Develop Reference

How to pass reference of a xaml element with event triggered by another element?

I have a list of devices and in that list user will select which COM port represents which device, each device has its own StackPanel shown below:
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" Margin="5">
<TextBlock Width="140" Text="IMT" VerticalAlignment="Center"/>
<ComboBox Width="250" Margin="0,0,40,0" x:Name="FM_list" SelectionChanged="DeviceSelected"/>
<TextBlock x:Name="FM_selection" Margin="0,0,40,0" Width="80 "/>
<Button Background="Red" Width="50" Click="Port_selected" x:Name="FM_selection1"/>
</StackPanel>
After user makes his selection in the ComboBox it is verified by clicking an adjecent Button.
I'd like it so that when the Button is clicked x:Name of the TextBlock (or an alternate way of referencing) is passed to the Port_selected function so I can get the correct device when calling TextBox.Name on the sender.
I could a seperate x:Name for each of those buttons and a dictionary to match which button matches which TextBlock and which StackPanel, but I'd like to know how to do without that workaround. Right now I just strip the last char of the Button's x:Name...

Port_selected is an event handler and you cannot pass a string value to this one.
If you are familiar with the MVVM design pattern there are better ways to solve this, for example using commands and command parameters, but the easiest solution given your current setup is probably to get a reference to the TextBlock in the event handler and then get the value of its Name property, e.g.:
private void Port_selected(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
Button btn = (Button)sender;
StackPanel stackPanel = btn.Parent as StackPanel;
if (stackPanel != null)
{
TextBlock textBlock = stackPanel.Children
.OfType<TextBlock>()
.FirstOrDefault(x => !string.IsNullOrEmpty(x.Name));
if (textBlock != null)
{
string name = textBlock.Name;
//...
}
}
}

WPF - Elements inside DataTemplate property issue when no binding?

I have the following TabControl:
<TabControl ItemsSource="{Binding Tabs"}>
<TabControl.ContentTemplate>
<DataTemplate DataType="{x:Type vm:TabVM}">
<TextBox></TextBox>
<TextBox Text="{Binding SomeProperty}"></TextBox>
</DataTemplate>
</TabControl.ContentTemplate>
</TabControl>
The unexpected behaviour is that first TextBox has Text property shared between all tabitems, while second TextBox effectively bind to ViewModel property.
My need is to make independent the first TextBox too, even without binding.
What can I do ?
** UPDATE **
After several tries I've decided to use the ikriv's TabContent.cs.
The only issue I've found with this is that calling the TabControl.Items.Refresh() (i.e. after removing a tabItem) cause the reset of the internal cache.
An unelegant but effective solution may be this:
public ContentManager(TabControl tabControl, Decorator border)
{
_tabControl = tabControl;
_border = border;
_tabControl.SelectionChanged += (sender, args) => { UpdateSelectedTab(); };
/* CUSTOM */
var view = CollectionViewSource.GetDefaultView(((TabControl)_tabControl).Items);
view.CollectionChanged += View_CollectionChanged;
}
/*
* This fix the internal cache content when calling items->Refresh() method
* */
private void View_CollectionChanged(object sender, System.Collections.Specialized.NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs e)
{
if (e.OldItems != null)
{
/* Retrieve all tabitems cache and store to a temp list */
IList<ContentControl> cachedContents = new List<ContentControl>();
foreach (var item in _tabControl.Items)
{
var tabItem = _tabControl.ItemContainerGenerator.ContainerFromItem(item);
var cachedContent = TabContent.GetInternalCachedContent(tabItem);
cachedContents.Add(cachedContent);
}
/* rebuild the view */
_tabControl.Items.Refresh();
/* Retrieve all cached content and store to the tabitems */
int idx = 0;
foreach (var item in _tabControl.Items)
{
var tabItem = _tabControl.ItemContainerGenerator.ContainerFromItem(item);
TabContent.SetInternalCachedContent(tabItem, cachedContents[idx++]);
}
}
}

