I just created a windows Form application to inherit controls from base form and it works fine.
In WPF XAML is it possible to inherit controls from a base form to another like above?
When I tried in visual studio, I have got an error showing:"'parentchild.MainWindow' cannot be the root of a XAML file because it was defined using XAML".
My Basewindow cs code:
namespace parentchild
{
public partial class BaseWindow : Window
{
public BaseWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
}
}
My Basewindow xaml code:
<Window
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:dxr="http://schemas.devexpress.com/winfx/2008/xaml/ribbon" x:Class="parentchild.BaseWindow"
Title="BaseWindow" Height="350" Width="525">
<Grid>
<StatusBar HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="35" Margin="0,285,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="517">
<Label Content="Label"/>
<Label Content="Label"/>
</StatusBar>
</Grid>
</Window>
My childwindow cs code:
namespace parentchild
{
public partial class childwindow : BaseWindow
{
public childwindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
}
}
My childwindow xaml code:
<mn:BaseWindow x:Class="parentchild.childwindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:mn="clr-namespace:parentchild"
Title="childwindow" Height="300" Width="300">
<Grid>
</Grid>
</mn:BaseWindow>
I found another solution by creating an user control and applying it to all windows.Is that the right way?
Or anybody have solution for creating a general theme/structure for all Xaml windows.
Please provide me a solution to solve this issue.
You cannot inherit from a class that has been defined in xaml. I would probably go with creating a UserControl and using that as a 'base container' in any Window you want to have the status bar. If you are intent on making a base Window you could try something like this:
Define the base Window in code only:
public class MyWindowBase : Window
{
private ContentControl contentControl;
public MyWindowBase()
{
this.CreateContent();
}
public Object BaseContent
{
get { return this.contentControl.Content; }
set { this.contentControl.Content = value; }
}
private void CreateContent()
{
var grid = new Grid();
var row1 = new RowDefinition() { Height = new GridLength(1, GridUnitType.Star) };
var row2 = new RowDefinition() { Height = GridLength.Auto };
grid.RowDefinitions.Add(row1);
grid.RowDefinitions.Add(row2);
var statusBar = new StatusBar() { Height = 35, Background = Brushes.Blue }; // Initialize the status bar how you want.
Grid.SetRow(statusBar, 1);
this.contentControl = new ContentControl();
grid.Children.Add(this.contentControl);
grid.Children.Add(statusBar);
base.Content = grid;
}
}
Use the base window in xaml like this:
<WpfApplication7:MyWindowBase xmlns:WpfApplication7="clr-namespace:WpfApplication7" x:Class="WpfApplication7.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="500">
<WpfApplication7:MyWindowBase.BaseContent>
<Button>
Something
</Button>
</WpfApplication7:MyWindowBase.BaseContent>
</WpfApplication7:MyWindowBase>
Of course the base class has room for improvement, like making BaseContent a dependency property, but I think it demonstrates the main idea.
It looks like you are basically trying to create a custom control that extends Window. Creating custom controls in WPF is a complex topic because there is a lot to consider when deciding how to implement one. Take a look at this article that talks about this:
Control Authoring Overview
Most likely, you do not actually want a custom control, but rather a custom ControlTemplate (authored in xaml) that redefines how you want your window to look. You can define the template in a Style and apply that style to any Window that you want. It is a lot to try to explain here in an answer, so you should read up on how control templates work and how they are useful.
If you decide you need to add new properties to your custom window, then you will want to make a new class that extends Window and adds those properties as dependency properties (now you have a custom control). You can then use those properties in your custom ControlTemplate to do whatever you want them to do.
Working in WPF is not at all like working in Windows Forms. If you try to apply techniques and practices you learned in Windows Forms to a WPF application, you will cause yourself a lot of headaches. I made that transition a couple years ago, and my advice is to make no assumptions about WPF based on what you know from Windows Forms. They are completely different systems with different ways of doing things.
Related
I have a simple usercontrol in my MainWindow. I am trying to create a simple Window Template that is easily protable. I have a usercontrol and this seems to serve my purpose so far well...kinda...
