In Delphi 7 there are 3 main window groups in the IDE:
- IDE Tools and Component Palette
- Form Designers
- Everything Else (including the Code Editor)
The IDE Tools and Components window (the main IDE window that extends across the top of your screen in the default configuration). Exists in splendid isolation. Nothing can dock to it and it will not dock with anything else.
The Form Designers too exist in isolation. There was some logic in this arrangement since the position of the form on the screen could form part of the "design" of the form itself. By making the Form Design surface a free-floating window then the position of that window became a design property that was directly and visually manipulated.
Good application design however doesn't rely on such absolute and precise positioning of forms, and in multiple monitor situations in particular can lead to problems of it's own so this approach has gradually become less relevant and so the embedded form design approach more appropriate.
Ironically however, the 100% embedded approach means that you can no longer so easily work on your form designs on one monitor while having the code visible on a second (at least not without stretching your entire monolithically embedded IDE across both).
Dockable vs Monolithic
The idea that the Delphi 7 idea was not dockable is very far removed from the truth. When people say this what they really mean is that it had a floating form designer and was not a monolithic block of docked windows. Rather it took a more flexible approach.
Apart from the IDE Tools window and the Form Designers, all the remaining windows however can and could all be docked in more or less any combination you wished, though sometimes achieving precisely the layout you wished was difficult due to the way that the IDE handled the drag-and-dock interface, which could lead to many frustrated attempts to get things just how you wanted them.
Sometimes it can help to turn OFF the auto-dock feature.
With Auto Dock on (the default iirc) when you drag a window near to a place where it can be docked, you get a focus rectangle appear showing where the window will dock if released (dropped) at that point. If you do not wish to dock the window and only wish to move it, you can hold the ctrl key down to suppress the docking behaviour.
With Auto Dock turned OFF, this behaviour is reversed. That is, moving windows around is always just that - moving windows. If you wish to drag and dock and window, holding down the ctrl key whilst dragging will give you the preview rectangles and dock-when-dropped behaviour.
Multiple Layouts
Once you had your windows arranged how you wished however, you can then save that arrangement and give that layout a label. Different layouts could not only vary the layout but also the windows involved.
It was quite common to have a "Code" layout, with Messages View, Project Manager etc all docked to the Code Editor as these are useful for working with code and the Object Inspector docked with the Structure View (for example) as these are useful when working with the Form Designers.
Then in a separate layout, typically called "Debug", these windows are less relevant and would be hidden (i.e. not visible) and instead you would have the Stack Window, Local Variables, Watch Variables and Output Window, all docked with the Code Editor.
Here's how I have my Delphi 7 IDE layout configured, for example:
Note that the code editor appears cramped in this screen shot as I shrank things down to minimise the image size for posting to StackOverflow. On my Mac this layout fills my 2560x1440 display nicely, providing vast amounts of space for code etc. :)
Multiple Instances
None of this helps the situation where you have two instances of the IDE on your display simultaneously. The best you can do in this situation is devise a docked layout which keeps as many of your IDE windows together as possible, to minimise the opportunity for confusion.
However, this approach obviously does not work when it comes to the free-floating Form Designers and all you can do in that case is keep a close eye on which IDE becomes active when you focus a particular Form Designer.
