Getting a WPF control to stretch vertically - wpf

I can't get my WPF layout working. I want the ListBox to stretch vertically by anchoring to the bottom of the window. It currently just sizes to the height of the controls in the StackPanel (the Add and Remove buttons), and resizes to accomodate items that are added. In WinForms I would just set ListView.Anchor to Top|Left|Bottom|Right but I shouldn't live in the past. I've tried a number of things like putting it in a DockPanel, wrapping everything in Canvas, etc., but nothing seems to be affected.
Here is my XAML:
<Window x:Class="FileDropAdmin.ViewsTestListView"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:i="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/2010/interactivity"
xmlns:shared="http://schemas.markpad.net/winfx/xaml/shared"
Title="ViewsTestListView" Height="300" Width="416">
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
<RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<TextBlock TextWrapping="Wrap" VerticalAlignment="Top" Text="Things:" />
<Grid Grid.Row="1">
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="4*"/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="1*"/>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ListBox x:Name="Things" DisplayMemberPath="ThingName" SelectedItem="CurrentThing" Grid.Column="0"/>
<StackPanel Margin="5 0 0 0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Grid.Column="1">
<Button x:Name="AddThing" Content="Add" Margin="0 0 0 0" VerticalAlignment="Top"/>
<Button x:Name="RemoveThing" Content="Remove" Margin="0 5 0 0" VerticalAlignment="Top"/>
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
</Grid>
</Window>

Set your second row to Height="*" and It should take all the space of the window if it's what you need

Add another row that takes up all the remainder space...
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="*" />
<RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
<RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
...then adjust the row values for the text block and list box...
<TextBlock Grid.Row="1" TextWrapping="Wrap" VerticalAlignment="Top" Text="Things:" />
<Grid Grid.Row="2">

You need following options...
You second row defintion needs to be Height="*"
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
<RowDefinition Height="*" />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
and your ListBox needs ColumnSpan="2"
<ListBox x:Name="Things"
DisplayMemberPath="ThingName"
SelectedItem="CurrentThing"
Grid.ColumnSpan="2"
Grid.Column="0"/>
Also you said you used DockPanel... with dockpanel its even easier. All you have to set it LastChildFill="True" and add your ListBox as the last child in the dockpanel.
<DockPanel LastChildFill="True">
<Grid DockPanel.Dock="Top" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch">
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="4*"/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="1*"/>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<StackPanel Margin="5 0 0 0" Grid.Column="0"
HorizontalAlignment="Stretch">
<TextBlock Text="Things:"/>
<TextBox HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"
VerticalAlignment="Stretch"/>
</StackPanel>
<StackPanel Margin="5 0 0 0" Grid.Column="1">
<Button x:Name="AddThing" Content="Add" Margin="0 0 0 0"/>
<Button x:Name="RemoveThing" Content="Remove"
Margin="0 5 0 0"/>
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
<ListBox x:Name="Things" DisplayMemberPath="ThingName"
SelectedItem="CurrentThing" />
</DockPanel>

Related

WPF multiline textbox doesn't rendered as multiline inside usercontrol

Inside UserControl, I add a TextBox as below
in xaml:
<UserControl x:Class="****"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
<UserControl.Resources>
</UserControl.Resources>
<Grid>
<ScrollViewer Grid.Row="0" Visibility="{Binding ElementName=PromotionDetailsGroupBox, Path=Visibility}" VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Auto" HorizontalScrollBarVisibility="Auto">
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
<RowDefinition Height="260"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="600"/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<GroupBox Header="Settings" Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="0" Margin="4">
<Grid Margin="10 20 0 0">
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="30"/>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<TextBlock Grid.Row="2" Margin="18 0" Width="100" HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Center">Message</TextBlock>
<TextBox Grid.Row="2" Margin="10 0 4 4" TextWrapping="Wrap" AcceptsReturn="True" Width="100" MaxLength="100" Height="60"></TextBox>
</GroupBox>
</Grid>
</ScrollViewer>
</Grid>
run the application, the TextBox always displays as a single line.
Can anybody tell me why?
thanks in advance.

