In Winforms we have Show(IWin32Window owner) method to Show a form based on the owner handle passed to the Show method.
I want to have similar behavior in WPF Window. But WPF window doesn't have Show method which accepts an owner handle.
Another alternative which I found is by setting window.Owner to the owner window and then use window.Show(). But by doing this we can assign only a WPF window as the owner.
In my case the owner can be a winform or a WPF window. How can we achieve this?
Setting the Owner property of the window is the correct way of creating a relationship between two WPF windows (as per Remarks section of the Window.Owner property MSDN page).
However, if you want to set the owner to a Winforms Form, you have to use WindowInteropHelper class:
WindowInteropHelper helper = new WindowInteropHelper(wpfWindow);
helper.Owner = form.Handle;
Related
I have the following C# code in a WPF project:
private static void RunConfig(string owner)
{
long ownerHandle;
var settingsWindow = new SettingsWindow();
if (long.TryParse(owner, out ownerHandle))
{
WindowInteropHelper helper = new WindowInteropHelper(settingsWindow);
helper.Owner = new IntPtr(ownerHandle);
}
settingsWindow.ShowDialog();
}
The SettingsWindow isn't properly modal to the owner window (i.e. I can focus on, interact with, and even close the owner window while the SettingsWindow is still open). What am I doing wrong?
For context, this code is part of a screen saver program, and the owner window is the Control Panel screen saver selection window (which passes in the handle to use as owner via command line parameter). I know the IF statement is evaluating true and correctly parsing the handle.
I have also tried using the SetWindowLongPtr method from user32.dll (compiling for x64, hence not using SetWindowLong) which is briefly described here and shown in use here. This method works in WinForms, but doesn't seem to work here in WPF. Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope.
It turns out that using WindowInteropHelper to set the native window as owner of the WPF Window does work, it just doesn't do the whole job. When set this way, the WPF Window will remain visible on top of the native window, even if the native window has focus. However, that is the only effect obtained. The WPF Window does not prevent interaction with the native Window, and the native window can even be closed, without the WPF Window closing or being affected.
In order to get the rest of the desired behaviour, we need to use the EnableWindow function in user32.dll to disable the native Window before calling ShowDialog on the WPF Window, and again to re-enable it once the WPF Window closes.
The modified code looks like this:
private static void RunConfig(string owner)
{
long ownerHandle;
var settingsForm = new SettingsWindow();
if (long.TryParse(owner, out ownerHandle))
{
WindowInteropHelper helper = new WindowInteropHelper(settingsForm);
helper.Owner = new IntPtr(ownerHandle);
NativeMethods.EnableWindow(helper.Owner, false);
settingsForm.ShowDialog();
NativeMethods.EnableWindow(helper.Owner, true);
}
else
{
settingsForm.ShowDialog();
}
}
(Note: The above code is correct in general, but incomplete in the case of screen savers, which is what this code is actually being used for. In the case that this code is being used for the config window of a screen saver, the string passed in for the owner handle is not the handle of the Control Panel window to be used as owner, but rather a handle for a control that is a child of the Control Panel window. The extra step in this case is to get the handle of the parent of that control. We can do this by calling GetParent, also in user32.dll, on the passed-in handle. This will return the real handle we want to use for the owner and EnableWindow calls.)
If anyone from Microsoft ever finds this, maybe consider modifying WindowInteropHelper to properly set all of this up when Owner is assigned and ShowDialog used, since this is the proper complete behavior for modal windows.
I have a win form application with a MDI Form.
for some reason i used a WPF Window in my application.
so i want to ask how can i set WPF window parent to my MDI Form?
The following code should give you the ability to set the owner of the wpf dialog to your win form.
public static void SetOwner(System.Windows.Forms.Form owner, System.Windows.Window wpfWindow)
{
WindowInteropHelper helper = new WindowInteropHelper(wpfWindow);
helper.Owner = owner.Handle;
}
There is an open-source MDI implementation for WPF that you might want to look at. It may be a good bit of work and re-structuring of your code, but if you absolutely must have MDI, then that may be the best way to go forward with this - MDI for WPF.
How to use WPF window as a messagebox? here is how I was able to get messagebox. Now I want it to return back certain value in the userControl. Any help?
as #SLaks says, use the DialogReslult... if that is not enough and you are using an MVVM model, then you could use your data model: set the DataContext of the child window to your data model instance then you can bind the contorls in your child window to any data member on your model--typically you would set the DataContext to the DataContext of the parent window...
protected popMyWindow()
{
MyChildWindow cw = new MyChildWindow();
cw.DataContext = this.DataContext();
// show the window...
}
Set the window's DialogResult in the window itself before closing.
The value you set will be returned by ShowDialog()
If you want to return more than a bool?, create a wrapper method that calls ShowDialog() and returns whatever you want.
The WPF solution for these problems is the 'Page Function'.
PageFunction is a new term defined in WPF. It enables the user to navigate to a specific page and perform a task, then navigate back to the caller page with the result. It behaves just like Modal Dialogbox with the difference that PageFunction won’t be displayed as s pop-up, instead it is displayed in the same page as the caller.
Source: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/marthami/archive/2007/10/02/how-to-use-pagefunction-to-create-dialog-behavior-in-wpf.aspx
It differs from the pattern of wrapping the ShowDialog in that the page is navigated to, and more importantly, it is already strongly typed within the WPF plumbing and does not require you to develop a new class to do the same thing.
There is an explanatory StackOverflow thread here...
WPF - PageFunctions. Why are they needed?
In WPF we have Window.ShowDialog() which allows showing a modal dialog box.
In WinForms there is similar functionality but it also has an overload Form.ShowDialog(IWin32Window) which allows an IWin32Window owner to be passed in. That way the new dialog is not modal, and always maintains a z-order directly above its owner.
How would I get this same functionality using WPF?
Use the Owner property on a Window.
To expand on #Jonathan.Peppers's answer:
Say you had a Window you named FooWindow, and in BarWindow.cs you wanted to create and execute an instance. You can create a modal version of FooWindow as simple as this:
new FooWindow(){ Owner = this }.ShowDialog();
That would assume you didn't need a reference to you instance, obviously, but you get the idea?
I'm trying to create a custom MessageBox by using a WPF Window that is called with ShowDialog().
So far, I've managed to implement everything, except for one thing.
As you know, when you use MessageBox.Show("text"); you cannot set the focus or click the parent window (the one that called the MessageBox). If you do try to click the parent window, the MessageBox will blink briefly in order to alert you that you must close if first.
Windows created with Window.ShowDialog();, however, do not show that behavior. In fact, while you cannot set the focus to the parent window, the child (called with ShowDialog()) will never blink briefly.
My question is, is there any way to implement that in WPF? I've been searching for an answer but I must admit, I am stumped.
Thanks everyone!
You need to set the Owner of the modal window correctly, e.g. using the following code from within the owning window:
Window win = new SomeModalWindow();
win.Owner = this;
win.ShowDialog();
You would have to set Owner property of the child Window to the parent Window. See the MSDN Documentation here.