Prevent window from spanning multiple monitors - c#

Is there any simple way to prevent WPF windows from spanning multiple monitors in a dual-monitor setup? With "simple" I mean without writing code-behind that measures the monitor size and assigns a width to the Window.
I would prefer if a window uses only the part available on the current monitor (where "current" means the monitor with the currently focused window). It is OK if the user resizes the window such that it covers both monitors, but at the time when the window opens it shall stay on a single monitor.
Here is an example:
MainWindow.xaml:
<Window x:Class="MultiMonitorTest.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525">
<Grid>
<Button Content="Open Window"
Height="70"
HorizontalAlignment="Left"
Margin="165,147,0,0"
Name="button1"
VerticalAlignment="Top"
Width="179"
Click="button1_Click" />
</Grid>
</Window>
MainWIndow.xaml.cs:
using System.Windows;
namespace MultiMonitorTest
{
public partial class MainWindow : Window
{
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
Window2 win = new Window2();
win.ShowDialog();
}
}
}
Window2.xaml:
<Window x:Class="MultiMonitorTest.Window2"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="Window2"
SizeToContent="WidthAndHeight">
<Grid>
<TextBox x:Name="txt"
Margin="10"
Background="LightPink"
AcceptsTab="True"
AcceptsReturn="True"
TextWrapping="Wrap"/>
</Grid>
</Window>
Window2.xaml.cs:
using System.Windows;
namespace MultiMonitorTest
{
public partial class Window2 : Window
{
public Window2()
{
InitializeComponent();
txt.Text = new string('x', 1000);
}
}
}
When clicking the "Open window" button, the new window opens across two monitors. I would prefer if Window2 stayed completely within the current monitor.

Well, you could use the same width, height (and perhaps position) as the parent window on the second one. Without additional code, I don't think you can really force the window to span across two monitors. You can however, with limited code start it on one instead of two.
WindowStartupLocation = System.Windows.WindowStartupLocation.CenterScreen; // in your Window Xaml
//and combine with
Rectangle workingArea = System.Windows.Forms.Screen.PrimaryScreen.WorkingArea; // Reference System.Windows.Forms and set left, top, width and height accordingly.
This is the best you can do I think without having to write 'large amounts' of code (this will center it to the working area of the primary screen). If you really want to limit your window to span across multiple monitors is of course possible, but requires some work.
A good starting point would be the WindowInteropHelper class.

