WPF : Custom Controls - wpf

My Question :
How to build custom layout for controls like above pictures ?
by Microsoft Expression Blend ?
How ?
Please Direct me to the right article or discuss what you have

Expression Blend 4 has some built-in shapes that could help you out here. Basically, you want to re-template a TextBox control to contain the speech bubble shape instead of a standard Border.
Alternatively, you could do this without re-templating. Something like this:
<UserControl xmlns:ed="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/2010/drawing" Margin="100">
<ed:Callout AnchorPoint="-0.13,0.29" CalloutStyle="RoundedRectangle" Fill="#FFF4F4F5" Stroke="Black">
<ed:Callout.Content>
<TextBox BorderThickness="0" Background="Transparent">Hello</TextBox>
</ed:Callout.Content>
</ed:Callout>
</UserControl>
By the way, did you really mean TextBox, or do you actually mean TextBlock? If the latter, all you need is:
<ed:Callout AnchorPoint="-0.13,0.29" CalloutStyle="RoundedRectangle" Fill="#FFF4F4F5" Stroke="Black" Content="Hello"/>

Related

Image with Multiple Clickable Areas

I have an image that I want various parts of to be clickable. I found a comment in the question below mentioning this was possible with Expression Designer. I haven't been able to find a guide on how to do this. I understand that I have to export the image from Designer to Visual Studio. Is there a better way of achieving this or how do I go about creating the xaml for these clickable sections?
best way for clickable image map in wpf
Personally I'd use the second answer to that question i.e. do something like this:
<Canvas>
<Image Source="background.png"/>
<Ellipse Canvas.Left="82" Canvas.Top="88" Width="442" Height="216" Fill="Transparent" Cursor="Hand" MouseDown="Ellipse_MouseDown_1"/>
<Ellipse Canvas.Left="305" Canvas.Top="309" Width="100" Height="50" Fill="Transparent" Cursor="Hand" MouseDown="Ellipse_MouseDown_2"/>
</Canvas>
Then you can drag and resize the shapes in DevStudio using it's XAML editor's design mode.

WPF floating listbox

I have a textbox that I would like to combine with a listbox in such a way that when the user types into the textbox, certain items will appear in the listbox, and the user may select them from there. What I am looking for is behaviour similar to that of the AutoCompleteBox. Sadly, I can't use the existing AutocompleBox in my project for several reasons, so I am trying to come up with similar behaviour on my own. Any ideas?
EDIT:
I would like to avoid using the tooltip as this seems like a hack. Also, when the listbox is displayed, no layouts should be changed either in the control or elsewhere. Is there something like the CSS style overflow available?
OK, it looks like "Popup" is what I am looking for. It's got some of its own quirks, but so far it is working just fine. I am pretty much using it like this..
<DockPanel>
<TextBox Text="{Binding Value}"/>
<Popup Name="popOptions" Width="300" Height="100" AllowsTransparency="True" StaysOpen="False">
<ItemsControl ClipToBounds="False" Background="White" MouseLeftButtonUp="ItemsControl_MouseLeftButtonUp">
<sys:String>ITEM ONE</sys:String>
<sys:String>ITEM TWO</sys:String>
<sys:String>ITEM THREE</sys:String>
</ItemsControl>
</Popup>
</DockPanel>
I am capturing other control events to decide when, and when not to display it.
You could put the ListBox in the TextBox's ToolTip
I'm not sure if that's the best way of doing what you're trying to accomplish, but it will work to make a floating listbox

OpacityMask not working with WPF WindowsFormsHost?

I'm trying to put a rounded border on a control which is hosted through a WindowsFormHost object. It seems like no matter what I set for OpacityMask, it has no effect on the rendering. Is there something I've missed?
Here is the XAML code I am using. The child control is added at run-time. I've tried various combinations of masks, none of which worked for me. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
<WindowsFormsHost Background="#FF2BBA62" Height="414" Width="516" Margin="176.5,223,309.5,92" Name="vcxHost1" UseLayoutRounding="False" ClipToBounds="True" >
<WindowsFormsHost.OpacityMask>
<VisualBrush>
<VisualBrush.Visual>
<Rectangle Height="10" Width="100" Name="border1" />
</VisualBrush.Visual>
</VisualBrush>
</WindowsFormsHost.OpacityMask>
</WindowsFormsHost>
I suspect it doesn't work for the same reason that the z-indexing doesn't work. From the linked doc: "A hosted Windows Forms control is drawn in a separate HWND, so it is always drawn on top of WPF elements."
See the paragraph on Layout Limitations ...
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms744952.aspx
This may also be helpful ... http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms742522.aspx

