Overwrite Expander ToggleButton style with MahApps.Metro theming - wpf

I'm using MahApps.Metro for styling my WPF application. In a few places I'm using an <Expander> for flyout menus.
However, the default orientation for the toggle arrow is logically backwards (it shows current state, not what clicking the button will do).
So currently, this is not expanded:
And this is expanded:
I'd like to swap these so the expanded points to the left, and not expanded to the right. I cannot use ExpandDirection="Right" because then the header is on the wrong side.
The default style is here: https://github.com/MahApps/MahApps.Metro/blob/develop/src/MahApps.Metro/Styles/Controls.Expander.xaml - I don't want to paste it all here because it's quite long.
My understanding is that all I need to do reverse the arrow directions is change the RotateTransform Angle in MahApps.Styles.ToggleButton.ExpanderHeader.Left and MahApps.Styles.ToggleButton.ExpanderHeader.Right from 90 to -90 or visa-versa.
Can I overwrite just this specific bit of that style, without affecting everything else?
At the moment if I create a new style in App.xaml I can reverse the arrow direction but I lose all of the theming (colours etc), which I'd like to retain.

You can use the ExpanderHelper to set the right header style for the left expand direction:
<Expander IsExpanded="False"
ExpandDirection="Left"
Height="200"
mah:ExpanderHelper.HeaderLeftStyle="{DynamicResource MahApps.Styles.ToggleButton.ExpanderHeader.Right}">
</Expander>
Namespace is xmlns:mah="http://metro.mahapps.com/winfx/xaml/controls".

Related

How to mix text-only RibbonToggleButton and image-only RibbonButton in Ribbon for WPF?

I'm using the Microsoft Ribbon for WPF October 2010 and have got 3 buttons next to each other, inside a RibbonControlGroup. The left and the right ones are text-only RibbonToggleButton controls, the one in the middle is an image-only RibbonButton. The buttons have a defined width to match the row above.
My code:
<r:RibbonControlGroup>
<r:RibbonToggleButton Width="110" Label="Outgoing" IsChecked="True" />
<!-- Padding and Height set to align the buttons/image -->
<r:RibbonButton Width="30" Padding="5 0" Height="24" SmallImageSource="Images\Small\arrow_swap.png" />
<r:RibbonToggleButton Width="110" Label="Incoming" />
</r:RibbonControlGroup>
The problem is that as soon as I apply the SmallImageSource to the middle button, the other two get spacings for images, causing the text not to be centered anymore. That is problem (1).
Because I didn't find a quick solution, I tried to add the image of the middle button not via SmallImageSource, but by adding it as <Image> for the content of the button. However, the button would remain empty. That is problem (2).
My third solution was to add images to the left and the right button, too. Unfortunately there is nearly no margin between the image and text, which looks quite ugly. I tried several things to enlarge the margin like adding a <Style TargetType="Image"> to the <RibbonToggleButton.Resources>, but although the editor accepts it and displays the spacing at designtime, the margin is gone again at runtime. That is problem (3).
Does anybody have an appropiate solution to any of the three problems? I cannot get it to work. The number of the problems is also the preference of the alternatives, (1) being the most favourite to use with an appropiate hack.
It seems you cannot do that. Its by design.
As per MSDN (here about half way down the page):
Related ribbon controls can be grouped together in a RibbonControlGroup. When a control group is resized, one RibbonControlSizeDefinition is applied to all of the controls in the RibbonControlGroup. The RibbonControlGroup is positioned in the RibbonGroup as if it were one control.
All the controls in a RibbonControlGroup shares the same RibbonControlSizeDefinition. Hence, in your case image will be added for all the buttons.
You may use RibbonGroup instead if you do not want to glue all your controls very closely. This way you can customize each button container by using different RibbonControlSizeDefinitions.

How to create a UserControl with an irregular shape?

In my Silverlight 4 application I need to create a user control with an irregular shape. The "main display" of the UC is a standard rectangle but I need to have tabs (simple text blocks, where the user can click) that are outside of the main display rectangle.
Is this possible with Silverlight 4? If so, how?
Thanks in advance.
You can position elements of a control outside its normal layout in a number of ways. You could use Canvas but if most of the control is standard Grid rectangle then you can use a Grid. The trick is to use negative Margins.
<Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot">
<Border Margin="0 -22 0 0">
<TextBlock Text="I appear above the UserControl layout" />
</Border>
</Grid>
Note that if the Usercontrol is being used as the Visual root then this won't work because the Silverlight plugin will not render beyound its client rectangle.
It is, you can have transparent background behind the tabs which can let clicks through, effectively behaving as if the shape was different. The UserControl will still have a rectangular shape including the tabs, unless you wrap then into a Popup and float out of the UC with some offset.
Technically, you can have elements outside the UserControl's rectangle if you use a Canvas for your LayoutRoot instead of a Grid. Elements in a Canvas aren't clipped to the canvas size. I wouldn't recommend this, however, because you won't be able to use Margin to size and align your controls inside it. It would be better to have all child controls inside a Grid LayoutRoot.
Which brings us to the question of irregularity. If you want to 'see through' parts of the control and be able to click through them (i.e. click objects underneath it), all you need to do is keep the UserControl's and the LayoutRoot's Background to null or just not set it at all. Wherever there is a lack of any background, clicks will go through. Note that if you set the background to Transparent it will make the control behave as a rectangle (as if it's filled with solid color) with respect to mouse input.
Another thing is if you want to see HTML controls under the see-through parts of your app. Then, you'll have to use windowless mode, but that's another can of worms.

Removing a border line in Silverlight Border control (kind of like border-style-bottom:none in css)?