You should use data binding since the same ContentTemplate will be applied for all items in your ItemsSource. Only the binding will be refreshed when you switch tabs basically. The TextBox isn't re-created nor reset.
What can I do ?
You could work around this in the view by handling the SelectionChanged event of the TabControl and reset the TextBox control yourself:
private void tabs_SelectionChanged(object sender, SelectionChangedEventArgs e)
{
TabControl tc = sender as TabControl;
ContentPresenter cp = tc.Template.FindName("PART_SelectedContentHost", tc) as ContentPresenter;
if(cp != null && VisualTreeHelper.GetChildrenCount(cp) > 0)
{
ContentPresenter cpp = VisualTreeHelper.GetChild(cp, 0) as ContentPresenter;
if(cpp != null)
{
TextBox textBox = cpp.FindName("txt") as TextBox;
if (textBox != null)
textBox.Text = string.Empty;
}
}
}
<TabControl x:Name="tabs" ItemsSource="{Binding Tabs}" SelectionChanged="tabs_SelectionChanged">
<TabControl.ContentTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<ContentPresenter>
<ContentPresenter.Content>
<StackPanel>
<TextBox x:Name="txt"></TextBox>
</StackPanel>
</ContentPresenter.Content>
</ContentPresenter>
</DataTemplate>
</TabControl.ContentTemplate>
</TabControl>
If you want to persist the text in the TextBox when you switch tabs you could use the attached behaviour from the following article and set its IsCached property to true: https://www.codeproject.com/articles/460989/wpf-tabcontrol-turning-off-tab-virtualization
<TabControl ItemsSource="{Binding Items}" behaviors:TabContent.IsCached="True">
<!-- Make sure that you don't set the TabControl's ContentTemplate property but the custom one here-->
<behaviors:TabContent.Template>
<DataTemplate>
<StackPanel>
<TextBox />
</StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>
</behaviors:TabContent.Template>
</TabControl>
Yet another approach would be to modify the ControlTemplate of the TabControl to include a ListBox as suggested by 'gekka' in the following thread on the MSDN forums: https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/4b71a43a-26f5-4fef-8dc5-55409262298e/using-uielements-on-datatemplate?forum=wpf

How to dynamically link a CheckBox to enable a TextBox in C# (WPF)?

I have a row in a grid with 5 textboxes, 2 of which are enabled by checkboxes. I am trying to dynamically add additional rows to the grid when a button is clicked. The eventhandler I added will only enable the textbox in the first row, but not in the current row (2nd). There is another eventhandler which handles the box in the first row, this is a new one. (BTW I only have part of the second row coded). Not sure if I should try making a template for the checkbox, and then use binding to the textbox? And if so, the instructions I've read on connecting the binding are vague and confusing. Or can I do the binding directly? Or ?
public partial class Window2 : Window
{
int currentColumn = 0;
int currentRow = 1;
int timesCalled = 1;
public Window2()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void AddLevelButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
string level = this.Level.Content.ToString(); //label for the row
string[] splitLevel = level.Split(' ');
int levelNum = int.Parse(splitLevel[1]);
levelNum = timesCalled + 1;
int nextRow = currentRow + 1;
int nextColumn = currentColumn + 1;
Label levelLabel = new Label();
levelLabel.Content = "Level " + levelNum.ToString();
Grid.SetRow(levelLabel, nextRow);
Grid.SetColumn(levelLabel, currentColumn);
FlowGrid.Children.Add(levelLabel);
currentColumn++;
CheckBox antesBox = new CheckBox(); //the checkbox to enable the
antesBox.Name = "AntesBox"; //textbox which follows
antesBox.VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment.Bottom;
antesBox.HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Right;
antesBox.FontSize = 16;
antesBox.Width = 20;
antesBox.Height = 20;
antesBox.Checked += AntesBox_Checked1; //eventhandler
Grid.SetRow(antesBox, nextRow);
Grid.SetColumn(antesBox, currentColumn);
FlowGrid.Children.Add(antesBox);
nextColumn = ++currentColumn;
TextBox enterAntes = new TextBox(); //the textbox to be enabled
enterAntes.Name = "EnterAntes";
enterAntes.Margin = new Thickness(5, 0, 5, 0);
enterAntes.FontSize = 16;
enterAntes.FontFamily = new FontFamily("Verdana");
enterAntes.IsEnabled = false;
enterAntes.KeyDown += EnterAntes_KeyDown1; //tested; this works
Grid.SetRow(EnterAntes, nextRow);
Grid.SetColumn(EnterAntes, nextColumn);
FlowGrid.Children.Add(EnterAntes);
nextColumn = ++currentColumn;
}
private void enterAntes_KeyDown1(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
{
int key = (int)e.Key;
e.Handled = !(key >= 34 && key <= 43 ||
key >= 74 && key <= 83 || key == 2);
}
private void AntesBox_Checked1(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
EnterAntes.IsEnabled = true;
}

