WPF WebBrowser control looks great but knowledge accumlated over time about WinForms WebBrowser is substantial and it's hard to ignore work like csExWB. It would be nice to know what functional shortcomings or advantages exists in .NET 3.5's WPF WebBrowser control over WinForms WebBrowser control. In particular, is it possible to build csExWB-like functionality on top of WPF WebBrowser?
From one full day of frustration with wpf's component, here's what I discovered. Apparently, winforms webbrowser exposes much more methods and properties. For instance, there's no IsWebBrowserContextMenuEnabled, ActiveXInstance, etc. in wpf webbrowser.
Also, the document property of each contains different types of objects. Winform contains a document of type System.Windows.Forms.HtmlDocument with a few interesting methods and properties like PointToClient and GetElementFromPoint. Wpf webbrowser document is an Object type document that can be cast to mshtml.HtmlDocument, which only provides the same methods and properties available from a standard html + javascript document. Not very exciting. I don't know if it can be cast to something else (useful that is) since there's no real documentation about it.
The only disadvantage I could notice about winforms webbrowser is that the buttons and scrollbars inside the component don't have the same appearance as the wpf native controls.
I must admit I don't know the differences, but if you hit problems you could perhaps use WindowsFormsHost to host the winform version in WPF, like so? Ultimately, both is a wrapper around shdocvw, so principles like "pure WPF" don't really apply.
Related
My requirement is to create a winform with contains a datagrid that allows rows to expand and show additional details. I'm considering using a WPF control and incorporate a WPF Datagrid in it to handle this, taking advantage of the RowDetails property of the DataGrid to handle the expansion of rows.
I'm completely new to WPF and the RowDetails property of Datagrid and so am only reading up on them now. Is it possible for me to use this control in my winform once I develop it? What issues may I face when trying to integrate the WPF control in my winform.
I have on multiple occasions used a WPF control on a WinForm. However, the only way I ever do it is to host it inside an ElementHost control. Once there I haven't noticed any major issues, though I do hear performance can be suspect depending on the usage.
As the two previous Answers state you have to use an ElementHost.
Here there is a comparison on how to host WPF in Winforms and Winforms in WPF. It was good for me to read the comparison when I was starting to work with it.
In this article the author links you to Gotchas For Working With Windows Forms/WPF Interop that has some common issues you can run into.
Build your WPF control like it was a Vendor control, with a clear interface and then just host it with the ElementHost. I have had to use it both ways but with legacy controls, and it really helps if you have a good interface in the control that you bring from the other platform, if not it can be a bit messy.
I read on MSDN and other websites (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms751797.aspx and http://www.abhishekshukla.com/wpf/advanced-wpf-part-5-of-5-interop-in-windows-presentation-foundation/) that multilevel hybrid nesting of WPF and WinForms controls is not supported...
I have an application where a WPF window has a WindowsFormsHost where inside that a WPF control is hosted in an ElementHost. This WPF control contains other WinForms controls which are also in WinFormsHost.
In short: WPF -> WinForms -> WPF -> WinForms.
So far I did not have any problems with that. After finding that small note on the MSDN page I'm wondering what exactly is not supported on that scenario, since it works for me.
Any ideas?
I would say the sense of "not supported" is "at your own risk". Most things will work, some things will not work, and it depends on your particular application whether the results will be acceptable. Or maybe you'll achieve results that are acceptable after some hacky workarounds are in place. MS aren't going to go out of there way to make it work.
I've worked with a project which contained a WinForms-WPF-WinForms nesting, and in general that worked - well enough to not rewrite the WinForms component. Focus is an issue - the nested control does not behave quite as you'd expect relating to focus gained/lost events, and keyboard focus can get stuck in the nested control. There may be a difference between whether the host element thinks it has focus and whether the contained control does. So I'd suggest focusing your testing around user input events and focus.
I'd like to get ahead of the pack and start making some custom C# controls and components for Metro (Win8), but I can't find any documentation or blog posts on how to start, or even if it's possible right now.
Are metro controls just WPF controls? I'm not yet a WPF developer; creating a custom user control looks straightforward, but that project type doesn't exist in the Windows 8 developer preview. So, are WPF custom user controls (VS2010) the project type I should use for creating my Metro controls? Beyond that, I can't find any documentation on how to create a component for use in WPF/Metro; can you create one, or would it just be a custom user control that isn't visible? (I was hoping for some type of component container like the one winforms use; are components for Metro now only class libraries, and don't include designer support anymore?)
It's ... very difficult right now. There's no way to override OnRender or the like for a control, ie to create code to render a control with a custom appearance. However, you can create a custom template. Anything you can do in the template is legal, and that's how you have to approach custom controls.
One other option is to generate your UI using either raster (Bitmap) or vector (Windows.UI.Xaml.Shape?) components directly and build up your UI like that. Bleh.
