WPF: Expression with joined DataBinding and value - wpf

In the customized Slider template I've got, the main border's Height is bound to the TemplateBinding Height property, I want the Thumb element's height value to be higher by 2-3 pixels relatively to the TemplateBinding Height property I stated before.
Is there any elegant way to achieve that without getting ValueConverters and AttachedProperties involved?
Something like
Height="{TemplateBinding Height} + 3"

2 Options:
1) Consider setting the margin of your control whose Height is bound to -3. I think this will satisfy your description of "higher by 2-3 pixels". If not -3, you can play with other margin values.
2) If 1 doesn't work, then you'll need to write an IValueConverter class and set it as the converter for your binding. Unfortunately, TemplateBinding doesn't support converters since they are meant to be lightweight connections to your Control's forward-facing properties.
Your binding will instead be:
Height="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource TemplatedParent}, Path=Height, Converter={StaticResource ReferenceToMyPlus3Converter}}"
Here's a link to an example of writing a converter.

Related

Binding Canvas.Size to parent UserControl and then setting Canvas.Size in code

I have a wpf Canvas in a grid in a UserControl named 'root' and I bind the Width and Height of the canvas as follows:
Width="{Binding ElementName=root, Path=ActualWidth}"
Height="{Binding ElementName=root, Path=ActualHeight}"
On the canvas all kinds of DrawingVisual are drawn.
In code behind I set the Width end Height of my Canvas equal to ContentBounds.Right and ContentBounds.Bottom so that every DrawingVisual that I add to the canvas will be visible.
This seems to work all right but I am confused about the binding mentioned.
This is a one-way binding from the usercontrol's actual size to the size of the canvas.
Does the setting of Width and Height in code behind overrule this binding?
When I remove the binding the canvas is displayed equally as well, but the control is also used in other places and situations and might be needed then.
Does the setting of Width and Height in code behind overrule this binding?
Yes. Programmatically setting the value of a target property that has a one-way binding applied to it will clear the binding.