You need to add following codes to enable text boxes.
Following is the xaml view of the datagrid.
<DataGrid x:Name="gvTest" AutoGenerateColumns="False" ItemsSource="{Binding}" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="86,204,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Height="132" Width="436">
<DataGrid.Columns>
<DataGridTemplateColumn Header="TextBox 01">
<DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<TextBox x:Name="txt01" Width="50" Text="{Binding TxtBox01}"></TextBox>
</DataTemplate>
</DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate>
</DataGridTemplateColumn>
<DataGridTemplateColumn Header="TextBox 02">
<DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<TextBox x:Name="txtbox02" Width="50" Text="{Binding TxtBox02}"></TextBox>
</DataTemplate>
</DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate>
</DataGridTemplateColumn>
<DataGridTemplateColumn Header="TextBox 03">
<DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<TextBox x:Name="txtbox03" Width="50" Text="{Binding TxtBox03}"></TextBox>
</DataTemplate>
</DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate>
</DataGridTemplateColumn>
<DataGridTemplateColumn Header="TextBox 04">
<DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<TextBox x:Name="txtbox04" Width="50" IsEnabled="False" Text="{Binding TxtBox04}" Loaded="txtbox04_Loaded"></TextBox>
</DataTemplate>
</DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate>
</DataGridTemplateColumn>
<DataGridTemplateColumn Header="TextBox 05">
<DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<TextBox x:Name="txtbox05" Text="{Binding TxtBox05}" Loaded="txtbox05_Loaded"></TextBox>
</DataTemplate>
</DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate>
</DataGridTemplateColumn>
<DataGridTemplateColumn Header="Enable" >
<DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<CheckBox x:Name="chk01" Checked="chk01_Checked" IsChecked="{Binding IsActive}"></CheckBox>
</DataTemplate>
</DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate>
</DataGridTemplateColumn>
</DataGrid.Columns>
</DataGrid>
add the following codes to declare instance of required textboxes and declare observable collection.
TextBox txt04;
TextBox txt05;
ObservableCollection<TestItem> TestItemList = new ObservableCollection<TestItem>();
add the following codes to the loaded event of the required textboxes.
private void txtbox04_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
txt04 = (sender as TextBox);
//txt04.IsEnabled = false;
}
private void txtbox05_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
txt05 = (sender as TextBox);
}
Now, create a model class with following code segment in order to bind values to the datagrid.
public class TestItem
{
public string TxtBox01 { get; set; }
public string TxtBox02 { get; set; }
public string TxtBox03 { get; set; }
public string TxtBox04 { get; set; }
public string TxtBox05 { get; set; }
public bool IsActive { get; set; }
public TestItem()
{
IsActive = false;
}
}
I have used a button to add new rows to the datagrid. add the following codes to the button click to add rows.
private void btnAdd_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
TestItemList.Add(new TestItem());
gvTest.ItemsSource = TestItemList;
}
Finally, add the following codes to the checkbox checked event
CheckBox c = (sender as CheckBox);
if (c.IsChecked==true)
{
txt04.IsEnabled = true;
txt05.IsEnabled = true;
}
Hope this helps you to fulfill your requirement.