Related

WPF C# user control with 2 or more buttons

Sorry if this has been asked before and I have spent about a week trying to find a similar question to point me in the right direction. I am teaching myself C# with WPF, XAML etc and am playing around with user controls. I made a simple app with a user control to load on top of other windows or user controls. The UC in question has two buttons and I need to get to the click events for each button in main window once the control is loaded. The main window has a button that loads the control.
Through some research I was able to find a solution from user SWilko (https://stackoverflow.com/a/28949666/10659981) but I can't figure it out for each button separately (click button a and show "clicked btn a", click button b and show "clicked button b"). I did try calling by sender using name and that will not work either. I feel like I am close with the help from the answer by SWilko but stuck.
Here is the code so far:
Basic main screen loading user control
<Window x:Class="UCBTN_TEST.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
xmlns:local="clr-namespace:UCBTN_TEST"
mc:Ignorable="d"
Title="MainWindow" Height="450" Width="435">
<Grid>
<Button Content="Load Button" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="18,23,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="74" Click="Button_Click"/>
<Grid x:Name="GridLoad" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="300" Margin="120,23,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="300" Background="#FFF1CBCB"/>
</Grid>
</Window>
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Data;
using System.Windows.Documents;
using System.Windows.Input;
using System.Windows.Media;
using System.Windows.Media.Imaging;
using System.Windows.Navigation;
using System.Windows.Shapes;
namespace UCBTN_TEST
{
/// <summary>
/// Interaction logic for MainWindow.xaml
/// </summary>
public partial class MainWindow : Window
{
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void Button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
GridLoad.Children.Clear();
GridLoad.Children.Add(new WindowControl());
}
}
}
The button user control
<UserControl x:Name="UCMain" x:Class="UCBTN_TEST.Controls.ButtonControl"
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:local="clr-namespace:UCBTN_TEST.Controls"
mc:Ignorable="d" d:DesignWidth="300" Height="40.333">
<Grid Background="#FFE7EEA7">
<Button x:Name="ButtonA" Content="Button A" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="10,10,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="75" Click="ButtonA_Click" Background="Red"/>
<Button x:Name="ButtonB" Content="Button B" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="215,10,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="75" Click="ButtonA_Click" Background="Green"/>
</Grid>
</UserControl>
using System.Windows.Media.Imaging;
using System.Windows.Navigation;
using System.Windows.Shapes;
namespace UCBTN_TEST.Controls
{
/// <summary>
/// Interaction logic for ButtonControl.xaml
/// </summary>
public partial class ButtonControl : UserControl
{
public ButtonControl()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void ButtonA_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
RaiseEvent(new RoutedEventArgs(ClickEvent1, this));
}
public static readonly RoutedEvent ClickEvent1 = EventManager.RegisterRoutedEvent("Click", RoutingStrategy.Bubble, typeof(RoutedEventHandler), typeof(ButtonControl));
public event RoutedEventHandler Click
{
add { AddHandler(ClickEvent1, value); }
remove { RemoveHandler(ClickEvent1, value); }
}
}
}
A second user control which would ultimately have some other controls once the buttons work correctly. But the button UC will load on top, simple button features related to WindowControl.
<UserControl
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:local="clr-namespace:UCBTN_TEST"
xmlns:Controls="clr-namespace:UCBTN_TEST.Controls" x:Class="UCBTN_TEST.WindowControl"
mc:Ignorable="d"
d:DesignHeight="300" d:DesignWidth="300">
<Grid Background="#FFE7CFEE">
<Controls:ButtonControl HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="37" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="300" Click="Click1"/>
</Grid>
</UserControl>
I understand the behind code and why this is happening. My problem is that I need to have the buttons be unique in their events. I have tried calling by sender and name and that just kills the event all together.
using System.Windows.Media;
using System.Windows.Media.Imaging;
using System.Windows.Navigation;
using System.Windows.Shapes;
using UCBTN_TEST.Controls;
namespace UCBTN_TEST
{
/// <summary>
/// Interaction logic for WindowControl.xaml
/// </summary>
public partial class WindowControl : UserControl
{
public WindowControl()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void Click1(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
MessageBox.Show("This triggers both");
}
}
}
I was going to add a bunch of comments but really this is kind of answering the question and there's a lot to explain.
You should look into MVVM and mostly be thinking in terms of binding commands rather than which button was clicked. There are exceptions to this. For example, if you were building an on screen keyboard. The reason this is different because it's purpose can be encapsulated. The user presses a button which has "A" in it. Whatever textbox is focussed should be sent the character "A". They press a button showing "B" and similarly "B" should be sent. That functionality can be encapsulated in the control.
As it is, you have two buttons.
You put them in a usercontrol and encapsulate them.
By doing this you created a boundary.
This then creates a complication - which was clicked?
The usercontrol is also not particularly re-use friendly. If you add two then there are two buttonA and two button B. You could potentially improve that with a custom event args on your custom routed event and a dependency property on your usercontrol. Pass some usercontrol identifier along with which button was pressed.
This would be an unusual way to work though. I've rarely seen Custom routed events used in commercial apps.
All in all I would suggest the usercontrol mainly adds complexity.
Say you wanted to have 20 sets of 2 buttons.
Or 20 sets of 5 radiobuttons for a set of multiple choice questions.
The way to do that sort of thing is to use an itemscontrol and template out the multiple controls. One template giving 2 buttons ( or a textblock question and 5 radiobuttons for answers ) per row.
A click event is already a routed event and would bubble to the window. You may as well remove your custom routed event and the handler out the usercontrol... and the usercontrol. Just handle click in the window.
Code:
public partial class MainWindow : Window
{
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void Button_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
var btn = e.OriginalSource as Button;
if(btn == null)
{
return;
}
MessageBox.Show($"Button clicked was {btn.Tag}");
}
Markup:
ButtonBase.Click="Button_Click"
Title="MainWindow"
>
<Grid>
<StackPanel>
<Button x:Name="ButtonA" Content="Button A" Tag="A" Background="Red"/>
<Button x:Name="ButtonB" Content="Button B" Tag="B" Background="Green"/>
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
</Window>