Win8 Metro is a lot like WPF, but it isn't a subset. Similar but very different. Many WPF controls didn't make the transition to Win8 Metro; the same level of rendering control isn't available; and some system features (like advanced font rendering) aren't there. All this might change in coming releases, but right now it looks like Microsoft is trying to restrain developers from creating custom UI controls.
I have been trying to customize a webbrowser control in wp7. All I need to do is to add a border property(I think it is already available in webbrowser but I have to make it mandatory when I make it as a control) and want to add a few extra event handlers and make it as a control so that it can be used later in different projects.
I tried reading through materials in msdn for writing control template and it all revolves around writing a few xaml code and attaching it with codebehind to make it work. What I don't understand is how do I learn xaml? or in other words where is the reference for all the tags that msdn talks about in xaml? Itseems to be huge and I am not sure how to go about it. The tutorial in msdn straight away divulges into xaml code and I am totally confused..
So now all I am trying to do is this,
create a control in Expression Blend (Windows Phone Control Library) that would create a class (MyCustomControl) that inherits
from CustomControl base class.
Now in xaml I am adding a webbrowser control and adding four event handlers (mouseup,down etc.,).
I build this control in blend and add the corresponding dll in VS2010.
And now once I try to add this control to my wp7 phone application it says "Cannot create an instance of MyCustomControl"..
These were further links that I referenced in creating one,
Windowsphone - Creating a custom control
Windowsphone - Control Template.
UserControl vs Custom Control
Creating a new control by creating ControlTemplate
Any further help would be great.
There is no definitive list of 'elements' you can add to your XAML. The reason for this is that the XAML parser can create any class which is a UIElement based on the XML you provide. So the elements available to you depend on the assemblies present in your project. Read teh MSDN XAML Overview for details
For a list of controls that are present by default, take a look at the System.Windows.Controls namespace (I think this link is not for your version of Silverlight, it might be best to use the Object Browser to look at the assemblies in your project).
For your problem, where you want to add a border to a WebBrowser control. I would recommend creating a UserControl as per this tutorial.
I want to create a UI for my application.
What really confuses me is how to actually do it. I know that Microsoft has introduced WPF.
I have also seen some examples, but what I am not getting is whether or not WPF a seperate language? How can I use C# with WPF?
Lets say I want the user to click on a browse button, select a file and display it's content on the UI. I want to do it using C# while WPF providing the UI, is this possible?
Any good resources for a newbie like me?
EDIT
What i didnt understand, will i use WPF for my UI or windows form for my UI while my actual code is in C# ?
I think i am being lost here ? WPF seems something else that supports c#. is that true ? i thought WPF was only for UI while the actual code would be in C# or VB.
I have taken wpf unleashed but it explains wPF and not how to use C# with it. Atleast in the starting chapters ?
I know i am being dumb here but i am really confused
Yes it is definitely possible. Take a look at this article about Mode-View-ViewModel (MVVM) from Microsoft, which is a good introduction to using Xaml (the markup language for WPF) with C#.
Since you are familar with WinForms I will explain it like this.
WinForms provides the GUI and it is similar to what WPF does.
WPF however mainly uses XAML, a markup language based on xml to design the visual elements. It is a presentation foundation on its own that could be used without XAML but it is certainly a big part of it.
When creating an application it will be either WPF or WinForms you can't combine the two (well easily anyway I know there are a few ways to get around it)
You can interact with WPF the same way you interact with WinForms elements.
You can create a Window. On there you can place a grid, where you can then place controls such as a button or textbox. Then in the code behind it is exactly the same as referencing a control in winforms. for example in the page_load function doing
txtInput.Text = "A String";
So what should you choose? (Please note I am about to give you a few things to compare I realize this hardly describes both technologies to its fullest)
WPF
Pros
- Great for visually appealing designs
- You have XAML based control over your visual elements. Meaning you can change the way your form looks by writing xaml instead of doing all through the visual studio IDE pressing buttons.
Cons
- Bit of a performance hog. It has come along way with .net 3.5 sp1 but still chews up quite a few resources
- Not as many controls built for it as WinForms, mainly because its a newer technology.
- Can become complex as syntax for binding information to controls doesn't include intellisense.
WinForms
Pros
- Familiar and well used technology so your development will be faster
- Better performance
- More controls built for it
Cons
- More effort to build a visually appealing design
- Its not new and exciting so to speak. I know we all like to learn new things :)
It is not a seperate language. WPF employs XAML, a derivative of XML, to define and link various UI elements. As in web development, both layouts and specific themes are well suited to markup, but XAML is not required for either. Indeed, all elements of WPF may be coded in a .NET language (C#, VB.NET). The XAML code can ultimately be compiled into a managed assembly in the same way all .NET languages are.
You can implement your requirement in easily WPF.
To get a hands-on in WPF start with this article, http://10rem.net/blog/2010/02/09/getting-started-with-wpf--hello-world-in-multiple-flavors
Happy coding..
WPF is part of .NET framework, so it's not related with specific programming language. Please read MSDN's "Introduction to WPF" - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa970268.aspx