Silverlight 4 - downloading data into tooltip w/ Bing Maps - c#

I'm adding a syndication (RSS) feed into a Bing maps application where the data is downloaded and populated on a mouse over event. The download is super fast but of course it has to be downloaded asynchronously meaning the user won't see the tooltip populated until the next time they mouse over that tool tip. I know that, for security reasons, I shouldn't necessarily be able to emulate a mouse-over event, but I know there are other things like this where there is a workaround (for example, if a user is logging in and enters their username and password - there's a workaround so that they can press 'ENTER' without the Login/Submit button having focus).
So first I'm wondering if there's a workaround and, if not...is there an easier way to do this than emulating a synchronous download via coroutines (worth noting: MVVM can not be used here due to the way the nature of the model - Also, each pin has its own tool tip rather than a single custom tool tip where the position would be determined on mouse over via MapLayer.SetPosition)
Thanks!

figured it out - just attach a boolean property on the mouse enter event and to make sure the mouse is still over the element providing the tool tip - on mouse enter set the mouse leave bool to false and the tool tip's IsOpen property to false. When the download has completed - bind your DataContext to the object with relevant data (or however you want to go about this) then, if mouse leave bool is still equal to false, set the IsOpen property = true

Related

Is it possible to disable a control but still receive events for that control?

In windows forms I have a simple TextBox:
TextBox textBox = new TextBox() { Text = "text" };
textBox.Enabled = false;
textBox.MouseEnter += (object sender, EventArgs e) =>
{
MessageBox.Show("MOUSE ENTERED"); // this never fires if the control is disabled.
};
I want to disable the users ability to interact with the control and I want the control to be styled as a disabled control. But I also want to receive MouseEnter,MouseLeave, and Click events from the control so that I can change the background cover of the control on hover and respond to clicks on the control.
But as I have just discovered if you disable a windows forms control it disabled the events as well. I know with some effort I can accomplish the same thing by checking mouse coordinates globally but it would be a lot nicer if I could just have it disabled but still receive events for it. Is that possible?
Enabled doesn't really do anything in Windows Forms itself. It is a property of windows controls in general that a disabled window doesn't receive input messages (such as mouse events and keyboard events). So no, there is no way for you to disable a control and still receive those messages. Windows just don't work that way on Windows. It's not the TextBox control filtering those messages away - they don't come in the first place.
TextBox is a great wrapper around a windows common control. When you do something like tbx.Text = "Hello";, the TextBox just sends a message to that common control, saying "change the text to Hello". If you want to change that, you need to make the control essentially from scratch. You can make some hack that reverts whatever the common control does as response to a mouse event, but these usually don't work very well and tend to break down in unexpected ways.
In practice, what you really want is probably to tweak either the way ReadOnly behaves (e.g. disabling focus as well as making the control read only, but that's again just a dirty hack), or replace the TextBox with a control that can either be a control or a label - allowing you to switch between the two. If you want the text box to stop behaving as a text box, stop it from being a text box. Problem solved :)
I'd still reconsider using ReadOnly, though. Are you sure the user would not want to select text in the text box and copy it somewhere else? Or change the reading order?

How to simulate keystroke in WPF, but outside the application?

Currently I used this snip code as a result from googling.
var eventArgs = new TextCompositionEventArgs(Keyboard.PrimaryDevice,
new TextComposition(InputManager.Current, Keyboard.FocusedElement, "A"));
eventArgs.RoutedEvent = TextInputEvent;
var flag = InputManager.Current.ProcessInput(eventArgs);
It was working if I used Keyboard.Focus(TxtBox); and the TxtBox will be filled with the Keystroke.
But what I want really achieved is:
1.Drawing a box (for example, I draw box on one of the excel cell)
2.Click on the box coordinate (to change Keyboard Focus)
3.Send Keystroke to clicked excel cell
I have done step 1 and 2.
But I can't find a way to do the third step.
Somehow, the click event (using mouse event) maybe not changing Keyboard Focus automatically.
So, how do I change Keyboard focus, if possible using coordinate ?
Or maybe can I get IInputElement from a coordinate ? and then set keyboard focus to it.
Of course, all of it outside from the main application window of the WPF.
Found it !
At:
Installed InputSimulator via NuGet, no members accessible
It is working in most cases.
I said in most cases, because it is able to type in other window like excel application, but on other custom app window. There might be a case it won't work.
Hope it help for other people, looking for the same thing.