At the risk of perpetuating the wrong approach, it seems to me that the most direct way to address your specific need here is to fix your event handler so that it is always specific to the text box that corresponds to the checkbox in question. This is most easily done by moving the event handler subscription to below the declaration of the local variable enterAntes, and then use that variable in the event handler (i.e. so that it's capture by the anonymous method used as the event handler). For example:
TextBox enterAntes = new TextBox(); //the textbox to be enabled
antesBox.Checked += (sender, e) => enterAntes.IsEnabled = true;
Now, that said, I whole-heartedly agree with commenter Mark Feldman who suggests that the code you've written is not the right way to accomplish your goal in WPF.
I'm not sure I agree with the characterization "harder". That's such a loaded and subjective term, depending in no small part in what you find easy or hard. Being new to WPF, you almost certainly find the concepts of data binding and declarative XAML-based coding "hard", and direct, procedural code such as in your example "easy" (or at least "easier" :) ).
But he's absolutely right that in the long run, you will be better served by doing things "the WPF way". You may or may not wind up with much less code, but the WPF API is designed to be leveraged as much as possible from the XAML, and use code-behind minimally (and certainly not for the purpose to build the UI).
So what's all that mean for your code? Well, I ramble and it would be beyond the scope of a good, concise Stack Overflow answer for me to try to rewrite your entire code from scratch to suit the WPF paradigm. But I will offer some suggestions as to how I'd handle this.
First, forget the UI objects themselves for a moment. Write classes that describe the key characteristics of the UI as you want it to be, without being the UI itself. In this example, this could mean that you should have a list of rows. There should also be a class that defines what a single row looks like, e.g. with a bool property (to reflect the checkbox state) and a string property (to reflect the text box value). This is your "model"; i.e. each class is an individual model class, and at the same time you could consider the entire collection of classes as the model for your UI.
Now, go back to your UI and define it in XAML, not in code. There are several different ways to represent a list in the UI. Classes like ListBox, ListView, DataGrid, or even ItemsControl (the base class for many of the list-oriented controls). Bind the source of your list control to the model list you created in the previous step.
Define a DataTemplate (again, in XAML) for the type of class that is contained in the list. This will declare the UI for a single row in your list. Your template might look something like this:
<!-- Make sure you defined the "local" XML namespace for your project using the
xmlns declaration -->
<DataTemplate DataType="{x:Type local:MyRowModel}">
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<TextBox Text="{Binding Text}" IsEnabled={Binding IsEnabled}"/>
<Checkbox Checked="{Binding IsEnabled}"/>
</StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>
All of the XAML inside the DataTemplate element tells WPF what you want a single row to look like, within the control that is presenting your row model. That control will set the DataContext for the list item defined by the template, such that the {Binding...} declarations can reference your row model's properties directly by name.
That row model in turn might look something like this:
class MyRowModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
private string _text;
private bool _isEnabled;
public string Text
{
get { return _text; }
set
{
if (_text != value)
{
_text = value;
OnPropertyChanged();
}
}
}
public bool IsEnabled
{
get { return _isEnabled; }
set
{
if (_isEnabled != value)
{
_isEnabled = value;
OnPropertyChanged();
}
}
}
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
private void OnPropertyChanged([CallerMemberName]string propertyName = null)
{
PropertyChangedEventHandler handler = PropertyChanged;
if (handler != null)
{
handler(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
}
}
}
When your button to add a new item is clicked, don't mess with the UI directly. Instead, add a new element to your list of rows. Let WPF do the work of updating the UI to match.
NOTES:
The above uses StackPanel for the data template for convenience. If you want things lined up in columns, you'll probably want to use a Grid and declare its columns using SharedSizeGroup.
Or better yet, maybe you can use DataGrid which, assuming its default presentation of the values is acceptable to you, offers simple and automatic handling of exactly this type of layout.
The above is not meant to be anything close to a complete explanation of how to use data templating. It's just supposed to get you pointed in the right direction. Templating is one of WPF's more powerful features, but with that it also has the potential to be fairly complex.
For all of this to work, your types need to provide notification when they change. In the case of the row model, you can see it implements INotifyPropertyChanged. There is also an interface INotifyCollectionChanged; usually you don't have to implement this yourself, as WPF has the type ObservableCollection<T> which you can use just like List<T>, to store lists of data but with a way for notifications of changes to be reported to WPF.
I know this is a lot to take it all at once. Unfortunately, it's not feasible to try to explain all in a single answer all the things you need to learn to get this right. Frankly, even the above is pushing the limits as to what's within the scope of a Stack Overflow answer. But I hope that I've hit just the right highlights to get you looking at the right parts of the WPF documentation, and to understand the underlying philosophy of the WPF API.

How do I get the child controls of a ListBox?

I have a ListBox in xaml which has a sub-ListBox inside the top-level ListBox's item template. Because the sub-ListBox is multi-select, and I can't bind the SelectedItems of the sub-ListBox to a viewmodel property for some reason, I'm trying to do a lot of this in the view code-behind.
I have everything working, except for one snag: I want to select all items in each sub-ListBox by default. Since the SelectedItems aren't data-bound, I'm trying to do it manually in code whenever a SelectionChanged event fires on the top-level ListBox. The problem is that I don't know how to get from the top-level ListBox to the sub-ListBox of the top-level selected item. I think I need to use the visual tree, but I don't know how to even get the dependency object that corresponds to the selected item.
Here's the code:
<ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding Path=Stuff}" SelectionChanged="StuffListBox_SelectionChanged" SelectedItem="{Binding Path=SelectedStuff, Mode=TwoWay}" telerik:RadDockPanel.Dock="Bottom">
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<telerik:RadDockPanel>
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=Name}" telerik:RadDockPanel.Dock="Top" />
<ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding Path=SubStuff}" SelectionMode="Multiple" SelectionChanged="SubStuffListBox_SelectionChanged" Visibility="{Binding Converter={StaticResource StuffToSubStuffVisibilityConverter}}" telerik:RadDockPanel.Dock="Bottom">
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=Name}" />
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>
</telerik:RadDockPanel>
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>
The converter ensures that only the selected top-level item has a visible sub-ListBox, and that's working.
I need to implement the following method:
private void StuffListBox_SelectionChanged(object sender, SelectionChangedEventArgs e)
{
ListBox stuffListBox = (ListBox)sender;
foreach (Stuff stuff in e.AddedItems)
{
...
subStuffListBox.SelectAll();
}
}
I tried doing stuffListBox.ItemContainerGenerator.ContainerFromItem(stuff), but that always returns null. Even stuffListBox.ItemContainerGenerator.ContainerFromIndex(0) always returns null.
I also get strange behaviour from the selection changed method. 'e.AddedItems will contain items, but stuffListBox.SelectedItem is always null. Am I missing something?
From what I've read, my problem is coming from the fact that the containers haven't been generated at the time that I'm getting a selection change event. I've seen workarounds that involve listening for a the item container generator's status changed event, but I'm working in Silverlight and don't have access to that event. Is what I'm doing just not possible in Silverlight due to the oversight of making SelectedItems on a ListBox read-only?