Collapse ContentControl if Content is Collapsed

I've got a ContentControl which has a style containing a border and other visual decorations. I want these decorations to disappear when the content is collapsed, so I figured I have to set the visibility of the ContentControl to collapsed in this case. I got this style for my ContentControl decoration:
<Style x:Key="DecoratedItem1" TargetType="{x:Type c:DecoratedItem}">
<Setter Property="Template">
<Setter.Value>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type c:DecoratedItem}">
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<Border BorderBrush="Black" BorderThickness="2" CornerRadius="2">
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<Image Source="/Images/file.png"/>
<ContentPresenter Name="wContent"/>
</StackPanel>
</Border>
</StackPanel>
<ControlTemplate.Triggers>
<DataTrigger Binding="{Binding ElementName=wContent, Path=Content.Visibility}" Value="Collapsed">
<DataTrigger.Setters>
<Setter Property="Visibility" Value="Collapsed"/>
</DataTrigger.Setters>
</DataTrigger>
</ControlTemplate.Triggers>
</ControlTemplate>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
</Style>
The DecoratedItem class is just a subclass of ContentControl with additional DependencyProperties which are not relevant to this issue, I just wanted to note that I already have a subclass to which I could add code, if necessary.
This works when the content of the ContentControl is a UIElement, however if the content is generated by a DataTemplate it complains about not being able to find the Visibility property.
<!-- works -->
<c:DecoratedItem Style="{StaticResource DecoratedItem1}">
<TextBlock Text="ABC" Visibility="Collapsed"/>
</c:DecoratedItem>
<!-- doesn't work -->
<c:DecoratedItem Style="{StaticResource DecoratedItem1}" Content="ABC">
<c:DecoratedItem.Resources>
<DataTemplate DataType="{x:Type clr:String}">
<TextBlock Text="{Binding}" Visibility="Collapsed"/>
</DataTemplate>
</c:DecoratedItem.Resources>
</c:DecoratedItem>
The error for the second case diplayed in the debug output window is:
System.Windows.Data Error: 40 : BindingExpression path error:
'Visibility' property not found on 'object' ''String' (HashCode=-885832486)'.
BindingExpression:Path=Content.Visibility;
DataItem='ContentPresenter' (Name='wContent');
target element is 'DecoratedItem' (Name='');
target property is 'NoTarget' (type 'Object')
I understand why this happens, but don't know how to fix my style to work as I want it. I don't mind adding helper code to the DecoratedItem subclass if necessary. Any idea how to fix this?
[edit 1]
Some more explanation in regard to the proposed answer:
I can't enforce that the Content is always an UIElement. This is a model-view design after all, and of course I simplified the example a lot. In the real project the content is a model selected from the DataContext, which can be of several different types, and the DataTemplate builds a presentation for that model. Some of the DataTemplates decide (depending on model-state) that there is nothing to present and switch Visibility to Collapsed. I would like to propagate that information to the decorating container. The example above really just presents the problem and not the motivation, sorry.
[edit 2]
Not sure how knowing more about the model would help the problem, but here we go. The data in the Content field doesn't have much in common since it can be a lot of things, this DecoratedItem is supposed to be reusable to give a common visual style to items shown on some forms. Content can be stuff like work items whose DataTemplate collapses them if they are disabled; other kinds of Content can be incomplete and get collapsed. Of course other kinds never may get collapsed.
But note that the data model doesn't really have much to do with the question, which still is how to bind against the Visibility of the expanded content element (after possibly exposing it through the subclass in a bindable way).
There are a couple of ways of describing what's wrong. In the first, working example:
<c:DecoratedItem Style="{StaticResource DecoratedItem1}">
<TextBlock Text="ABC" Visibility="Collapsed"/>
</c:DecoratedItem>
the Content property of the ContentControl is set to be a TextBlock, which is a UIElement with a Visibility property. (This assumes that you have not changed the ContentPropertyAttribute of your derived class DecoratedItem to be something other than Content). Thus, your DataTrigger binding can correctly evaluate:
<DataTrigger Binding="{Binding ElementName=wContent, Path=Content.Visibility}" Value="Collapsed">
Contrast the working case with the failing one:
<c:DecoratedItem Style="{StaticResource DecoratedItem1}" Content="ABC">
in which the Content property is set to an instance of a String, which does not have a Visibility property.
The other way to describe what's wrong is to note that, even though you supply a DataTemplate for the case of Content being a String, Content is still a String and still does not have a Visibility property. In other words, the statement that the Content is generated by the DataTemplate is incorrect -- your DataTemplate just told the control how to display Content of type String.
The general answer to your question is that, if you want the DataTrigger in DecoratedItem1 bound with a Path of Content.Visibility, you need to make sure the content you put in it is always a UIElement. Conversely, if you want to be able to put any sort of Content into the control, you need to trigger off of something else.
The specific answer to your question, strictly, relies on your broader intent (in particular, on how the Visibility of the Content of your control will be set/modified). A couple of possibilities:
if you really want your DataTrigger binding of the form, "Content.Visibility", make sure that the Content is always a UIElement. For instance, use the working form of the style and then bind the Text of TextBlock to something appropriate. However, this doesn't fit so well with the idea of your derived control as a ContentControl, so...
your DataTrigger could probably bind to something else. It seems like, from the way the question is formed, that there is some other property or code-behind that will control whether the various content entities are Visible or not.
finally, you could add an additional DataTrigger to the TextBlock. This DataTrigger would set the visibility of its parent based on its own visibility. Then, bind the DataTrigger in style DecoratedItem1 with Path "Visibility" instead of "Content.Visibility", essentially chaining together Visibilities manually.
Edit
Based on what you've described about how you want to use this, it sounds like you need to consider the visual tree. You might augment your DecoratedItem control to have the following functionality: if all its visual children that are UIElments have a visibility of Collapsed (or if it has no visual children), it is also Collapsed (or, whatever logic makes sense for the desired functionality in terms of the Visibility of its visual children). You'd need to use the VisualTreeHelper class from code -- in particular, the GetChildrenCount and GetChild methods. You'd also, in your DecoratedItem class, override OnVisualChildrenChanged (while still calling the base class method) so that you can get UIElement.IsVisibleChanged events for the visible children.