WPF ScrollViewer pushing control out of window

I have a DockPanel, which contains some controls including a ScrollViewer.
What I WANT to happen, is for the ScrollViewer to allow the grid to be scrolled, without pushing other controls off the bottom of the form.
Instead, the ScrollViewer expands to the height of the window, rather than the top of the Button, pushing the Button off for the bottom of the form. Why is this? How do I fix it?
<Window x:Class="Class1.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:Class1"
mc:Ignorable="d"
Title="MainWindow" Height="800" Width="600"
WindowStartupLocation="CenterScreen">
<DockPanel LastChildFill="False">
<Menu DockPanel.Dock="Top">
<MenuItem Header="File">
<MenuItem Name="miQuit" Header="Quit" Click="miQuit_Click" />
</MenuItem>
</Menu>
<ToolBarTray DockPanel.Dock="Top" IsLocked="True">
<ToolBar>
<Button Name="btnQuit" ToolBar.OverflowMode="Never" Click="btnQuit_Click">
Quit
</Button>
</ToolBar>
</ToolBarTray>
<ScrollViewer VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Auto" DockPanel.Dock="Top" VerticalAlignment="Stretch">
<Grid Name="gMainGrid" ScrollViewer.CanContentScroll="True">
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="Auto"/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="Auto"/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="Auto"/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="Auto"/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="Auto"/>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition />
<RowDefinition />
<RowDefinition />
<RowDefinition />
<RowDefinition />
<RowDefinition />
<RowDefinition />
<RowDefinition />
<RowDefinition />
<RowDefinition />
<RowDefinition />
<RowDefinition />
<RowDefinition />
<RowDefinition />
<RowDefinition />
<RowDefinition />
<RowDefinition />
<RowDefinition />
<RowDefinition />
<RowDefinition />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<TextBox Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="0" Width="100" Margin="10,10,10,10"/>
<TextBox Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="1" Width="100" Margin="10,10,10,10"/>
<TextBox Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="2" Width="100" Margin="10,10,10,10"/>
<TextBox Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="3" Width="100" Margin="10,10,10,10"/>
<TextBox Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="4" Width="100" Margin="10,10,10,10"/>
<TextBox Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="5" Width="100" Margin="10,10,10,10"/>
<TextBox Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="6" Width="100" Margin="10,10,10,10"/>
<TextBox Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="7" Width="100" Margin="10,10,10,10"/>
<TextBox Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="8" Width="100" Margin="10,10,10,10"/>
<TextBox Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="9" Width="100" Margin="10,10,10,10"/>
<TextBox Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="10" Width="100" Margin="10,10,10,10"/>
<TextBox Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="11" Width="100" Margin="10,10,10,10"/>
<TextBox Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="12" Width="100" Margin="10,10,10,10"/>
<TextBox Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="13" Width="100" Margin="10,10,10,10"/>
<TextBox Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="14" Width="100" Margin="10,10,10,10"/>
<TextBox Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="15" Width="100" Margin="10,10,10,10"/>
<TextBox Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="16" Width="100" Margin="10,10,10,10"/>
<TextBox Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="17" Width="100" Margin="10,10,10,10"/>
<TextBox Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="18" Width="100" Margin="10,10,10,10"/>
<TextBox Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="19" Width="100" Margin="10,10,10,10"/>
<TextBox Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="20" Width="100" Margin="10,10,10,10"/>
</Grid>
</ScrollViewer>
<Button Name="btnButton1" DockPanel.Dock="Bottom" Click="btnButton1_Click" >ButtonText</Button>
</DockPanel>
I want the menu bar at the top of the screen, the button at the bottom of the screen, and the grid with the ScrollViewer in the middle. What am I doing wrong?
The problem is that the ScrollViewer doesn't know how much height it should get. ScrollViewer is a control that tries to get as much size as its children need. DockPanel also gives as much size as the ScrollViewer need and therefore your problem. You can fix height of the ScrollViewer with pixels (i.e. Height=100) To make it a fixed height. I don't know your use case so this might be useful if you are showing an image carousel for example.
In more general layout advice I might say that you'd better use a grid instead of a DockPanel:
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="auto" />
<RowDefinition Height="auto" />
<RowDefinition Height="auto" />
<!-- Next one is for middle part of the page -->
<RowDefinition Height="*" />
<RowDefinition Height="auto" />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<!-- your controls here -->
</Grid>
I found that I could have a dynamic height with the DockPanel if I stuck the whole thing in a Grid. This appears to work, as I can now have a dynamic height for the ScrollViewer.
<Window x:Class="Class1.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:Class1"
mc:Ignorable="d"
Title="MainWindow" Height="800" Width="600"
WindowStartupLocation="CenterScreen">
<Grid>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="*" />
<RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<DockPanel Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="0" LastChildFill="False">
Everything is then as normal EXCEPT that I move my button outside of the DockPanel and into the Grid's second row:
</DockPanel>
<Button Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="1" Name="btnButton1" DockPanel.Dock="Bottom" Click="btnButton1_Click" >ButtonText</Button>
</Grid>
The rows with a Height of "Auto" will size to fit their content. The rows with a Height of asterisk (*) will size to fill the remaining space after the size of the Autos has been calculated. Thus everything sizes up correctly and nicely.
Alternatively, at this point I can do-away with the DockPanel entirely and have the Menu, ToolBarTray, ScrollViewer, and Button in their own separate grid rows, like Emad suggests in their answer (although I'm not sure what the extra row is for in their example).
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
<RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
<RowDefinition Height="*" />
<RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
I ultimately decided to go for that approach, so I'll mark it as the answer, but I'm putting this all here for the full explanation, for completeness (in case people do happen to want to keep their DockPanel).

