Make ScrollViewer scroll bound to the right - wpf

I am building a calculator application and I have a label to show the term and the result, but when the term gets too long it woudld dissappear. Because of that I implemented a scrollviewer control.
Now what I want to have is that the auto scroll of the scrollviewer is bound to the right, since my label has the content going right to left. See pictures for better explanation
What it is right now
What I want to have
This is my WPF Code for the relevant parts:
<ScrollViewer HorizontalScrollBarVisibility="Auto" VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Disabled" Margin="10, 10, 10, 0" HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="200" Height="50" >
<Label x:Name="CalculatorTextBlockSolution" FontFamily="Cambria Math" HorizontalContentAlignment="Right" FontSize="24"/>
</ScrollViewer>

Add to the ScrollViewer:
FlowDirection="RightToLeft"
Update (see comments)
Add also to the Label:
FlowDirection="LeftToRight"

Related

How do I get my Stack Panel to stretch all the way across this header?

In the header of my Expander I am trying to place a few buttons. I want these buttons to be on the far right, however any element I add inside the header is reduced to it's minimum size regardless of the horizontal alignment rules.
<StackPanel Grid.ColumnSpan="4" Grid.RowSpan="4">
<Expander ExpandDirection="Down" IsExpanded="True" FontSize="14" FontWeight="Bold" Margin="5" BorderThickness="1" BorderBrush="#FF3E3D3D">
<Expander.Header>
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch">
<TextBlock Text="Greeting and Opening" VerticalAlignment="Center" HorizontalAlignment="Center"/>
<Button x:Name="GreetingCheckAll_Button" Content="Check All" HorizontalAlignment="Center" Margin="5,0,0,1" VerticalAlignment="Center"/>
</StackPanel>
</Expander.Header>
I want to get that button to the far right instead of to the left, as you can also see the stack panel element is only as large as it needs to be. What do I need to do to allow for the stack panel to stretch across the entire width so I can align the button to the right?
Thanks guys.
Edit: Tried using the docking panel suggestion instead (after looking at the panels overview, that seems the right way to go). I still end up with the same constraints, the panel will not stretch across the entire width of it's parent element unless I manually set it's width in pixels.
What you want is not a StackPanel, you want something like the DockPanel or Grid
Where you set the first Content as TextBlock, then Dock a button to the right.
Or a Grid.

Having issues with the scroll bar in WPF

So im trying to get my scroll bar to A only show up as needed and B show up only around my description text
Right now the scroll view is going from the top of the window to the bottom
<Window x:Class="WpfApplication3.DataWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="DataWindow" Height="300" Width="300">
<Grid>
<Label x:Name="lblTitle" Content="Label" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="96,25,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="186"/>
<Label x:Name="lblPublishDate" Content="Label" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="96,53,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="186"/>
<Image x:Name="imgPic" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="81" Margin="10,10,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="81"/>
<ScrollViewer>
<TextBlock x:Name="tbDesc" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="10,96,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap" VerticalAlignment="Top" Height="167" Width="272" Text="TextBlock" ScrollViewer.HorizontalScrollBarVisibility="Disabled" ScrollViewer.VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Auto" />
</ScrollViewer>
</Grid>
A grid tries to let it's children take up all availble space.
Your ScrollViewer is one of the children, so it will fill all available space by default.
There are a number of ways around this.
You could use a different panel type, one that doesn't try to stretch it's children to fill all available space. Based on what you're doing with excessively large margins, a Canvas might be suitable.
I would suggest reading this for a quick understanding of WPF's available Layout Panels : WPF Layouts - A Visual Quick Start
Another alternative is to give your Grid some Row Definitions, and specify that the row containing the ScrollViewer should be of a fixed size, or should be sized so it fits whatever size the child object wants (Height="Auto")
Or you could give your ScrollViewer a fixed height, and set it's VerticalAlignment property so it gets docked to either the top or bottom of the Grid.
Personally I would recommend the first option - reviewing WPF's layout system and determining a more approrpiate panel type for your layout. And if the most appropriate panel type is a Grid, then I would highly recommend using the RowDefinitions and ColumnDefinitions to give your Grid some structure, rather than trying to use excessively large Margins to position your controls.
You're pretty close, the problem appears to be an issue of layout. Because the controls are arranged in the grid without row and column definitions the scrollviewer is attempting to resize to the full size of the grid while the textblock is adhereing to its fixed size and margin. Try the following starting point and see if it helps:
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="150"/>
<RowDefinition/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<StackPanel Grid.Row="0">
<Label x:Name="lblTitle" Content="Label" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Width="186"/>
<Label x:Name="lblPublishDate" Content="Label" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Width="186"/>
<Image x:Name="imgPic" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="81" Width="81"/>
</StackPanel>
<ScrollViewer Grid.Row="1" HorizontalScrollBarVisibility="Disabled" VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Auto">
<TextBlock x:Name="tbDesc" HorizontalAlignment="Left" TextWrapping="Wrap" Text="TextBlock"/>
</ScrollViewer>
</Grid>

