WPF: Calculating the size of a Grid Column - wpf

Question

I have a grid that contains three columns.
<Grid Background="AliceBlue">
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="8*" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="5" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="2*" Name="ManualControlsSplit" />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
The first column contains a Grid and a chart.
The second column contains a GridSplitter.
The third column contains a StackPanel which contains a number of TextBlocks, Buttons and Grids containing TextBlocks and Buttons. Text size is dynamic and based on translation resources.
I need to calculate the minimum width that the contents of the third column would ideally like to be able to be drawn into so that the contents are not clipped.
My knowledge of WPF is limited to what I can google so any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

With layout in WPF, you can allow one if not more of the Grid.Columns to be <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto"/>. This essentially tells WPF to allow as much space as the contained controls want. The use of Auto cascades too, so in StackPanel you refer to, you can make that controls width Auto as well, likewise with the items it contains; if the stack panel merely contains a TextBlock (via some template or whatever), then you can also set this width to Auto and the width with set itself according to the contained text.
<Grid Background="AliceBlue">
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="5"/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="Auto"/>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
...
<StackPanel Grid.Column=2
Width="Auto">
<TextBlock Width="Auto"
Text="This is TextBlock"/>
...
</StackPanel>
...
</Grid>
In this case the Text of the TextBlock sets the width of the StackPanel, which in turn sets the width of the 3rd grid column.
I hope this helps.

Answer 2

My WPF XAML setup is as follows (bits removed to keep this simple):
<UserControl ....>
<Grid Background="AliceBlue" Name="TopGrid">
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="12*" Name="Graph" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="5" Name="GridSplitter" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="2*" Name="ManualControlsSplit" />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Grid Grid.Column="0" Background="AliceBlue"
HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalAlignment="Stretch">
<!-- A Graph and simple controls -->
</Grid>
<!-- GRID SPLITTER -->
<GridSplitter Grid.Column="1" Width="5"
HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" Name="Splitter" />
<Label Grid.Column="1" Content="⁞" Foreground="White"
Background="DarkGray"
VerticalAlignment="Center" FontSize="26" FontWeight="Bold"
IsHitTestVisible="False"/>
<!-- end GRID SPLITTER -->
<StackPanel Grid.Column="2" Grid.Row="0" Margin="5"
Name="TemperatureControls">
<!-- Load of Controls -->
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
</UserControl>
To calculate the desired width I use the following code:
// get my UserControl object
var manualControlView = userControl as HeatingController.Views.ManualControlView;
// Query the current width of THIRD column
double actualWidth = manualControlView.ManualControlsSplit.ActualWidth;
// Set up a BIG size (this has to be bigger size than the contents of the
// THIRD column would ever need)
Size size = new Size(400, manualControlView.TopGrid.ActualHeight);
// Ask WPF layout to calculate the Desired size.
manualControlView.TemperatureControls.Measure(size);
double width = manualControlView.TemperatureControls.DesiredSize.Width;
if (actualWidth <= width)
{
// Too small - do something
}
else
{
// big enough - do something else.
}
The variable 'width' now contains the value I wanted to calculate.