Develop Reference

How to display (transparent) animated gif in a Visual Studio extension panel?

I am developing a Visual Studio extension in C# and I would like to display a (waiting) transparent animated gif inside a tool window panel.
I have googled a lot and I only could find very complex solutions involving special dedicated libraries or some equivalent source code to add to my project. For example, I could find this post: How do I get an animated gif to work in WPF?. But I cannot understand why it would require such complex solutions for such a basic feature as animated gifs.
Can't XAML support natively animated gifs?
On my side I tried the following in my XAML file:
<Image Source="pack://application:,,,/MyPlugin;component/Resources/busy.gif"
Width="16" Height="16"/>
The image loads (although not animated) while Visual Studio is in edition mode. However, the image NEVER shows in the experimental instance.
What did I miss?

For example, I could find this post: How do I get an animated gif to
work in WPF?. But I cannot understand why it would require such
complex solutions for such a basic feature as animated gifs.
There're some easy ways to display .gif in wpf. For me, I use WpfAnimatedGif to do this.Simply install the nuget package and add the corresponding xmlns then the gif can display in wpf or vs extension.
For WpfAnimatedGif:
1.Add xmlns:gif="http://wpfanimatedgif.codeplex.com" to the xx.xaml.
2.<Image gif:ImageBehavior.AnimatedSource="xxx/xxx.gif" />
Then the .gif can display in the vs extension.
The format in my project:
<UserControl x:Class="VSIXProject2.ToolWindow1Control"
...
xmlns:gif="http://wpfanimatedgif.codeplex.com"
xmlns:vsshell="clr-namespace:Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell;assembly=Microsoft.VisualStudio.Shell.15.0"
Background="{DynamicResource {x:Static vsshell:VsBrushes.WindowKey}}"
Foreground="{DynamicResource {x:Static vsshell:VsBrushes.WindowTextKey}}"
mc:Ignorable="d"
d:DesignHeight="300" d:DesignWidth="300"
Name="MyToolWindow">
<Grid>
<StackPanel Orientation="Vertical">
...
<Image gif:ImageBehavior.AnimatedSource="pack://application:,,,/VSIXProject2;component/Resources/time.gif" Height="100" Width="200"/>
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
</UserControl>
Note: To display the image when debugging VS extensions, the source format should be pack://application:,,,/xxx;component/Resources/xxx.gif. It's the different behavior between normal wpf and ToolWindows in vsix. More details see this.

MediaElement XAML -> AutoPlay not a property?

I have created a MediaElement in XAML and assigned a .mpg as the source.
Looking at the XAML controls gallery from Microsoft, there are some examples such as:
<MediaPlayerElement Source="Assets/SampleMedia/fishes.wmv"
MaxWidth="400"
AutoPlay="True" />
However, I am faced with invalid markup that is returning:
The property AutoPlay was not found in type MediaElement
I have tried removing the AutoPlay and using a MediaOpened event to start the video from code behind,but there is never any trigger even?
I am not having too much success.
DO I need to add any additional resources to access certain properties?
<MediaElement x:Name="backdropMotion" Source="Images/inMotion_video.mpg"
Stretch="Fill" Margin="198,126,-326,229" Grid.Column="2"
LoadedBehavior="Play" IsEnabled="True" IsMuted="True"
Grid.Row="1" Grid.ColumnSpan="2" MediaOpened="MediaOpenedEvent"
AutoPlay="True"
>
Ultimately, I am trying to run a media element to a panel that effectively acts as an animated background, looping almost like a .gif. First step is to get the element running.

How do I add a background image to LayoutDocumentPane?