How to control button layout in Xaml

Im having trouble controlling the exact layout of a button control with XAML.
It seems that whatever i do the button is of a minimum width.
I have a simple button with only a textblock inside the button. But the button has a lot of margin and padding that i cant seem to get rid of (i know of negative margins and padding).
The things i want to know is:
1. Why in the world was it designed this way.
2. what are the groundrules for controlling the exact layout of a button?
My code is as follows:
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="80"></RowDefinition>
<RowDefinition Height="*"></RowDefinition>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<StackPanel Grid.Row="0"></StackPanel>
<Pivot Grid.Row="1">
<Pivot.Title>
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" Margin="-15,-3,0,0" Background="red" Width="480">
<Button Background="Blue" x:Name="btnStudies" Click="btnMenuItem_Click" Width="20">
<TextBlock Text="Title" Foreground="White"></TextBlock>
</Button>
<Button Background="Green">
<TextBlock Text="Title" Foreground="White"></TextBlock>
</Button>
<Button Background="Blue" Click="btnMenuItem_Click">
<TextBlock Text="Title" Foreground="White"></TextBlock>
</Button>
<Button Background="Blue" Click="btnMenuItem_Click">
<TextBlock Text="Title" Foreground="White"></TextBlock>
</Button>
<Button Background="Blue" Click="btnMenuItem_Click">
<TextBlock Text="Title" Foreground="White"></TextBlock>
</Button>
</StackPanel>
</Pivot.Title>
</Pivot>
</Grid>
I want five buttons in a row but these are already too wide for the screen (windows phone). Changing the width doesnt seem to have any effect (why is it there).
The textBlock control within the button the button is as wide as the text on it, but i dont seem to have any control on the width of the button. In HTML you only have padding or margin when you define it but in xaml it just seems to be there and for me its unclear how to undo that.
*****EDIT*****
After reading Rachel's reply i decided to start from the ground up.
Using the code below i still have no control over how wide the button is because it uses a certain amount of padding that i cant seem to remove. The button has a width of about 110 when i define a width lower than that it doesnt change. Margins and paddings of 0 have no effect at all (dont want to use negative values just yet because that doesnt seem very intuitive). So the code below is very simple but still the button takes up an amount of space that i dont have any control over. I cant imagine a reason why it was designed this way.
<Grid>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="400" />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<StackPanel Width="300" Background="Red" HorizontalAlignment="Left">
<Button Background="Blue" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Width="100" Margin="0" Padding="0">
<TextBlock Text="Title" Width="Auto" HorizontalAlignment="Left" />
</Button>
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
The type and size of the parent panel containing the control affects the size/layout of the child controls.
In your case, you have a Grid as your parent panel, and a Grid defaults to taking up all available space. In addition, children placed inside the grid default to taking up all available space as well unless you specify otherwise.
So your <Pivot> is being assigned a width equal to Grid.Width, and Pivot.Title sounds like it's being assigned a width equal to Pivot.Width, and StackPanel is being assigned a width equal to Pivot.Title.Width... you get the picture.
To specify that a control should not take up all available space, specify a HorizontalAlignment or VerticalAlignment property to tell it what side of the parent panel to dock the item on.
For example
<Pivot Grid.Row="1" HorizontalAlignment="Left">
or
<StackPanel OWidth="480" HorizontalAlignment="Left" ...>
If you're new to WPF's layout system, I would recommend reading through the codeproject article WPF Layouts: A Quick Visual Start to quickly learn what the main layout panels are for WPF.