Setting WindowStyle and AllowTransparency in usercontrol

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
}

Textbox created in WPF is not editable at run time

I am creating a WPF Window in which I have text boxes. However, when I run the project in Debug mode, (F5), I am not able to edit the text boxes that I created, nor am I able to choose from the listbox that I created. I googled, found that WPF and Win32 need to communicate to accept keyboard input, and got these 3 lines :
Window w = new Window1();
System.Windows.Forms.Integration.ElementHost.EnableModelessKeyboardInterop(w);
w.Show();
However, I am new to C# and hence I have absolutely no idea where to insert this C# code. I added the System.Windows.Forms and WindowsFormIntegration references to my project.
The window I am designing will be the first window that will appear at the launch of the application, hence I need the textboxes in this window to be editable without launching another window. Kindly guide me.
Edit : This is my XAML code:
<Window x:Name="Window1" x:Class="Myproject.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" Title="Risk Assessment"
Height="741" Width="1216.091">
<GroupBox x:Name="GroupBox1">
<Grid>
<TextBox x:Name="Length" IsReadOnly ="False" IsEnabled="True" />
</Grid>
</GroupBox>
</Window>
This is my C# code:
namespace Myproject
{
public partial class MainWindow : Window
{
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
}
}
Edit 2: I modified the first line in the App.Xaml code like this :
<Application x:Class="Myproject.App"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Startup="Application_Startup">
And in the App.Xaml.cs I added this snippet:
private void Application_Startup(object sender, StartupEventArgs e)
{
MainWindow win = new MainWindow();
ElementHost.EnableModelessKeyboardInterop(win);
win.Show();
System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.Run();
}
But still no luck. Where am I going wrong?
Try to change your Application.xaml to include the StartupUri:
<Application x:Class="Myproject.App"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
StartupUri="Window1.xaml"
>
Remove all the startup code you had in the cs file.
Or
Change your cs code to this:
Window1 window1 = new Window1();
this.ShutdownMode = ShutdownMode.OnMainWindowClose;
this.MainWindow = window1;

