Develop Reference

Changing the Toolbox style in Windows re-hosted workflow designer

Using AvalonDock I created the ToolBoxControl and now I am planning to disable certain top level activities (want it visible just greyed out). I wanted to know the ways I can do it.
The image below, the activities circled in red, I want either to grey them out or change font colour. This way I can differentiate the users using the software.
The code used for this in XAML is
<xcad:DockingManager Grid.Row="1"
AllowMixedOrientation="True"
BorderBrush="Black"
BorderThickness="1">
<xcad:LayoutRoot x:Name="LayoutRoot">
<xcad:LayoutPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<xcad:LayoutAnchorablePane DockWidth="200">
<xcad:LayoutAnchorable Title="Toolbox" CanClose="False" CanFloat="False" CanHide="False" ContentId="toolbox" x:Name="CtrlToolbox">
</xcad:LayoutAnchorable>
<xcad:LayoutAnchorable Title="Outline" CanClose="False" CanFloat="False" CanHide="False" ContentId="outline" x:Name="CtrlOutline">
</xcad:LayoutAnchorable>
</xcad:LayoutAnchorablePane>
The .cs version of this is :
private void AddToolBox()
{
ToolboxControl tc = GetToolboxControl(); //CreateToolboxControls();
CtrlToolbox.Content = tc;
}
private ToolboxControl GetToolboxControl()
{
// Create the ToolBoxControl.
ToolboxControl ctrl = new ToolboxControl();
ToolboxCategory categoryFlowChart = new ToolboxCategory("Flow Chart");
ToolboxCategory categoryStateMachine = new ToolboxCategory("State Machine");
ToolboxCategory categoryExport = new ToolboxCategory("File System");
ToolboxCategory categoryWindowsApp = new ToolboxCategory("Windows App");
ToolboxCategory categorySSH = new ToolboxCategory("SSH");
ToolboxCategory categoryVBScript = new ToolboxCategory("VB Script");
ToolboxCategory categoryCommunication = new ToolboxCategory("Communication");
ToolboxCategory categoryDatabase = new ToolboxCategory("Database");
// Add the category to the ToolBox control.
ctrl.Categories.Add(categoryFlowChart);
ctrl.Categories.Add(categoryDatabase);
ctrl.Categories.Add(categoryStateMachine);
ctrl.Categories.Add(categoryWindowsApp);
ctrl.Categories.Add(categorySSH);
ctrl.Categories.Add(categoryCommunication);
ctrl.Categories.Add(categoryVBScript);
return ctrl
}
Any other information I need to provide please let me know. Just need to be able to disable the top level activity.

Take a look at this example, its not exactly what your after. But it explains how to customize the ToolboxControl style and alter the icons. The idea can be applied to alter the style of the ToolboxItems to your own means. (review step 3 specifically). If you need further assistance I can work on an example.

Stackpanel "breaks" and has black background when the content is side is too much

I have the follow XAML:
<ContentControl HorizontalAlignment="Left" HorizontalContentAlignment="Left" Content="{Binding TotalReviewWordBlock}" Width="465" Margin="5,10,0,5" Foreground="#FF2D2D2D" Background="White"/>
and its binded to the following property:-
public StackPanel TotalReviewWordBlock
{
get
{
StackPanel st = new StackPanel();
st.Orientation = Orientation.Horizontal;
st.Background = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.White);
Paragraph pgf = new Paragraph();
Run r = new Run();
r.Text = App.Convert("Blah ");
r.FontWeight = FontWeights.Bold;
r.Foreground = new SolidColorBrush(CommonLib.rgbFromHexString("#FF2D2D2D"));
pgf.Inlines.Add(r);
int Rating = (int)(this.userrating * 2);
string ratingReplacement;
(some more code in the property itself...)
Run run = new Run();
run.Text = " " + this.myText;
run.Foreground = new SolidColorBrush(CommonLib.rgbFromHexString("#FF2D2D2D"));
pgf.Inlines.Add(run);
RichTextBox rtb = new RichTextBox();
rtb.TextWrapping = TextWrapping.Wrap;
rtb.Width = 450;
rtb.Blocks.Add(pgf);
st.Children.Add(rtb);
st.Background = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.White);
return st;
}
}
The problem is when the text is too much(say more that a 1000 character), or the height of the stackpanel is a lot, Its background becomes black. Its as if the stackpanel breaks) I noticed this earlier but at that time it was in a listbox and had multiple items to i simply made the width of each item 480, used blank grids instead of margins and it was "covered". But this time its just one big chunk of text(in a Paragraph). Let me know if you need ay other info. Please help!!