If I set AllowTransparency and WindowStyle in the usercontrol the project compiles successfully but in the MainWindow in the control I get Object Not Set to Instance of... And the entire control is underlined. All good if I set in MainWindow. I can live with this but not the desired result.
xaml
<Window x:Class="WpfApplication1.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:cntl="clr-namespace:Rtg"
Title="MainWindow" Height="400" Width="525">
<!-- if I add windowstyle and allowtransparency here all good -->
<Grid>
<cntl:test1 WinTitle="test window framing">
<cntl:test1.PlaceHolder1>
<Grid Background="Orange">
<TextBox BorderBrush="Transparent" Text="Content in placehoder:" Height="35" Width="175" Margin="0,10,270,0" Background="Transparent" FontSize="16" ></TextBox>
<Button Width="100" Height="35" Content="click me" FontSize="16"></Button>
</Grid>
</cntl:test1.PlaceHolder1>
</cntl:test1>
</Grid>
</Window>
C#
public test1() {
Window win = Application.Current.MainWindow;
win.WindowStyle = System.Windows.WindowStyle.None;
win.AllowsTransparency = true;
InitializeComponent();
ctrTest2.Title = WinTitle;
}
Been web developing for the last 15 years WPF is somewhat pretty new to me.
Is this Normal Behavior for WPF?
Is there away Around This so I can set window Properties in the usercotrol?
public test1() {
InitializeComponent();
ctrTest2.Title = WinTitle;
//Need to do it after Initialization
Window win = Application.Current.MainWindow;
win.WindowStyle = System.Windows.WindowStyle.None;
win.AllowsTransparency = true;
}
A more "WPF" way of handling it would be to create a ViewModel and Bind the properties
public class MainViewModel : INotifiyPropertyChanged{
private WindowStyle _windowStyle;
public WindowStyle WinStyle {
get{
return _windowStyle;
}
set{
_windowStyle = value;OnPropertyChanged("WinStyle");
}
}
}
And in the XAML
WindowStyle="{Binding Path=WinStyle}"
Found the Error. I was sending one of my functions an int so that I knew which window was loading. Because no windows or variables are initialized when the app is not running, Visual Studio's decided that my integer was out of the bounds of the array. Adding a simple if statement around the above code fixed all issues. Picky Picky WPF.
Kevin, I was unsure of what you meant by View Model. After Reading some the xaml.cs or UserControl in my case would be the ViewModel correct?
here is my fix.
if (LoadingWindow > -1 && Application.Current.Windows.Count > LoadingWindow) {
// Load Window
}
In Java, I use an extends View to create a custom View. How to do it on c#?
You can either create an element using the XAML and associating the layout to any element?
In WPF you need to create custom user control. Start with that empty xaml file and you can define your own layout, then fill the grid with other controls and etc. The code behind is in MyCustomControl.cs file.
<UserControl
Name="MyCustomControl"
x:Class="MyCustomControl"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" >
<Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot">
</Grid>
</UserControl>
The code behind looks similar to this:
public partial class MyCustomControl: UserControl
{
public MyCustomControl()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
}
So I'm pretty new to WPF and MVVM, and while I understand the premise, a lot of this stuff is like trying to read hieroglyphs for me.
Basically, my situation is this: I'm using Activiz, a c# wrapper for VTK, which is an image processing/visualization library. So, in this library, there's a WinForms control called vtk:RenderWindowControl, which is an opengl control containing the class that handles all of the visualization functionality. I think it'd be easier to just use WinForms, but that's not really an option for me.
So, to use vtk:RenderWindowControl in a WPF application, I just need to shove it into a WindowsFormsHost and then I can use it more or less just like the example code, in the code behind (if that's the correct term for the .xaml.cs file)
That's fine for a test app, but in practice, I'd like to follow MVVM if possible. This is where I've run into a wall. If "renderControl" lives in the View class, how can I reference it and use it from the ViewModel? I think binding is the answer to that question, but I only really know how to do that for simple types and commands.
Following ideas in another thread I found, I managed to set up something like this answer
My codebehind looks like this:
public partial class RenderPanel_View : UserControl
{
public static readonly new DependencyProperty RWControlProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register("RWControl", typeof(RenderWindowControl), typeof(RenderPanel_View), new PropertyMetadata(null));
public RenderWindowControl RWControl
{
get { return (RenderWindowControl)GetValue(RWControlProperty); }
set { SetValue(RWControlProperty, value); }
}
public RenderPanel_View()
{
// This is necessary to stop the rendercontrolwindow from trying to load in the
// designer, and crashing the Visual Studio.