Grid column size is not recalculated properly when restoring a maximized window

I am trying to implement a kind of single-line tab control in WPF which shows scroll buttons left and right of the area containing the tabs. The tabs are implemented inside a custom control. The scroll buttons shall be displayed only if the window is too small to display all tabs.
When the window is resized by dragging on its borders, everything works as expected.
But when the window is maximimized and then restored, then the right scroll button remains hidden.
The problem seems to appear only if the Visibility property of the right scroll button is data-bound to a dependency property of the custom control that is updated within the custom control's Measure pass.
My question is: am I using WPF correctly here, or is there something that needs to be done in a different way? (Please note: I need to use the data-binding and the custom control; therefore please avoid answers that suggest to take a completely different approach.)
Here is a small sample program which illustrates the problem:
When width is small:
When width is large:
These are the files of the sample program:
MainWindow.xaml:
<Window x:Class="GridTest.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:gridTest="clr-namespace:GridTest"
Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525">
<Grid x:Name="theGrid">
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="Auto"/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="Auto"/>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
<RowDefinition Height="*"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Button x:Name="btnScrollLeft" Content="<" Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="0" Width="30"/>
<gridTest:MyCustomControl x:Name="cust" Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="1"/>
<Button x:Name="btnScrollRight" Content=">" Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="2" Width="30"
Visibility="{Binding ElementName=cust, Path=ShowButton}"/>
<TextBox Text="The content goes here..." Grid.Row="1" Grid.ColumnSpan="3"
Background="LightGreen" HorizontalContentAlignment="Center" VerticalContentAlignment="Center"/>
<Button x:Name="btnRedraw" Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="1" Content="Redraw" VerticalAlignment="Bottom"
HorizontalAlignment="Center" Click="btnRedraw_Click" />
</Grid>
</Window>
MainWindow.xaml.cs:
using System.Windows;
namespace GridTest
{
/// <summary>
/// Interaction logic for MainWindow.xaml
/// </summary>
public partial class MainWindow : Window
{
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void btnRedraw_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
theGrid.InvalidateMeasure();
}
}
}
MyCustomControl.cs:
using System;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
namespace GridTest
{
public class MyCustomControl : Control
{
static MyCustomControl()
{
DefaultStyleKeyProperty.OverrideMetadata(typeof(MyCustomControl), new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(typeof(MyCustomControl)));
}
public Visibility ShowButton
{
get { return (Visibility)GetValue(ShowButtonProperty); }
set { SetValue(ShowButtonProperty, value); }
}
// Using a DependencyProperty as the backing store for ShowButton. This enables animation, styling, binding, etc...
public static readonly DependencyProperty ShowButtonProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register("ShowButton", typeof(Visibility), typeof(MyCustomControl), new UIPropertyMetadata(Visibility.Visible));
protected override Size MeasureOverride(Size constraint)
{
if (constraint.Width > 800)
{
ShowButton = Visibility.Collapsed;
}
else
{
ShowButton = Visibility.Visible;
}
double width = Math.Min(2000.0, constraint.Width);
double height = Math.Min(50.0, constraint.Height);
return new Size(width, height);
}
}
}
Generic.xaml:
<ResourceDictionary
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:local="clr-namespace:GridTest">
<Style TargetType="{x:Type local:MyCustomControl}">
<Setter Property="Template">
<Setter.Value>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type local:MyCustomControl}">
<Border Background="LightCyan">
<TextBlock VerticalAlignment="Center" TextAlignment="Center">Custom Control</TextBlock>
</Border>
</ControlTemplate>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
</Style>
</ResourceDictionary>
The problem can be reproduced as follows:
Make sure that the window is small, such that the right scroll button is visible.
Now maximize the window. => The right scroll button should become invisible.
Now restore the window to its original size. => The right scroll button should become visible again. (The problem is: the right scroll button remains invisible.)
EDIT: Just for information: I could reproduce the problem with both VS2010+.NET4.0 and VS2013+.NET4.51.
You need to dispatch your ShowButton visibility change back into the dispatch queue for this to work(give the application the time it needs for the render and in sequence) rather than do it directly in the MeasureOverride method.
So say I change your MeasureOverride to
protected override Size MeasureOverride(Size constraint) {
if (constraint.Width > 800) {
Application.Current.Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(
new Action(() => ShowButton = Visibility.Collapsed));
} else {
Application.Current.Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(
new Action(() => ShowButton = Visibility.Visible));
}
double width = Math.Min(2000.0, constraint.Width);
double height = Math.Min(50.0, constraint.Height);
return new Size(width, height);
}
You can see it works fine.
With the original code you posted, you can see that even when you maximize your Window, the Button on the right will be hidden but not actually Collapsed like that your setting it to, that would be again due to the same reason of the control not getting it's new size.
Also after restoring and having the Button remain hidden, if you re-size the Window by dragging it's size, you can see the button become Visible again.
By dispatching the Visibility change, if you have a break-point in your MeasureOverride function, you can see it gets called twice(once for Window size change and second size change due to Button being Hidden/Shown) essentially when maximizing/restoring the Window and thereby produce the correct dimension calculations and your desired output.
Having worked with some custom Panels before, I seem to remember that the value passed into the MeasureOverride method is not the actual size used... try moving that code to the ArrangeOverride method instead and see what happens.

ShowDialog in WPF

When I make two calls for ShowDialog in WPF the first window open normally, after closing it the second one doesn't appear.
<Application
x:Class="Test.App"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Startup="App_OnStartup">
</Application>
private void App_OnStartup(object sender, StartupEventArgs e)
{
var windowA = new WindowA();
windowA.ShowDialog();
var windowB = new WindowB();
windowB.ShowDialog();
}
WindowA:
<Window x:Class="Test.WindowA"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="WindowA" Height="129.452" Width="313.356">
<Grid>
<Button Content="Button" HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="75" Margin="139,54,0,0"/>
</Grid>
</Window>
public partial class WindowA : Window
{
public WindowA()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
}
WindowB:
<Window x:Class="Test.WindowB"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="WindowB" Height="221.918" Width="300">
<Grid>
<RadioButton Content="RadioButton" HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Top" Margin="124,63,0,0"/>
</Grid>
</Window>
public partial class WindowB : Window
{
public WindowB()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
}
In WPF you can specify when application shuts down and by default Application.ShutdownMode is OnLastWindowClose which means that when last Window is closed applications shuts down and in your case first Window is also last. When you open and close first Window your application shuts down and that's why you don't see second Window. You would need to change ShutdownMode to OnExplicitShutdown
<Application ... ShutdownMode="OnExplicitShutdown"/>
but this means that even when you close all your windows application is still running so you have to explicitly call Application.Shutdown() to shutdown your application, for example when main window is closed.
ShowDialog() function invokes the window modally. Which means code after windowA.ShowDialog(); will not execute until that window is closed.

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