.cpp

doc/classes/EditorDock.xml

KoBeWi · 2025-11-16T16:33:20Z

scene/main/canvas_item.cpp

 		}
 	}

-	pending_update = false;


This fixed the Polygon2D editor freeze. The line dates back to Godot being open-source and doesn't look relevant anymore.

I think I have to be reasonably skeptical on why this would be the case, maybe even "by the book" by telling you to make a separate PR about it.

I was thinking about making a separate PR, but a) it's difficult to justify on its own (it's a corner case here that I'm not sure how to reproduce otherwise) and b) if the PRs get merged separately, reverting this change will cause the editor freeze, so any problems would need to be fixed without a revert.

The reason this causes problems is that there is some nasty stack of deferred calls that causes queue_redraw() to bypass the pending_update check and make deferred calls infinitely. A "better" fix would be untangling the deferred calls, but either way this line is useless. There is no way that a CanvasItem ends up outside tree with a pending redraw, thanks to this check:

godot/scene/main/canvas_item.cpp

Lines 134 to 137 in ef34c3d

if (!is_inside_tree()) {

pending_update = false;

return;

}

Confirmed that it does fix the issue.
Seems fine to remove to me, I don't see why it would need to force queue the redraw when it is already queued.

It is hard to reproduce, but this code freezes in the same way:

extends Control func _draw() -> void: top_level = !top_level

You need to run it with a console or debugger attached though, since it seems it is the error spam that freezes it.
Removing this pending_update line fixes it.

Mickeon

One thing to keep in mind is that this PR may cause a ripple effect:
We may want to standardize any references to "bottom panel" into "dock", or maybe "bottom dock", in order to finally get rid of the ambiguous "panel" nomenclature. That would be very taxing, but consistent.

Mickeon · 2025-11-16T17:52:31Z

doc/classes/EditorDock.xml

+		<method name="open">
+			<return type="void" />
+			<description>
+				Opens the dock. It will appear in the last used dock slot. If the dock has no default slot, it will be opened floating.


Following the last suggestion, I suppose. Once again, the editor refers to this as "make floating" if we really need to put it this way.

Suggested change

Opens the dock. It will appear in the last used dock slot. If the dock has no default slot, it will be opened floating.

Opens the dock. It will appear in the last used dock slot. If the dock has no default slot, it will be made floating.

In this case it is opened and made floating directly, which seemed different than making an already opened dock floating.

doc/classes/EditorDock.xml

kitbdev

There is still a deprecated warning for the MSBuild bottom panel (it shows at the bottom of the Github Files Changed tab).
And it needs a rebase.
Otherwise it looks good to me.

editor/docks/editor_dock.cpp

Repiteo · 2025-11-21T20:52:54Z

Thanks!

KoBeWi added this to the 4.x milestone Jul 15, 2025

KoBeWi added enhancement topic:editor labels Jul 15, 2025

lodetrick reviewed Jul 15, 2025

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KoBeWi force-pushed the docking_abyss branch from ffbaac4 to 1566154 Compare July 16, 2025 14:29

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KoBeWi mentioned this pull request Oct 2, 2025

Add support for custom font colors in the TabBar #106263

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KoBeWi mentioned this pull request Oct 23, 2025

Refactor editor EditorBottomPanel to be a TabContainer #106164

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KoBeWi modified the milestones: 4.x, 4.6 Oct 24, 2025

KoBeWi force-pushed the docking_abyss branch from 1566154 to f45e708 Compare October 24, 2025 07:59

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KoBeWi force-pushed the docking_abyss branch from 0fa6c9a to 7941405 Compare October 30, 2025 22:31

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Make bottom panel into available dock slot

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KoBeWi force-pushed the docking_abyss branch from 18fda91 to 67735cf Compare November 21, 2025 17:52

Repiteo merged commit 884bf2f into godotengine:master Nov 21, 2025
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Register DOCK_SLOT_BOTTOM with EditorDockManager #106426

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KoBeWi deleted the docking_abyss branch November 21, 2025 20:54

jinyangcruise mentioned this pull request Nov 26, 2025

Error Child is not a child of this node. when find in files #113174

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KoBeWi mentioned this pull request Nov 27, 2025

Initial dock layout selects the wrong docks #113155

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lodetrick mentioned this pull request Dec 11, 2025

Update EditorDock shortcut documentation #113888

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KoBeWi mentioned this pull request Feb 10, 2026

Properly deprecate legacy bottom panel methods #116143

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Calinou mentioned this pull request Feb 25, 2026

GridMap preview lines disappear #116469

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		p_tab_container->set_popup(dock_context_popup);
		p_tab_container->connect("pre_popup_pressed", callable_mp(dock_context_popup, &DockContextPopup::select_current_dock_in_dock_slot).bind(p_dock_slot));

	Opens the dock. It will appear in the last used dock slot. If the dock has no default slot, it will be opened floating.
	Opens the dock. It will appear in the last used dock slot. If the dock has no default slot, it will be made floating.

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