I have created a Resource for the ImageBrush, see below, but I do not know how I would add it to the AvalonDock LayoutDocumentPane. I want to add it to the pane because I want to have a logo in the background, but LayoutDocumentPane covers the Window background.
<BitmapImage x:Key="LogoBitmap" UriSource="pack://application:,,,/myLibrary;component/myImages/myBigLogo.PNG"/>
<ImageBrush x:Key="LogoImage" ImageSource="{StaticResource LogoBitmap}"/>
Right now, I have the following:
<ad:DockingManager x:Name="dockManager" >
<ad:LayoutRoot>
<ad:LayoutPanel x:Name="myLayoutPanel" Orientation="Horizontal">
<ad:LayoutAnchorablePane x:Name="myLayoutAnchorablePane" DockWidth="400"/>
<ad:LayoutDocumentPane x:Name="myDocumentPane"/>
</ad:LayoutPanel>
</ad:LayoutRoot>
</ad:DockingManager>

I was able to find a method of setting a background image that works for my use case, but I am using a very simple AvalonDock configuration so I'm not sure if it will work for you.
This will set the image for the entire dock control, I was not able to find any way to set a background at any level lower than this.
<xcad:DockingManager x:Name="dockingManager">
<xcad:DockingManager.Background>
<ImageBrush ImageSource="/Resources/Images/MDIBACKGROUNDIMAGE.png"/>
</xcad:DockingManager.Background>
<xcad:LayoutRoot>
<xcad:LayoutPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<xcad:LayoutDocumentPaneGroup>
<xcad:LayoutDocumentPane >
<xcad:LayoutDocument>
<views:MyForm></views:MyForm>
</xcad:LayoutDocument>
</xcad:LayoutDocumentPane>
</xcad:LayoutDocumentPaneGroup>
</xcad:LayoutPanel>
</xcad:LayoutRoot>
</xcad:DockingManager>

Make WPF control over the web browser

I have a WPF application in which I have an embedded web browser control. I want to show an animation over the web browser at a certain time, but the problem is that the WPF controls, when kept over the web browser are not visible.
Is there any way to show my user control over the web browser?

Please answer me this first,
Is this Web Browser control the WPF Web Browser Control or Winform webbrowser control hosted in WinFormHost?
For any WPF control to show animation over it, did you explore ...
Placing your control in Grid or Canvas and then placing an stretched Border (which has running animation in it) as the last child of the grid/canvas?
Adorner with constantly changing drawing context to simulate animations?
Transparent Popup with animation, whose static placement is done (bound to control's absolute left, top positions and actual height & width properties) over the control?
Try the transparent popup approach for web browser control ...
<Grid>
<WebBrowser x:Name="WebBrowser1"/>
<Popup IsOpen="{Binding StartAninmation}"
AllowsTransparency="True"
Grid.RowSpan="99"
Grid.ColumnSpan="99"
Placement="Center"
Width="{Binding ActualWidth,
ElementName=WebBrowser1,
Mode=OneWay}"
Height="{Binding ActualHeight,
ElementName=WebBrowser1,
Mode=OneWay}"
PlacementTarget="{Binding ElementName=WebBrowser1}"
Opacity="0.5"
Margin="3">
<TextBlock Text="Loading ..."/>
</Popup>
</Grid>
One of these will surely work in your case.

Unfortunately thats not possible with the WPF Webbrowser Control (which is basically a wrapped WinForms WebBrowser control), due to the order the OS renders WinForms and WPF content.
See also:
Is there a way to render WPF controls on top of the wpf WebBrowser control?
There's a third party app Awsomium that should make it possible.
Edit: Another possibility would be to render a frameless window above the WebBrowser Control. But it's a bit tricky to keep it in the correct position/z-order.

CefSharp provides a pure WPF browser contorl based on Chromium/V8 that isn't subject to the airspace issues of the Microsoft WebBrowser control (disclaimer: I am the maintainer of CefSharp).

WinForm ScrollViewer

I have an application in WPF that uses ScrollViewr and I want to port it to WinForms, is there an equivalent control for WinForms?
Reason:
WPF program is slow and I can't seem to learn how to render the program properly (GameOfLife).
Code:
<ScrollViewer Name="displayPlaceHolder" HorizontalScrollBarVisibility="Auto">
<Canvas Name="display" MouseMove="display_MouseMove" MouseDown="display_MouseDown" Cursor="Cross" KeyDown="global_KeyDown" Focusable="True" />
</ScrollViewer>

You could try to use Panel with AutoScroll property enabled.