Odd WPF Grid Behavior Affected by TextBox Text

I can't figure out why the contents of my TextBox is affecting my grid column widths. I have setup a grid with 3 columns with widths defined as 50, *, 50, as shown below
Now, when in use, the center column will grow/shrink as the text in the TextBox changes, see the 2 examples below. The actual TextBox is not changing size, so I can't understand why in the world the grid is changing. The Grid is inside of a Border inside a UserControl. The UserControl is used as a DataTemplate in a ListBox.
Edit: I've discovered that this issue is related to the UserControl being in a ListBox, see example image below (UserControl in ListBox (circled in red) vs. UserControl Placed on Form (circed in blue). The grid behaves as expected when the UserControl is placed directly on the form. Code for the form is given below.
UserControl XAML:
<Grid ShowGridLines="True">
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="50"/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="1*"/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="50"/>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<TextBlock Text="Name:" Margin="2" />
<TextBox Grid.Column="1" Margin="2" Text="{Binding Name, UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged}" Grid.ColumnSpan="2" />
<TextBlock Text="Shift:" Grid.Row="1" Margin="2" />
<TextBox Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="1" Margin="2" Text="{Binding TimeShift, Mode=TwoWay, UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged, FallbackValue=0}" HorizontalContentAlignment="Right" />
<TextBlock Text="s" Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="2" Margin="2" />
</Grid>
Window/Form XAML:
<Window x:Class="CrashSimOffice.FileImport"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:local="clr-namespace:CrashSimOffice"
Title="File Import" Height="350" Width="450" Background="White" Icon="/CrashSimOffice;component/Images/16/page-white-save.png">
<Grid>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="75"/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="75"/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="75"/>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
<RowDefinition/>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Button Content="Add" Margin="2" Command="{Binding AddFileCommand}" />
<Button Content="Remove" Grid.Column="1" Margin="2" Command="{Binding RemoveFileCommand}" />
<ListBox HorizontalContentAlignment="Stretch" Grid.ColumnSpan="4" Margin="2" Grid.Row="1" ItemsSource="{Binding Files}" SelectedItem="{Binding CurrentFile}" ScrollViewer.CanContentScroll="False" Background="WhiteSmoke">
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate DataType="{x:Type local:FileViewModel}">
<local:FileView DataContext="{Binding}" />
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>
<Button Content="Done" Grid.Column="3" Margin="2" Grid.Row="2" Click="Button_Click" />
<local:FileView Grid.Row="3" Grid.ColumnSpan="4" />
</Grid>
OK, I figured it out, Bruno V you got me thinking it must have something to do with the ListBox. I needed to add this to my ListBox:
ScrollViewer.HorizontalScrollBarVisibility="Disabled"
Not sure why that works, but it does.