Why ZIndex is not considered in arrange override of a stackpanel

Here is what I tried to to:
Added a stackpanel to my window (Orientation: Horizontal)
Added a set of buttons to it
Set the first button's ZIndex to be higher than the second one
Increased the width of the first button
What I expected:
I expected the first button to be on top of the second button (atlest overlay)
StackPanel's width should not change unless the width of the first button is no more sufficient
What is happening actually:
First button's width increases and the second button moves towards the right accordingly. They stay on the same plane
StackPanel's width increases with increase in the first button's width
Here is my question:
I know that stackpanel has not considered ZIndex while arranging the items within itself, BUT WHY?? Shouldn't it consider the ZIndex of its children while arranging them???
The Stackpanel 'stacks' its children based on their widths, i.e. if you increase the width of an item (or increase its margin), the stackpanel will simply expand to accomodate this. If you want to force items within a stackpanel to overlap, you will have to change their location after the layout has been computed. You can perform this using a RenderTransform. See the example below:
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" VerticalAlignment="Top">
<Button Content="One" Canvas.ZIndex="10">
<Button.RenderTransform>
<TranslateTransform X="10"/>
</Button.RenderTransform>
</Button>
<Button Content="One"/>
<Button Content="One"/>
<Button Content="One"/>
</StackPanel>
And yes, the ZIndex is respected. This is an attached proepry of Canvas, however, it seems to be used by the rendering engine directly rather than by Canvas, hence it works in the above code.
I tried to find some relevant info about how to set the z index of wpf layout elements and panels. Using a Canvas comes with a different set of positioning issues which I simply hadn't the time to investigate. Here is a simple solution using the Panel.ZIndex property in xaml.
<Grid>
<Border Width="100" Height="100" Margin="0,0,50,50" Panel.ZIndex="1" Background="Navy" Opacity="0.3"
VerticalAlignment="Top" HorizontalAlignment="Left">
</Border>
<Border Width="100" Height="100" Margin="50,50,0,0" Background="Fuchsia" Opacity="0.3">
</Border>
The resulting two square border elements will overlap. One can use stackpanels instead of borders and use this logic to overlap anything easily.
Here is the same code adapted to the button problem:
<Grid>
<StackPanel Panel.ZIndex="10" Margin="20,20,0,0" HorizontalAlignment="Left">
<Button Content="One" Width="50" Height="40">
</Button>
</StackPanel>
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" Margin="50,0,0,0" >
<Button Content="Two" Width="50" Height="40"/>
<Button Content="Three" Width="50" Height="40"/>
<Button Content="Four" Width="50" Height="40"/>
</StackPanel>
</Grid>

how to extend WPF GridRow Contents into next row without expanding the current row

I'm new to WPF and I'm trying to build a dropdown menu using the expander. Page layout is being handled with a Grid.
The extender sits inside the first row of the grid and I would I would like the contents of the expander to expand over top of the contents of everything below when it's clicked. Unfortunately, right now, the entire row is expanded to accommodate the height of the expanded control.
I tried playing around with the ZIndex of the Expander but it doesn't seem to have any effect. No matter what, the row always expands forcing everything else on the page to move.
<Expander FontSize="18" Name="moduleSelect" Width="100" Header=" Goto -> "
Background="#000033" MouseEnter="moduleSelect_MouseEnter"
MouseLeave="moduleSelect_MouseLeave" Foreground="White"
Grid.Column="0" Grid.ColumnSpan="3" Grid.Row="1" HorizontalAlignment="Left">
<StackPanel>
<Button Name="btnTasks" Width="100" Foreground="White"
Background="#000033">Tasks</Button>
<Button Name="btnNotes" Width="100" Foreground="White"
Background="#000033">Notes</Button>
</StackPanel>
</Expander>
How can I make this expand 'above' the subsequent rows without distorting the grid?
What would happen if you set the Grid.RowSpan of the Expander to 2 (or how ever many rows you'd like it to span when expanded)?
So, for a two-row grid, you'd have something like this:
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="30" /> <!--set this to the height of the expander's header area-->
<RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<WhateverGoesInRow2 Grid.Row="1" />
<Expander FontSize="18" Name="moduleSelect" Width="100" Header=" Goto -> "
Background="#000033" MouseEnter="moduleSelect_MouseEnter"
MouseLeave="moduleSelect_MouseLeave" Foreground="White"
Grid.Column="0" Grid.ColumnSpan="3" HorizontalAlignment="Left"
Grid.Row=0 Grid.RowSpan="2">
<StackPanel>
<Button Name="btnTasks" Width="100" Foreground="White" Background="#000033">Tasks</Button>
<Button Name="btnNotes" Width="100" Foreground="White" Background="#000033">Notes</Button>
</StackPanel>
</Expander>
</Grid>
You may need to adjust your RowDefinition section for your particular situation, but if I'm understanding your problem correctly, I think this will work.
You want something that pops up over the grid, not expands within the grid. A ComboBox, say, or - this being a menu, after all - a ContextMenu.
You could also build some combination of a ToggleButton and a Popup, but that's essentially the same thing as a ComboBox with IsEditable turned off.
The built-in drop-down control makes use of a Popup control in its default control template to do a similar thing.

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