if (System.ComponentModel.DesignerProperties.GetIsInDesignMode(this)) {
this.Height = 300;
this.Width = 300;
return;
}
InitializeComponent();
this.RWControl = new RenderWindowControl();
this.RWControl.Dock = System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle.Fill;
this.WFHost.Child = this.RWControl;
}
}
My .xaml looks like this
<UserControl x:Class="vtkMVVMTest.RenderPanel.RenderPanel_View"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
xmlns:vtk="clr-namespace:Kitware.VTK;assembly=Kitware.VTK"
xmlns:rp="clr-namespace:vtkMVVMTest.RenderPanel"
mc:Ignorable="d"
d:DesignHeight="300" d:DesignWidth="300"
RWControl="{Binding VMControlProperty}">
<Grid>
<WindowsFormsHost x:Name ="WFHost"/>
</Grid>
</UserControl>
So two things. One, That last line of the xaml header is an error, "The member 'RWControl' is not recognized or accessible". I don't really understand why. Second, for what I'm guessing is the ViewModel half of the equation, how is VMControlProperty supposed to be defined?
Am I at least on the right track here, or is this way off base?
Some controls are not MVVM friendly and you have make the ViewModel aware of View interface and allow interact with it directly. Do not open the whole control to the ViewModel it will ruin the ability to write tests, put an interface on top for example IRenderPanelView and open in the interface only the functionality you need to access from ViewModel. You can then create a DP property of this type in the view, set it in the constructor and bind it to ViewModel.View property in xaml.
I've been working on a commandline application, and have recently decided to add a wpf window to the application. I added this as a UserControl, however I noticed I can't call this class using ShowDialog() from my main code;
I've tried changing the Base class from a UserControl to Window, however an error occurs;
public partial class UserControl1 : Window
{
public UserControl1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
Error 1 Partial declarations of
'ExcelExample.UserControl1' must not
specify different base
classesExcelExample
I've added all the references found in my other WPF application to no avail. Help!
In order to change the base class it is not sufficient to change it in code only. You must also change the root tag and any nested elements in accompanying XAML file. For example, you have something like:
<UserControl x:Class="Your.Namespace.UserControl1"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
<UserControl.Resources>
</UserControl.Resources>
</UserControl>
You must change it to something like:
<Window x:Class="Your.Namespace.UserControl1"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
<Window.Resources>
</Window.Resources>
</Window>
I found something about this issue for ASP, but it didn't help me much ...
What I'd like to do is the following: I want to create a user control that has a collection as property and buttons to navigate through this collection. I want to be able to bind this user control to a collection and display different controls on it (containing data from that collection).
Like what you had in MS Access on the lower edge of a form ...
to be more precise:
When I actually use the control in my application (after I created it), I want to be able to add multiple controls to it (textboxes, labels etc) between the <myControly> and </mycontrol>
If I do that now, the controls on my user control disappear.
Here is an example of one way to do what you want:
First, the code - UserControl1.xaml.cs
public partial class UserControl1 : UserControl
{
public static readonly DependencyProperty MyContentProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register("MyContent", typeof(object), typeof(UserControl1));
public UserControl1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
public object MyContent
{
get { return GetValue(MyContentProperty); }
set { SetValue(MyContentProperty, value); }
}
}
And the user control's XAML - UserControl1.xaml
<UserControl x:Class="InCtrl.UserControl1"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Height="300" Width="300" Name="MyCtrl">
<StackPanel>
<Button Content="Up"/>
<ContentPresenter Content="{Binding ElementName=MyCtrl, Path=MyContent}"/>
<Button Content="Down"/>
</StackPanel>
</UserControl>
And finally, the xaml to use our wonderful new control:
<Window x:Class="InCtrl.Window1"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:me="clr-namespace:InCtrl"
Title="Window1" Height="300" Width="300">
<Grid>
<me:UserControl1>
<me:UserControl1.MyContent>
<Button Content="Middle"/>
</me:UserControl1.MyContent>
</me:UserControl1>
</Grid>
</Window>
I'm having a hard time understanding your question, but I think what you're describing is an ItemsControl using DataTemplates to display the contents of (presumably) an ObservableCollection(T).
A UserControl may not be the best way to do this. You're wanting to add decorations around content, which is basically what Border does: it has a child element, and it adds its own stuff around the edges.
Look into the Decorator class, which Border descends from. If you make your own Border descendant, you should be easily able to do what you want. However, I believe this would require writing code, not XAML.
You might still want to make a UserControl to wrap the buttons at the bottom, just so you can use the visual designer for part of the process. But Decorator would be a good way to glue the pieces together and allow for user-definable content.
Here's a link to a built-in control (HeaderedContentControl) that does the same thing as the accepted answer except that it is an existing control in WPF since .Net 3.0