Like you say this is probably best done in the ViewModel but you can select all the sub list items in code behind using VisualTreeHelper.
private void StuffListBox_SelectionChanged(object sender, SelectionChangedEventArgs e)
{
var stuffListBox = (ListBox)sender;
ListBoxItem item = (ListBoxItem)stuffListBox.ContainerFromItem(stuffListBox.SelectedItem);
ListBox sublist = FindVisualChild<ListBox>(item);
sublist.SelectAll();
}
FindVisualChild Method as per MSDN
private childItem FindVisualChild<childItem>(DependencyObject obj)
where childItem : DependencyObject
{
for (int i = 0; i < VisualTreeHelper.GetChildrenCount(obj); i++)
{
DependencyObject child = VisualTreeHelper.GetChild(obj, i);
if (child != null && child is childItem)
return (childItem)child;
else
{
childItem childOfChild = FindVisualChild<childItem>(child);
if (childOfChild != null)
return childOfChild;
}
}
return null;
}

How to access an inner ItemsControl in a ListBox in Windows Phone Silverlight

I am building a small Windows Phone application which has a databound ListBox as a main control. DataTemplate of that ListBox is a databound ItemsControl element, which shows when a person taps on a ListBox element.
Currently, I am accessing it by traversing the visual tree of the application and referencing it in a list, and than getting the selected item through SelectedIndex property.
Is there a better or more effective way?
This one works currently, but I am afraid if it would stay effective in case of larger lists.
Thanks

Have you tried wiring the SelectionChanged event of the ListBox?
<ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding}" SelectionChanged="ListBox_SelectionChanged">
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<!-- ... -->
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>
With this in the code behind:
private void ListBox_SelectionChanged(object sender, SelectionChangedEventArgs e)
{
ListBox listBox = sender as ListBox;
// nothing selected? ignore
if (listBox.SelectedIndex != -1)
{
// something is selected
}
// unselect the item so if they press it again, it takes the selection
listBox.SelectedIndex = -1;
}

ListBoxItem item = this.lstItems.ItemContainerGenerator.ContainerFromIndex(yourIndex) as ListBoxItem;
Then you can use the VisualTreeHelper class to get the sub items
var containerBorder = VisualTreeHelper.GetChild(item, 0) as Border;
var contentControl = VisualTreeHelper.GetChild(containerBorder, 0);
var contentPresenter = VisualTreeHelper.GetChild(contentControl, 0);
var stackPanel = VisualTreeHelper.GetChild(contentPresenter, 0) as StackPanel; // Here the UIElement root type of your item template, say a stack panel for example.
var lblLineOne = stackPanel.Children[0] as TextBlock; // Child of stack panel
lblLineOne.Text = "Some Text"; // Updating the text.
Another option is to use services of the GestureServices class available in the WP7 Toolkit.
You'll need to add a GestureListner to the Root Element of your DataTemplate like so:
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<StackPanel>
<Controls:GestureService.GestureListener>
<Controls:GestureListener Tap="GestureListener_Tap" />
</Controls:GestureService.GestureListener>
<TextBlock x:Name="lblLineOne" Text="{Binding LineOne}" />
<TextBlock Text="{Binding LineTwo}" />
</StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
And in the GestureListener_Tap event handler, you use this snippet.
private void GestureListener_Tap(object sender, GestureEventArgs e)
{
var itemTemplateRoot = sender as StackPanel;
var lbl1 = itemTemplateRoot.Children[0] as TextBlock;
MessageBox.Show(lbl1.Text);
}
I'm not sure how the GestureListner recognize internally the item being tapped but I guess that it uses the VisualTreeHelper, at least this method is more concise.