How can I add a control into two different containers at the same time?
For example: I have TabPage1, TabPage2 and a textbox control. I want the textbox be added into both TabPage1 and TabPage2 at the same time.
I believe that it's not possible to have a control in two containers at the same time. A simple workaround, which works most of the time (especially in case of tab control), is to move the control from one container to the other when the other container becomes visible (for example when the user switches tab pages).
Related
I have a WPF/XAML form that has controls on the page and also controls inside a tab control.
I was hoping that by setting the tabindex values appropriately, the user could just tab from the controls outside of the tab control to the controls inside the first tab item, but it seems that the items inside tab control are skipped when tabbing around the form.
Is there a way to have the tabbing go into the tabitem/tab control?
WPF provides a number of ways to affect the tab order in an application. Probably the most important is also strangely the least known. I'm talking about the KeyboardNavigation class and in particular, the KeyboardNavigation.TabNavigation Attached Property. From the linked page on MSDN, this property Gets or sets the logical tab navigation behavior for the children of the element that this property is set on.
There are several possible values in the KeyboardNavigationMode Enumeration used that affect the tabbing order in different ways. Take a look at the last linked page to see which one suits your situation best, but as an example, the Local value has the effect that Tab Indexes are considered on local subtree only inside this container and ... [Navigation leaves the containing element when an edge is reached].
<Grid KeyboardNavigation.TabNavigation="Local">
...
</Grid>
This is a problem I've often faced and it's a tricky one. From my understanding, the reason that it doesn't work as you'd expect is because tab order (even specified via TabIndex) is contextual. TabIndex of higher level items will be prioritized over inner elements. So if you have two TabItems inside of a TabControl, and each one has UIElements inside of them, even if the TabIndex is specified, tabbing will first traverse the TabItems before it moves down to the contents of those controls. I "think", IIRC" this has to do with how the page is composed, but don't quote me on that. MS has weird reasons for some of these subtle nuances.
Onto the solution. What I've done in the past (so long as you're NOT working on WinRT, which makes this problem even worse) you can use UIElement.Focus. I store a list of UIElements in the order I wish them to be when tabbed in the code. Then, by binding the KeyDown event to a common handler for all of these controls, I do something like this:
int currentIndex = TabbableControls.IndexOf(sender);
UIElement next = TabbableControls[(currentIndex + 1) % TabbableControls.Length];
next.Focus();
Hope this helps!
I need to create a basic user control with certain functionality (like dragging, minimizing and more..).
Now I need a bunch of other user controls to inherit from it and add their content.
I want an option to add new user controls that implements only a part of the base control and remains with the rest of the elements and functionality.
How can I bind a certain element (grid, stackpanael,.. whatever..) from the base user control to the new control? (without loading xaml in the code behind)
I basically want to "plant" a xaml element in a dedicated element on the base user control from a different user control.
If you write a custom control, one of the Controls you can use in the template is called a "ContentControl." Then when you use the Custom Control on a page, you can specify in xaml what the content is going to be. Thus you can put in a Grid, StackPanel, whatever in there.
But note that writing your own Custom Control is rarely done other than by 3rd party component vendors, as it requires a fairly deep knowledge of SL (for example, how to use Dependancy Properties). More commonly used is the "User Control" which is far easier to use and requires no such knowledge. I usually start by trying to accomplish what I need with a UserControl, and if I hit a roadblock, then switch over to a CustomControl.
But most of the existing controls already come with the functionality you describe - drag and drop, minimize etc. SL has a rich UI control set already, so a good place to start is by seeing if one of the existing controls has most of what you need, and then take it from there.
Greg
I am working on a WPF panel derivative with custom layout logic and sometimes it might be that component should be visible in two places, when following that layouting logic. Both instances of the same component will be partially cropped. Is it possible to do this - lay out a child component in two different places during the arrange pass?
I think that the panels behaviors are for arrange items in a view, and not for copy the items. I think this is not possible. If you copy a visual element then it will not be the same. If you want get this effect you may use a VisualBrush and paint some region with that, and set to the brush the control that you may want to copy. Using VisualBursh you will see a control copy, but you will not be able to modify it. The other way is using a custom control for making this effect. Other way could be using two different custom panels, both with the same items source (in the case that be the ItemsPanel for some collection).
Hope this answer helps to you...
I have a bunch of different objects that are commonly edited in the same TabControl using different DataTemplates, but I want each DataTemplate to have a common look and feel with Ok and Cancel buttons at the bottom right of each tab that will close the tab or save the content and then close the currently selected tab. What's the best way to place buttons on each tab ? Is there a way to do it without copying and pasting the buttons and stack panel across all of my data templates ?
Sure, you can create your own OkCancelSaveControl. In WPF, creating a "user control" is much easier than it sounds. Here is a tutorial. In a nutshell, you
create a new user control,
create properties in the user control that give the your control the information it needs to perform its duties (e.g. the tab that it's supposed to close or the data object that it's supposed to save),
if necessary, create events that the user control raises (OkClick), in case some tab requires special treatment.
I would make a custom control, lets call it MyCoolTabItem, that inherits from the TabItem class, and just throw your buttons into the control. Then just add a MyCoolTabItem instead of a TabItem to all of your TabControls and it will have all of your buttons on it.
You could make a base view class that held those buttons. Views that needed the buttons would inherit them and common functionality.
I have a silverlight control that has a few element such as: Image, TextBox and a TextBlock.
The application shows a list of the same control and the controls are placed in a specific layout, in grid with rows and cols.
Now,
I would like to be able to modify all the controls layout and arrange the element differently (preferred animatedly) without reloading the control.
Does anyone know how to do so?
Thanks,
Ronny
Use the States pane in
Expression Blend 3 to define different
layouts.
Use the GoToStateAction for the objects/events that you want to trigger the change or call VisualStateManager:GoToState(this, "NewState", true) from your code behind to switch layouts.
Use FluidLayout (the wave-shaped first button first for the State Group) to animate the change from one grid col/row to another.