Resizing a Panels based on the size of user control

I'm trying to find a way to resize a LayoutPanel (DevExpress) based on the size of the user control that it contains. The user control is exposed using a ContentControl. Here's the relevant Code
This is the Layout panel and the coresponding view:
<dxd:LayoutPanel Caption="Search Criteria" CaptionImage="Images/Icons/DetailView.png">
<ContentControl Name="myContentControl" Content="{Binding Path=ProjectsSearchVM}"/>
</dxd:LayoutPanel>
The ProjectSearchVM is a property of the MainWindowViewModel, which is the DataContext for the code above. This property returns an object of type ProjectsSearchViewModel that is replaced by its corresponding View (containing a userControl) using a Resource File:
<DataTemplate DataType="{x:Type vm:ProjectSearchViewModel}">
<vw:ProjectSearchView />
</DataTemplate>
The problem is that my view is higher than the original size of the Layout Pannel. I'd like to bind the panel's MinSize to the size of my view (or the ContentControl containing it).
I tried this, but it doesn't work:
<dxd:LayoutPanel Caption="Search Criteria" CaptionImage="Images/Icons/DetailView.png">
<dxd:LayoutPanel.MinSize>
<Binding ElementName="myContentControl" Path="Size"/>
</dxd:LayoutPanel.MinSize>
<ContentControl Name="myContentControl" Content="{Binding Path=ProjectsSearchVM}" />
</dxd:LayoutPanel>
I'm still very new to WPF, so I'm sure the solution is simple.
Can anyone enlighten me?
The question was answered on the DevExpress site at this link:
http://www.devexpress.com/Support/Center/Question/Details/Q448884
For flyout, it involves overriding the control in the container, for example, if it's in a Border, something like this:
public class AutoSizeContainer : Border {
protected override void OnInitialized(EventArgs e) {
base.OnInitialized(e);
BaseLayoutItem item = DockLayoutManager.GetLayoutItem(this);
Child.Measure(new Size(double.PositiveInfinity, double.PositiveInfinity));
AutoHideGroup.SetAutoHideSize(item, new Size(Child.DesiredSize.Width + 6, Child.DesiredSize.Height + 6));
}
}
Making such an object the root object of the LayoutPanel in an AutoHide group, makes the flyout sizing correct.
I'm not familiar with DevExpress's LayoutPanel, but most standard WPF panels (Grid, StackPanel) "auto size" to contain their children. Are you setting hard Height and Width properties for the LayoutPanel (or does it only contain a Size property and not Height and Width like standard WPF controls)?
If you are forced to use hard Height/Width values, a common way to bind them would be like this:
<dxd:LayoutPanel ... Height="{Binding Height, ElementName=myContentControl}" Width="{Binding Width, ElementName=myContentControl}">
<ContentControl x:Name=myContentControl ... />
</dxd:LayoutPanel>
Normally, if you bind Heights and Widths you bind to ActualHeight or ActualWidth, but those properties do not exist on ContentControl. (Height and Width are only suggested values, so you may find that if the above binding is needed and works for you, you may need to tweak the values slightly with a value converter to account for margins or padding).

What is the difference between Width and ActualWidth in WPF?

