Inherit from a WPF window? - wpf

Question

I've a windows that should be the same between 2 applications, except some points.
I wanted to inherit from it to create a subclass(which has no XAML), that only does some customization(like window's title) in the constructor.
Is this possible?

Answer 1

Is this possible?
Yes.
Create a class that inherits from System.Windows.Window:
public class YourBaseClass : Window
{
public YourBaseClass() : base()
{
Title = "Common Title";
}
}
...and change the base class of your windows to use this one, both in the code-behind:
public partial class MainWindow : YourBaseClass
{
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
}
...and in XAML:
<local:YourBaseClass x:Class="WpfApplication1.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
xmlns:local="clr-namespace:WpfApplication1"
mc:Ignorable="d"
Height="300" Width="300">
</local:YourBaseClass>

Answer 2

Unlike window forms, WPF have no visual inheritance. You may refer to this post for why.
Therefore, we cannot use inheritance here. However, you can add custom property to your windows class and made the customization based on the property.
Let say I want to create two similar windows with different "Title" ( this is just an example, i do know window has a Title property):
in xaml.cs:
public WindowTest //constructor
{
InitializeComponent();
this.Loaded+=WindowTest_Loaded;
}
private void WindowTest_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
//Please note that custom property wont be set until Windows is loaded.
//Your customization here
this.Title = TitleText;
}
public string TitleText
{
get { return GetValue( Property1Property ).ToString(); }
set { SetValue( TitleTextProperty, value ); }
}
// Using a DependencyProperty as the backing store for Property1.
// This enables animation, styling, binding, etc...
public static readonly DependencyProperty TitleTextProperty
= DependencyProperty.Register(
"TitleText",
typeof( string ),
typeof( WindowTest ),
new PropertyMetadata( String.Empty )
);
in xaml
<Grid>
<test:WindowText TitleText = "Hello World"/> //first window
<test:WindowText TitleText = "I Hate You"/> //second window
</Grid>