Cannot read held state of key in WPF inside mouse event handler - Inconsistent behaviour in Windows guest on VMWare Fusion for Mac

This issue is caused by an inconsistent setting in vmware fusion - the secondary mouse function of MacOS (ie, right click) was being triggered by the control-left click, in spite of being configured in vmware fusion settings to send control through as a separate key.
I am leaving this here as it outlines the diagnostic steps taken to isolate the issue.
This behaviour might be present in other virtualisation solutions on MacOS.
This is not a duplicate - I have tried the approaches suggested - They Do Not Work. Genuine help is required please.
I am trying to implement a multiple select function in a WPF canvas, and need to be able to detect when either control key is held while clicking on an item.
I have already tried using the documented and accepted methods of getting the key (Keyboard.IsKeyDown and Keyboard.Modifiers) and although they are supposed to work, they do not in this case.
I cannot place a key handler in the main window of the application as this solution is implemented in a component, and as such, I do not have access to the main window.
I cannot create a keyboard OnKeyDown override, as it does not register the event. I do not know why this is, but suffice to say, I have tried all the methods I can find after an extensive search on Stack Overflow, and am currently out of ideas.
In the current logic, clicking an item in my canvas will clear any selected items already. If the control key is held, I will not clear selected items.
The structure of my application is as follows:
Main Window -> Dock Panel -> ScrollViewer -> Main Custom Component (extends Canvas) -> ChildCanvas objects (multiple instances, all also extend Canvas).
The component will not have any reference back to the main window - this is absolutely not negotiable.
The component must not require a reference to the main window to be passed in to it.
The component cannot rely on any logic, properties, methods or other functional code being placed in the MainWindow - it must be totally reusable.
Multiple instances of a custom object (ChildCanvas) which itself derives from Canvas are placed onto a base custom object (ExtendedCanvas) which also extends Canvas.
I am detecting the mouse click in a mouse event handler within my custom item.
Although I can in theory handle the key event and set a bool flag when the key goes down and clear it when the key goes up, this is not a reliable way to do things as it would require the focus to be on whichever component is handling the key.
All the examples I have looked at require a specific event handler for the key press, but I cannot apply that approach in this case as it simply does not seem to register the key press, even if the component where the event handler is implemented has focus at the time.
I would like to find a way to check if a key is held down in the mouse click handler if this is possible in WPF.
EDIT: I have tried using the Keyboard.Modifiers approach, but this returns no result.
EDIT: I have also tried Keyboard.IsKeyDown(Key.LeftCtrl), which does not return any values.
EDIT: I have tried to handle the key event globally by registering on the EventManager as shown. What I have found is that key up and key down events are triggered in quick succession. The first event has the property e.IsRepeat as false, and all subsequent event occurrences have e.IsRepeat set as true. Using these events, I have set a bool which is set to true in the first keyDown event is e.IsRepeat is false (the first initial key press), and set to false in the keyUp event if e.IsRepeat is false (the keyUp event fire when the key is physically released).
This does not work - clicking the item on the canvas when the key is held altered the state of the bool setting it to false.
This behaviour is totally inconsistent with what Microsoft document for the way the keyboard handling should work.
EventManager.RegisterClassHandler(typeof(Control),
Keyboard.KeyDownEvent,new KeyEventHandler(keyDown),true);
I can call Keyboard.IsKeyToggled(Key.LeftCtrl) which does show the toggled state, but it changes with every key press, and does not show me whether the key is held down at the time of the mouse click.
public class ExtendedCanvas:Canvas {
public ExtendedCanvas() {
MouseUp += thisMouseUp;
}
void thisMouseUp(object sender,MouseButtonEventArgs e) {
if ((Keyboard.Modifiers & ModifierKeys.Control) > 0) {
//This does not work - no key is registered, as for some reason, Keyboard.Modifiers does not register that the key is held.
}
//If CONTROL is held down
if (!ControlKeyHeldDown) {
ClearSelectedItems();
}
IsSelected = true;
}
}
The inconsistent behaviour is the result of a VMWare option.
This VM is being run on MacOS and in spite of VMWare Fusion being configured to send the Control key straight through, Control Click was still triggering the secondary mouse button (ie, right click in this case).
The solution is:
1) Shut down the VM.
2) In VMWare Fusion Preferences -> Keyboard And Mouse -> Mouse Shortcuts, ENABLE (Check) the "Secondary Button" option if it is not checked.
3) Close the preferences window to save the settings.
4) Close VMWare Fusion
5) Reboot the host system
6) In VMWare Fusion Preferences -> Keyboard And Mouse -> Mouse Shortcuts, DISABLE (UnCheck) the "Secondary Button" option.
7) Start the VM, and confirm that Control Click no longer triggers the secondary click.
This option had been configured to send Control straight through prior to upgrading VMWare Fusion from 8 to 10.
It appears that although the Secondary Function checkbox was unchecked, the property was set to true, and it was behaving inconsistently from the way the settings suggested it should.