I am currently working with Panels in WPF, and I noticed that as regards the Width and Height properties, there are also two other properties called ActualWidth and ActualHeight.
ActualWidth
Gets the rendered width of this
element. This is a dependency
property. (Inherited from
FrameworkElement.)
Width
Gets or sets the width of the element.
This is a dependency property.
(Inherited from FrameworkElement.)
Reference: MSDN
Can anyone point out the differences between the two and when to use either one ?
Width/Height is the requested or layout size. If you set to Auto, then the value is double.NaN when you access the property in code behind.
ActualWidth/ActualHeight and RenderSize.Width/RenderSize.Height both return the element's rendered size, as RenderSize is of type Size. If you want/need the actual size of the item, then use any of these attributes.
I find ActualWidth most useful when I want to bind the width or height of one element to another.
In this simple example I have two buttons arranged side by side and a comment underneath that is constrained to the width of the StackPanel containing the two buttons.
<StackPanel>
<StackPanel Margin="0,12,0,0" Orientation="Horizontal" Name="buttonPanel" HorizontalAlignment="Left" >
<Button Content="Yes - Arm the missile" FontWeight="Bold" HorizontalAlignment="Left"/>
<Button Content="No - Save the world" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="7,0,0,0"/>
</StackPanel>
<TextBlock Text="Please choose whether you want to arm the missile and kill everybody, or save the world by deactivating the missile."
Width="{Binding Path=ActualWidth,ElementName=buttonPanel}" Margin="0,5,0,0" HorizontalAlignment="Left" TextWrapping="Wrap"/>
</StackPanel>
ActualWidth accounts for padding in the value so anytime you need to know that number you can call Actualwidth instead of width and avoid the calculation.
edit: removed Margin b/c it isn't part of ActualWidth.
ActualWidth is set by the rendering system, and may be different depending on the widths of other elements and overall size constraints. As a result, it can not be changed. Width is a property that can be changed, and should be used to increase or decrease the width of the element.
From MSDN:
This property is a calculated value based on other width inputs, and the layout system. The value is set by the layout system itself, based on an actual rendering pass, and may therefore lag slightly behind the set value of properties such as Width that are the basis of the input change.
There is a very good reason not to use the ActualWidth to bind to (obviously ActualHeight accordingly).
When you set the Width of an element, to the ActualWidth of another one you may break the layout chain.
In the best case your element/control needs to be parsed after the layout process of the parent (the binding source) finished. That means additional time.
If it is at the same hierarchy level as the parent the layout process needs two runs (at least) to calculate a definitive size.
For example I had a control which had it's size property overridden in a style that would set it to the TemplatedParent (don't do):
<Rectangle DockPanel.Dock="Top" Width="{TemplateBinding ActualWidth}"
Height="1" Fill="#000000"/>
When resizing the containing window, the control would prevent the container from becoming smaller and brake the layout. Setting it to the Width will resolve the problem (do):
<Rectangle DockPanel.Dock="Top" Width="{TemplateBinding Width}"
Height="1" Fill="#000000"/>
If you have to use the ActualWidth in general something is wrong with your xaml. Better fix that instead of messing up with the final sizes of the layout run.
It's exactly that, the render width != layout width. One is intended to be used for layout the other one is intended for render. It like with WinForms, there was a Size and a ClientSize property, the differ slightly and you should use the Atual/Client size of rendering and the Width/Height for layout.
You can set the Width property, but not the ActualWidth property.
The Width property is used to determine how the panel is rendered, then the ActualWidth is set to the actual width that was used. This may not be the same value as Width, depending on the size of it's child elements and constrictions from it's parent element.
The ActualWidth is not set immediately when setting the Width property, but will be updated (one or more times) during rendering.

Resizing XAML properties

Is there a way to have XAML properties scale along with the size of the uielements they belong to?
In essence, I have a control template that I have created too large for it's use/ mainly because I want to use the same control with different sizes. The problem is that I can set the control size to Auto (in the ControlTemplate), however the properties of the intrisic template elements aren't resized: eg StrokeThickness remains at 10 while it should become 1.
It works fine when I apply a ScaleTransform on the template, but that results in a control that's too small when it's actually used: the width/height=Auto resizes the control to the proper size and then the scaletransform is applied. So I'm stuff with a sort of nonscalable control.
I'm a bit new to WPF, so there might be a straightforward way to do this...
Your description is a bit vague, but it sounds like you'll want to have a ViewBox with the Stretch set to Uniform as the root element of your control.
You could try to bind the width and height of the control inside the template to the width and height respectively of the templated control at runtime. Something like:
<Button>
<Button.Template>
<ControlTemplate TargetType={x:Type Button}>
<Border Width="{TemplateBinding Property=ActualWidth}"
Height="{TemplateBinding Property=ActualHeight}">
<ContentPresenter />
</Border>
</ControlTemplate>
</Button.Template>
</Button>
Note that the binding sources are the FrameworkElement.ActualWidth and FrameworkElement.ActualHeight properties of the templated control. These properties contain the width and height of a control after it has been rendered, which can be different from what has been specified in the Width and Height properties. This is because the values are ultimately calculated at runtime taking into account the size of any parent controls in the visual tree.
Too bad you can't create a control template for a StackPanel, DockPanel, Grid, or any other container.

Resources