How to center text around point using xaml

I would like to be able to place the word "hello" centered on a specific point. I need to do this completely in XAML without extra code. Best I can tell, all the text alignment properties/styles in XAML act on text within some bounding canvas or other element.
Since I don't know the length of the text I want to center, I can't center it using my own code.
The reason I need to solve the problem entirely in XAML is that I'm not using WPF to create the XAML, I'm writing it directly to an XML DOM. It will then be loaded into a Silverlight or WPF control for display.
In most graphic languages, including SVG, which is where my code originated, text can be aligned against a "stationary point" without a bounding box.
Any suggestions appreciated
(Yes, I know this question is old.)
The effectiveness of this solution may vary with the version of Silverlight or the .NET Framework you are using, and I haven't tried it with Silverlight for Windows Phone 7. I wrote a version for stand-alone WPF applications, and I wrote another version that also works in Silverlight.
First, the version that works in Silverlight and WPF. Please note that you will need to refactor the code a little bit if you aren't using a Canvas to provide an absolute position for the center of your TextBlock. For example, you may be using a TranslateTransform to position your text.
<Canvas>
<Canvas.Resources>
<ScaleTransform x:Key="transform" ScaleX="-1" ScaleY="-1" />
</Canvas.Resources>
<Grid RenderTransform="{StaticResource transform}" RenderTransformOrigin="-.25 -.25">
<TextBlock RenderTransform="{StaticResource transform}">
Hello!
</TextBlock>
</Grid>
</Canvas>
Second, the version that works only in WPF. It doesn't work in Silverlight because it depends on the presence of the Canvas.Right and Canvas.Bottom attached properties. UniformGrid isn't in Silverlight either, but that code could have been replaced by a regular Grid with 2 star-length rows and columns.
<Canvas>
<UniformGrid Rows="2" Columns="2"
DataContext="{Binding ElementName=textBox1}"
Width="{Binding Path=ActualWidth}"
Height="{Binding Path=ActualHeight}">
<Canvas>
<TextBlock Name="textBox1" Canvas.Right="0" Canvas.Bottom="0">
Hello!
</TextBlock>
</Canvas>
</UniformGrid>
</Canvas>
By the way, there may be more efficient ways to solve this problem available. I am making no guarantees!

MVVM WPF databinding to a Skype-like chat?

Hey guys, I've got what I think is an interesting question:
You all know and love the Skype chat interface: each message is enclosed in a bubble, with emoticons and link capabilities, as well as an avatar at the left.
What is the most ideal WPF component to house each message in, if I were creating a Skype-like interface?
I am using MVVM, so all my messages are stored in the ViewModel as an ObservableCollection.
I have had problems binding to a RichTextBox, and so I have investigated binding to a Listbox, where each list item is a message and each item is styled to have a Skypey border and avatar etc.
Any ideas?
The only suitable solution that I have found is using the flowdocumentreader and an ivalueconverter to convert an array of strings to a flowdocument. It actually works great once I made my own scripting language similar to bbcode.
This was the sample I learned from. http://michaelsync.net/2009/06/09/bindable-wpf-richtext-editor-with-xamlhtml-convertor
It was a little overkill for me so I ended up just making the ivalueconverter and a simple script language.
The solution i see is that you should use DataTemplate and Style. The idea is following: each text message represented by class object. Now when you bind your message inside template, you explicit tell how do you want your messages will look like.
It will better for you to create a usercontrol that will know how represent your messages.
Example that represent similar idea, but idea is the same:
<Window.Resources>
<DataTemplate DataType="{x:Type model:MessageModel}">
<ed:Callout AnchorPoint="0,1.5" Margin="10" CalloutStyle="RoundedRectangle" Content="{Binding Path=Text}" Fill="#FFF4F4F5" FontSize="14.667" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="100" Stroke="Black" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="200" />
</DataTemplate>
</Window.Resources>
<Grid>
<ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding Path=MsgList}" />
</Grid>
For that example you need attach Microsoft.Expression.Drawing.sll which come aside with Blend 4.

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