I worked around a similar "black stackpanel" problem by splitting the text into paragraphs to form a List<String>. And then that list of strings would be the ItemsSource of a ListBox.
So instead of a very large StackPanel, I ended up with a long ListBox.
I also prevented user interaction in the ListBox and vertical scroll by using IsHitTestVisible="False" and ScrollViewer.VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Disabled"
So, the ListBoxended up as follows:
<ListBox x:Name="listBox" IsHitTestVisible="False" ScrollViewer.VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Disabled">
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<Border Background="White">
<TextBlock TextWrapping="Wrap" Text="{Binding}"/>
</Border>
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>
And in code behind:
textSplitInParagraphs = new List<String>();
// add paragraphs to the list...
listBox.ItemsSource = textSplitInParagraphs;
Don't know if it is the correct workaround, but I helped me, after some time of banging my head against the table.
Hope this helps.

How to set Image Source in C# to XAML Static Resource programmatically?

I have this ResourceDictionary in Main.xaml:
<Window.Resources>
<ResourceDictionary>
<BitmapImage x:Key="Customer" UriSource="Icons/customer.png"/>
<BitmapImage x:Key="Project" UriSource="Icons/project.png"/>
<BitmapImage x:Key="Task" UriSource="Icons/task.png"/>
</ResourceDictionary>
</Window.Resources>
I initially set the image using:
<Image Name="TypeIcon" HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Center"
Source="{StaticResource Customer}" Height="16" Width="16"/>
I'm trying to change TypeIcon's Source from Customer to Project in a C# method.
I've tried using:
TypeIcon.Source = "{StaticResource Project}";
But I get this error:
Cannot implicitly convert type string to System.Windows.Media.ImageSource
I've tried defining the image using new ImageSource(), but this doesn't work either.
How can I change the image's Source programmatically in C#?

After much Googling, whilst writing this question, I figured out how to do it:
TypeIcon.Source = (ImageSource) Resources["Project"];

It is not for static resources but perhaps will be useful anyway... :)
i.e. how to set background for Grid dynamically
var myBrush = new ImageBrush();
var image = new Image
{
Source = new BitmapImage(
new Uri(
"pack://application:,,,/YourAppName;component/Images/Boo.png"))
};
myBrush.ImageSource = image.Source;
MainGrid.Background = myBrush;
i.e. how to set icon of the app dynamically
var idleIco = new Image
{
Source = new BitmapImage(
new Uri(
"pack://application:,,,/YourAppName;component/Images/idle.ico"))
};
SomeObjectYouAreUsingToSet.IconSource =idleIco.Source;

You can use the ImageSourceConverter class to get what you want, for example:
img1.Source = (ImageSource)new ImageSourceConverter().ConvertFromString("/Assets/check.png");

adding an image to a label in wpf?

I am currently developing an application in C# using WPF. What I need to be able to do is on a label make their be an image to the left of the text of the label a small image of an X or a small image of a tick depending on the circumstances. I have got the images included in the project in a folder named images.
How can I assign the images to be placed on the left of the label programatically in the code and not using the XAML code.

You can either group this inside a grid:
<Grid>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="*" />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Image Grid.Column="0" Source="{Binding ImageSourceProperty}" />
<Label Grid.Column="1" Content="{Binding LabelTextProperty}" />
</Grid>
Or, since the label is a content control, you can simply put the image control inside a label control:
<Label>
<Image Source="{Binding ImageSourceProperty}" />
My Text
</Label>
Once you know how the xaml should look like, it is very easy to create the same elements via code.

Since you want this in code behind and not within XAML I would suggest ditching the Label and using a StackPanel coupled with an Image and TextBlock as seen below where MyGrid could be any container...
<Grid Name="MyGrid"/>
...then in your code behind...
StackPanel myStackPanel = new StackPanel();
myStackPanel.Orientation = Orientation.Horizontal;
Image myImage = new Image();
BitmapImage myImageSource = new BitmapImage();
myImageSource.BeginInit();
myImageSource.UriSource = new Uri("Images/MyImage.png");
myImageSource.EndInit();
myImage.Source = myImageSource;
TextBlock myTextBlock = new TextBlock();
myTextBlock.Text = "This is my image";
myStackPanel.Children.Add(myImage);
myStackPanel.Children.Add(myTextBlock);
MyGrid.Children.Add(myStackPanel);