I'd like the ability to have something that looks like a border but I don't
want the bottom to show. in CSS I could accomplish this by going border-style-bottom:none
I'm wondering if Silverlight has a similar functionality for the Border control.
If not, I'm wondering what other control I can use to accomplish this? thanks
It works like this:-
<Border BorderBrush="Black" BorderThickness="2,2,2,0">
...
</Border>
Another form just takes two numbers "lr,tb" which specifies the thickness of the left and right of the border then the top and bottom of the border.

Absolute positioning in WPF

I have a long text and show first sentence in a TextBlock.
I wish by clicking the TextBlock or a button to show a panel below the TextBlock with full text. I wish this panel be absolutely positioned and be displayed above any other elements, you can do a similar thing in HTML showing and hiding absolutely positioned 'div' element.
How to do this in WPF?
Thank you for any suggestions.
AdornerLayer can work, but may be a little complex. Other options include using PopUps or ToolTips -- you should look into those first as your easiest options.
If these all don't work, it'll really depends on what kind of panel you're using. For example, if you're using a Canvas, all you have to do is make sure to set the correct ZIndex on the element.
In order to make this more robust, I'd suggest the following:
<!-- Set Panel.ZIndex="99" when showing hidden area to ensure top placement -->
<Grid>
<TextBlock>This is my primary bit of text ...</TextBlock>
<!-- Canvas stays hidden until we want to show the rest of the text -->
<Canvas Visibility="Hidden">
<TextBlock Canvas.Bottom="-10">Content goes here</TextBlock>
</Canvas>
</Grid>
Put the long text in an AdornerLayer is the best option. Check out some links
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms743737.aspx
http://wangmo.wordpress.com/2008/10/19/relations-between-adorner-adornerlayer-and-adornerdecorator/

In WPF, What is the best way to create toolbar buttons so that the images are properly scaled?

Specifically, I'm looking to use the 16*16 32-bit png images included with the VS2008ImageLibrary. I've tried manually setting the Height and Width attributes of the image, adjusting margins and padding, adjusting Stretch and RenderOptions. My attempts to create toolbar buttons have all led to either Improper Scaling (blurry icons), the bottom row of pixels on the icon being truncated, or the toolbar button being improperly sized - not to mention the disappearing icons already mentioned Here. Has anyone found the best way to make standard, VisualStudio/WinForms-style toolbar buttons that display properly in WPF?
First, change the image resolution to 96DPI, this can done with the free Paint.net ( http://www.getpaint.net ) by opening the file, Selecting Image->Canvas Size from the menu and adjusting the "resolution" to 96 and saving.
If this doesn't help you can then use the solution I wrote about in my blog here http://www.nbdtech.com/blog/archive/2008/11/20/blurred-images-in-wpf.aspx
Best way would be using Vector graphics instead of png. I know the following is not exactly what you asked for, but imho there is no way for better looking icons. Also it would help you get rid off margins and paddings. (Ok, if you want to use photos you're screwed)
Bad News is you probably need to repaint all your icons. You could do this using MS Expression Blend(it's capable to save painted Images as .xaml) or you make them on our own with a texteditor.
I prefer the Border.Background instead of the Image.Source for placing the icon, this allows me to put text over the image. This would look samething like that:
<Window.Resources>
<ResourceDictionary Source="Resources/Icons.xaml"/>
</Window.Resources>
<!--
...
-->
<Button>
<Border Background="{StaticResource IconName}" Height="16" Width="16" />
</Button>
The best workaround I can come up with is this:
<Image x:Key="TB_NewIcon" Source="Toolbar Images/NewDocumentHS.png" Height="16" Width="16" SnapsToDevicePixels="True" RenderOptions.BitmapScalingMode="NearestNeighbor"/>
...
<Button Command="ApplicationCommands.New" Content="{StaticResource TB_NewIcon}" Padding="2,2,2,1"/>
Or Alternatively:
<BitmapImage x:Key="TB_NewIcon" UriSource="Toolbar Images\NewDocumentHS.png"/>
...
<Button Command="ApplicationCommands.New" Padding="2,2,2,1">
<Image Source="{StaticResource TB_NewIcon}" Height="16" Width="16" SnapsToDevicePixels="True" RenderOptions.BitmapScalingMode="NearestNeighbor"/>
</Button>
For the Button Tag, the Padding attribute is needed to ensure that the image isn't truncated at a height of 15 pixels, and that the button isn't resized to fit the image. Alternatively, we could specify Padding="1", but then we must manually set Height="21" and Width="22" to ensure the button isn't resized to fit the image
On the Image Tab, the Height and Width are needed to ensure that the image isn't stretched. SnapsToDevicePixels and RenderOptions.BitMapScalingMode are both needed to ensure that there is no blurring. I can't promise that this will work nicely for all resolutions.
Note:
For the NewDocumentHS.png icon, the one that causes the most issues,as it takes up the full 16 pixels of height, you may want to adjust the padding to "1,1,3,2", so that the bottom aligns more properly with other icons.
You may want to consider trying a new property available now in WPF4.
Leave the RenderOptions.BitmapScalingMode to HighQuality or just don't declare it.
On your root element (i.e. your main window) add this property: UseLayoutRounding="True".
A property previously only available in Silverlight has now fixed all Bitmap sizing woes. :)
Please Note - a few of the effects layout rounding
can have on exact layout:
width and or height of elements may grow or shrink by at most 1 pixel
placement of an object can move by at most 1 pixel
centered elements can be vertically or horizontally off center by at most
1 pixel
More info found here: http://blogs.msdn.com/text/archive/2009/08/27/layout-rounding.aspx

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