wpf need grid with 3 rows to fill window and only have middle row stretch

Here's my code (which isn't working btw):
<DockPanel MinWidth="776" Margin="13" LastChildFill="True" Height="522" VerticalAlignment="Top">
<Grid DockPanel.Dock="Top" MinWidth="200">
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="70" />
<RowDefinition Height="*"/>
<RowDefinition Height="150" />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
</Grid>
...
</DockPanel>
When I vertically size the control everything just sticks to the top (which I want, except for the middle to stretch).
Thanks in advance!
If you can just stick to dock panels, you do something like the following:
<DockPanel LastChildFill="true">
<DockPanel DockPanel.Dock="Top" Height="70" />
<DockPanel DockPanel.Dock="Bottom" Height="150" />
<DockPanel DockPanel.Dock="Top"><!-- Expandable content here--></DockPanel>
</DockPanel>
You will have to remove some values from the dock panel LastChildFill="True", Height="522" VerticalAlignment="Top" are stopping the grid from sizing.
Try this:
<DockPanel MinWidth="776" >
<Grid DockPanel.Dock="Top" MinWidth="200">
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="70" />
<RowDefinition Height="*"/>
<RowDefinition Height="150" />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Rectangle Fill="Blue" Grid.Row="0" />
<Rectangle Fill="Green" Grid.Row="1" />
<Rectangle Fill="Red" Grid.Row="2" />
</Grid>
</DockPanel>

How to have one control expand/fill up to maxheight, then expand/fill another control in WPF?

I have the following XAML source to demonstrate what I am working on.
I want, when resizing the group vertically, is to have the first groupbox expand, up to its max height, then, when that is reached, expand the third groupbox.The third groupbox has a min height property, as well.
<UserControl
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" x:Name="Screen_1_Name"
x:Class="TestExpansionScreens.Screen_1"
Width="400" Height="400">
<Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="White" Margin="0,0,0,0">
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="*"/>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<GroupBox Header="Thing1" Background="LightGreen" Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="0" MaxHeight="350">
<Button Content="Stuff1" />
</GroupBox>
<GroupBox Header="Thing2" Background="LightBlue" Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="0">
<TextBox Text="Stuff2" Height="60" />
</GroupBox>
<GroupBox Header="Thing3" Background="Pink" Grid.Row="2" Grid.Column="0">
<TextBox Text="Stuff3" />
</GroupBox>
</Grid>
</UserControl>
Normally, when I just want a single control expanded to fill the available space, I use a DockPanel. I've built this example with all kinds of assortments of grids and dockpanels, however, I have been unable to resolve how to make it work. Any idea on how to make it happen?
Thanks
You have to set the MaxHeight on your first RowDefinition, not on the GroupBox. The row will grow up to that height and then all excess space will be occupied by the third row. You can also add a MinHeight to the third row.
<Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="White" Margin="0,0,0,0">
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition MaxHeight="350" />
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
<RowDefinition MinHeight="150" />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<GroupBox Header="Thing1" Background="LightGreen" Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="0">
<Button Content="Stuff1" />
</GroupBox>
<GroupBox Header="Thing2" Background="LightBlue" Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="0">
<TextBox Text="Stuff2" Height="60" />
</GroupBox>
<GroupBox Header="Thing3" Background="Pink" Grid.Row="2" Grid.Column="0">
<TextBox Text="Stuff3" />
</GroupBox>
</Grid>

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