I don't agree with the two other answers here. There is no need for a grid to be added to wrap the content. The stackpanel is sufficient.
In the xaml add a stackpanel to where you need the content to be.
<StackPanel Name="myStack" Orientation="Horizontal"></StackPanel>
Then in the code behind, like in a button handler or when the window loads add this
Image coolPic = new Image() {
Name="pic",
Source = new BitmapImage(new Uri("pack://application:,,,/images/cool.png")),
Stretch = Stretch.None // this preserves the original size, fill would fill
};
TextBlock text = new TextBlock() {
Name = "myText",
Text = "This is my cool Pic"
};
myStack.Children.Add(coolPic); // adding the pic first places it on the left
myStack.Children.Add(text); // the text would show up to the right
You can swap the location of the image and the text by adding the text first then the image.
If you don't see the image ensure the image's build action is set to resource in the properties window of the image.
In order for the code to be more useful and or more dynamic you would need a way to change either the text or the image.
So lets say you did want to change those and you go ahead and do a
((TextBlock)FindName("myText")).Text = "my other cool pic";
You would expect the text to be changed but what happens?
Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
Drats but I gave it a name. You would need to add
// register the new control
RegisterName(text.Name, text);
So that you can access the textblock later. This is needed because you added the control to the framework after it was built and displayed. So the final code looks like this after registering the image too
Image coolPic = new Image() {
Name="pic",
Source = new BitmapImage(new Uri("pack://application:,,,/images/cool.png")),
Stretch = Stretch.None // this preserves the original size, fill would fill
};
// register the new control
RegisterName(coolPic.Name, coolPic);
TextBlock text = new TextBlock() {
Name = "myText",
Text = "This is my cool Pic"
};
// register the new control
RegisterName(text.Name, text);
myStack.Children.Add(coolPic);
myStack.Children.Add(text);

Need to add text to rectangle

I am creating Dynamic Rectangle and adding into StackPanel. I need to add text to each rectangle. How can I do that?

A Rectangle doesn't have any child content, so you will need to put both controls inside of another panel, such as a grid:
<Grid>
<Rectangle Stroke="Red" Fill="Blue"/>
<TextBlock>some text</TextBlock>
</Grid>
You can also use a Border control, which will take a single child and draw a rectangle around it:
<Border BorderBrush="Red" BorderThickness="1" Background="Blue">
<TextBlock>some text</TextBlock>
</Border>
You say "dynamic rectangle", so it sounds like you are doing this in code. The equivalent C# would look something like this:
var grid = new Grid();
grid.Children.Add(new Rectangle() { Stroke = Brushes.Red, Fill = Brushes.Blue });
grid.Children.Add(new TextBlock() { Text = "some text" });
panel.Children.Add(grid);
// or
panel.Children.Add(new Border()
{
BorderBrush = Brushes.Red,
BorderThickness = new Thickness(1),
Background = Brushes.Blue,
Child = new TextBlock() { Text = "some text" },
});
But if you want a dynamic list of rectangles, you should probably use an ItemsControl:
<ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding}">
<ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<Border BorderBrush="Red" BorderThickness="1" Background="Blue">
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Text}"/>
</Border>
</DataTemplate>
</ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
</ItemsControl>
If you set the DataContext to a list of objects, this XAML will create a Border with a TextBlock for each one with the text set to the Text property on the object.

First of all you can do this, but not by adding the control. And there is a very good reason to do this, for high speed hardware rendering. You can create a special brush from a UI element that caches itself in hardware and fill the rectangle with this hardware, and it is extremely fast. I will just show the code behind because it is the example I have offhand
Rectangle r = new Rectangle();
r.Stroke = Brushes.Blue;
r.StrokeThickness = 5;
r.SetValue(Grid.ColumnProperty, 1);
r.VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment.Top;
r.HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Left;
r.Margin = new Thickness(0);
r.Width = 200;
r.Height = 200;
r.RenderTransform = new TranslateTransform(100, 100);
TextBlock TB = new TextBlock();
TB.Text = "Some Text to fill";
// The next two magical lines create a special brush that contains a bitmap
// rendering of the UI element that can then be used like any other brush
// and it's in hardware and is almost the text book example for utilizing
// all hardware rending performances in WPF unleashed 4.5
BitmapCacheBrush bcb = new BitmapCacheBrush(TB);
r.Fill = bcb;
MyCanvas.Children.Add(r);

You need to add a textual control to your StackPanel, such as Label or TextBlock.