Creating tabs and sub tabs using panels

See also this attached screenshot where it has been created as tabs?

Export of the dashboard main page.

$page = new stdClass;
$page->disabled = FALSE; /* Edit this to true to make a default page disabled initially */
$page->api_version = 1;
$page->name = 'dashboard';
$page->task = 'page';
$page->admin_title = 'Dashboard';
$page->admin_description = 'Dashboard is a task based backend administration';
$page->path = 'admin/dashboard';
$page->access = array(
  'plugins' => array(
    0 => array(
      'name' => 'role',
      'settings' => array(
        'rids' => array(
          0 => 3,
          1 => 5,
          2 => 6,
          3 => 7,
        ),
      ),
      'context' => 'logged-in-user',
      'not' => FALSE,
    ),
  ),
  'logic' => 'and',
);
$page->menu = array(
  'type' => 'normal',
  'title' => 'Mit dashboard',
  'name' => 'management',
  'weight' => '-100',
  'parent' => array(
    'type' => 'none',
    'title' => '',
    'name' => 'navigation',
    'weight' => '0',
  ),
);
$page->arguments = array();
$page->conf = array(
  'admin_paths' => FALSE,
);
$page->default_handlers = array();
$handler = new stdClass;
$handler->disabled = FALSE; /* Edit this to true to make a default handler disabled initially */
$handler->api_version = 1;
$handler->name = 'page_dashboard_panel_context';
$handler->task = 'page';
$handler->subtask = 'dashboard';
$handler->handler = 'panel_context';
$handler->weight = 0;
$handler->conf = array(
  'title' => 'Dashboard',
  'no_blocks' => 0,
  'pipeline' => 'ipe',
  'css_id' => '',
  'css' => '',
  'contexts' => array(),
  'relationships' => array(),
);
$display = new panels_display;
$display->layout = 'twocol_stacked';
$display->layout_settings = array();
$display->panel_settings = array();
$display->cache = array();
$display->title = 'Dit dashboard';
$display->content = array();
$display->panels = array();
  $pane = new stdClass;
  $pane->pid = 'new-1';
  $pane->panel = 'top';
  $pane->type = 'views';
  $pane->subtype = 'workbench_recent_content';
  $pane->shown = TRUE;
  $pane->access = array();
  $pane->configuration = array(
    'override_pager_settings' => 0,
    'use_pager' => 0,
    'nodes_per_page' => '10',
    'pager_id' => '0',
    'offset' => '0',
    'more_link' => 1,
    'feed_icons' => 0,
    'panel_args' => 0,
    'link_to_view' => 0,
    'args' => '',
    'url' => '',
    'display' => 'block_1',
    'override_title' => 0,
    'override_title_text' => '',
  );
  $pane->cache = array();
  $pane->style = array();
  $pane->css = array();
  $pane->extras = array();
  $pane->position = 0;
  $pane->locks = array();
  $display->content['new-1'] = $pane;
  $display->panels['top'][0] = 'new-1';
$display->hide_title = PANELS_TITLE_FIXED;
$display->title_pane = 'new-1';
$handler->conf['display'] = $display;
$page->default_handlers[$handler->name] = $handler;

Export of the subpage

$page = new stdClass;
$page->disabled = FALSE; /* Edit this to true to make a default page disabled initially */
$page->api_version = 1;
$page->name = 'short_courses';
$page->task = 'page';
$page->admin_title = 'Short courses';
$page->admin_description = 'Short courses';
$page->path = 'admin/dashboard/short_courses';
$page->access = array(
  'plugins' => array(
    0 => array(
      'name' => 'role',
      'settings' => array(
        'rids' => array(
          0 => 3,
          1 => 5,
          2 => 6,
          3 => 7,
        ),
      ),
      'context' => 'logged-in-user',
      'not' => FALSE,
    ),
  ),
  'logic' => 'and',
);
$page->menu = array(
  'type' => 'tab',
  'title' => 'Korte kurser',
  'name' => 'management',
  'weight' => '-100',
  'parent' => array(
    'type' => 'none',
    'title' => '',
    'name' => 'navigation',
    'weight' => '0',
  ),
);
$page->arguments = array();
$page->conf = array(
  'admin_paths' => FALSE,
);
$page->default_handlers = array();
$handler = new stdClass;
$handler->disabled = FALSE; /* Edit this to true to make a default handler disabled initially */
$handler->api_version = 1;
$handler->name = 'page_short_courses_panel_context';
$handler->task = 'page';
$handler->subtask = 'short_courses';
$handler->handler = 'panel_context';
$handler->weight = 0;
$handler->conf = array(
  'title' => 'Korte kurser',
  'no_blocks' => 0,
  'pipeline' => 'ipe',
  'css_id' => '',
  'css' => '',
  'contexts' => array(),
  'relationships' => array(),
);
$display = new panels_display;
$display->layout = 'twocol_stacked';
$display->layout_settings = array();
$display->panel_settings = array();
$display->cache = array();
$display->title = 'Korte kurser';
$display->content = array();
$display->panels = array();
  $pane = new stdClass;
  $pane->pid = 'new-1';
  $pane->panel = 'top';
  $pane->type = 'views';
  $pane->subtype = 'short_courses';
  $pane->shown = TRUE;
  $pane->access = array();
  $pane->configuration = array(
    'override_pager_settings' => 0,
    'use_pager' => 1,
    'nodes_per_page' => '50',
    'pager_id' => '0',
    'offset' => '0',
    'more_link' => 1,
    'feed_icons' => 0,
    'panel_args' => 0,
    'link_to_view' => 0,
    'args' => '',
    'url' => '',
    'display' => 'block_all_short_courses',
    'override_title' => 0,
    'override_title_text' => '',
  );
  $pane->cache = array();
  $pane->style = array();
  $pane->css = array();
  $pane->extras = array();
  $pane->position = 0;
  $pane->locks = array();
  $display->content['new-1'] = $pane;
  $display->panels['top'][0] = 'new-1';
$display->hide_title = PANELS_TITLE_FIXED;
$display->title_pane = '0';
$handler->conf['display'] = $display;
$page->default_handlers[$handler->name] = $handler;

That worked like a charm.

How can I create the subtabs (the small grey tabs beneath the tabs). In views I tried just making a menu tab and putting the path like this. I choose the menu tab (not the standard menu tab).

/admin/dashboard/default/subtab-name

Tried all sorts of combinations.

1) Found out that I needed to create at least two views as subtabs to get the subtabs showing. That makes little sense on a panels page, as it is rendered with something completely different. But that is probably how Drupal works internally?

2) Could not find any way to add the subtabs to the default tab for some reason.

Is that about right?

Closing old support questions. If this is still important to you, please reopen.