Drag and drop multiple instances of user controls in WPF - wpf

Question

The given code works fine with dragging and dropping one instance of control. If I try to drop the same instance again it throws an exception:
Specified element is already the logical child of another element. Disconnect it first.
How do I drop multiple instances of user controls on my Canvas, similar to how Visual Studio toolbox does?
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
LoadUsercontrols();
}
private void LoadUsercontrols()
{
List<string> userControlKeys = new List<string>();
userControlKeys.Add("testCtrl1");
userControlKeys.Add("testCtrl2");
Type type = this.GetType();
Assembly assembly = type.Assembly;
foreach (string userControlKey in userControlKeys)
{
userControlFullName = String.Format("{0}.TestControls.{1}", type.Namespace, userControlKey);
UserControl userControl = new UserControl();
userControl = (UserControl)assembly.CreateInstance(userControlFullName);
_userControls.Add(userControlKey, userControl);
}
}
private void TreeViewItem_PreviewMouseLeftButtonDown(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
{
startPoint = e.GetPosition(null);
}
private void TreeViewItem_PreviewMouseMove(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
// Get the current mouse position
System.Windows.Point mousePos = e.GetPosition(null);
Vector diff = startPoint - mousePos;
if (e.LeftButton == MouseButtonState.Pressed &&
Math.Abs(diff.X) > SystemParameters.MinimumHorizontalDragDistance &&
Math.Abs(diff.Y) > SystemParameters.MinimumVerticalDragDistance)
{
TreeView treeView = sender as TreeView;
TreeViewItem treeViewItem = FindAnchestor<TreeViewItem>((DependencyObject)e.OriginalSource);
if (treeViewItem != null)
{
Type type = this.GetType();
Assembly assembly = type.Assembly;
DataObject dragData = new DataObject("myFormat", _userControls[((System.Windows.Controls.HeaderedItemsControl)(treeViewItem)).Header.ToString()]);
DragDrop.DoDragDrop(treeViewItem, dragData, DragDropEffects.Copy);
}
}
}
private static T FindAnchestor<T>(DependencyObject current) where T : DependencyObject
{
do
{
if (current is T)
{
return (T)current;
}
current = VisualTreeHelper.GetParent(current);
}
while (current != null);
return null;
}
private void MyDesignerCanvas_DragEnter(object sender, DragEventArgs e)
{
if (!e.Data.GetDataPresent("myFormat") || sender == e.Source)
{
e.Effects = DragDropEffects.None;
}
}
private void MyDesignerCanvas_Drop(object sender, DragEventArgs e)
{
if (e.Data.GetDataPresent("myFormat"))
{
if (treeItem != null)
{
UserControl myCanvasItem = e.Data.GetData("myFormat") as UserControl;
UserControl newCanvastItem = new UserControl
{
Content = _userControls[((System.Windows.Controls.HeaderedItemsControl)(treeItem)).Header.ToString()]
};
Point position = e.GetPosition(MyDesignerCanvas);
DesignerCanvas.SetLeft(newCanvastItem, position.X);
DesignerCanvas.SetTop(newCanvastItem, position.Y);
DesignerCanvas.SetZIndex(newCanvastItem, 1);
MyDesignerCanvas.Children.Add(newCanvastItem);
}
}
}
In XAML Code:
<TreeView x:Name="presetTreeView4" Grid.Row="1" >
<TreeViewItem Header="testCtrl1" Selected="TreeViewItem_Selected" PreviewMouseLeftButtonDown="TreeViewItem_PreviewMouseLeftButtonDown" PreviewMouseMove="TreeViewItem_PreviewMouseMove"/>
<TreeViewItem Header="testCtrl2" Selected="TreeViewItem_Selected" PreviewMouseLeftButtonDown="TreeViewItem_PreviewMouseLeftButtonDown" PreviewMouseMove="TreeViewItem_PreviewMouseMove"/>
</TreeView>
<s:DesignerCanvas x:Name="MyDesignerCanvas" AllowDrop="True" Drop="MyDesignerCanvas_Drop" DragEnter="MyDesignerCanvas_DragEnter" Background="#A6B0D2F5" DockPanel.Dock="Bottom" Margin="0" >
</s:DesignerCanvas>

Answer 1

You cannot add the same control to different containers - a control can only appear once in the visual tree.
Instead of loading the user controls in advance, you should construct them at MyDesignerCanvas_Drop (i.e. use Activator the same way you're using it right now in LoadUsercontrols) and assign the resulting control to the UserControl.Content.

Answer 2

I think you have to clone control _userControls[((System.Windows.Controls.HeaderedItemsControl)(treeItem)).Header.ToString()] in MyDesignerCanvas_Drop