limiting tabbing to a custom in-window message box

I have made a custom MessageBox for my application and it launches as a UserControl. I have two buttons inside it and I would like to allow users to press Tab to switch between Buttons. However, since it's a UserControl overlaying the content, Pressing tab more than twice makes the focus go in the background on elements that aren't supposed to be tabbed at.
I can't figure out a good idea how to prevent this, I've thought of making a method that will select all elements and make their IsTabStop values to false and then restore them later, but I think that would be more of a problem then a solution.
Is there a way around this to limit tabbing only to the UserControl?
I would also appreciate advice on working with the message box.. the whole messagebox is an async function that has an infinitive loop until the answer is given. Is there another way to stop the application until one of the message box options was selected?
Crowcoder's reference has lead to correct MSDN page where I found my solution:
dialog = new UCMessageBox("Are you sure you want to exit the application?", MBType.YesNo);
AppMessageBox.Children.Add(dialog);
KeyboardNavigation.SetTabNavigation(dialog, KeyboardNavigationMode.Cycle);
The key was to call .SetTabNavigation function and direct it to my dialog (custom UserControl for the message box) and setting the KeyboardNavigationMode to Cycle.
After closing the UC rest of the application continued normally regarding navigation.

Updating The .Text of the TrayNotifyIcon

I'm currently using the .Text of the TrayNotifyIcon to display a statusdisplay when the user has the mouse over it (for a percentual completion of a process)
Thus I just set: TrayNotifyIcon.Text to the appropriate % of completion.
Example (the following code is part of a code I use where I create a new thread which sets in the subprocess variable if it is completed or not and also how many % completion are. The code below shall display as the TrayNotifyIcon.Text how many % of the subprocess are completed with updates every second):
while (subprocess.NotCompleted)
{
TrayNotifyIcon.Text = "TextToUpdateTo....." + subprocess.percent.ToString() + "% completion";
Thread.Sleep(1000);
}
Now I've seen that it only updates the display whenever I move the mouse and does not update it as soon as I set .Text appropriately.
Thus my quesiton is is there any way to make it so that I can tell the system to update the text that is being displayed?
The system displays the hint text when the mouse is hovered over the notification icon. This text is not expected to be dynamic. The display of the text is handled by the system. When it wants to display the hint, it queries the icon for the text, and then displays it. It will not go back and check if the text has been changed, and there is no mechanism to inform the system that the text has been changed and should be updated. This is a feature of the shell (Shell_NotifyIcon) rather than anything in the .net libraries.
So, using TrayNotifyIcon in its vanilla form, there is nothing you can do to change this behaviour. If you really want dynamic update of hint text you will have to suppress the system drawn hint (by setting Text to an empty string) and drawing your own hint window. You'd need to detect the mouse hovering over the icon, and also detect when it leaves the icon.
Frankly, I don't think that this is really a very good piece of UX design. If I were you I would find a different way to let the user receive this feedback.

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