What event is fired when a UserControl is displayed? - wpf

I'm trying to add a fade effect (animation) for WPF UserControls (although rather for FrameworkElement, to make it more general).
If I let the Loaded event trigger the initial fade-in, the fade animation will sometimes have started before the UserControl has been displayed. The result is a mess. That happens for example if the UserControl does something lengthy (a few tenths of a second), like execute a query, in the Loaded event handler.
So, I would need to handle some event that FrameworkElement/UserControl gets when the content has been rendered, and start the fade-in then. The System.Windows.Window has a ContentRendered event, but UserControl has not. So, what event is fired when a FrameworkElement (or UserControl) has been rendered?

Try to check size on SizeChanged or LayoutUpdated. Do job when actual width or height not equals to 0.
view.LayoutUpdated+=(o,e)=>
{
if (!loaded && (view.ActualHeight > 0 || view.ActualWidth > 0))
{
// You can also unsubscribe event here.
loaded =true;
}
}

Years late, but since I was looking for working solution since now in vain, I want to share my discovery.
If you want a ContentRendered event for any Control (or any Visual or even DependencyObject), you have to dig down to Visual.
I use this code:
// Wait for Control to Load
void TestUserControl_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
// Get PresentationSource
PresentationSource presentationSource = PresentationSource.FromVisual((Visual)sender);
// Subscribe to PresentationSource's ContentRendered event
presentationSource.ContentRendered += TestUserControl_ContentRendered;
}
void TestUserControl_ContentRendered(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// Don't forget to unsubscribe from the event
((PresentationSource)sender).ContentRendered -= TestUserControl_ContentRendered;
// ..
}
You have to wait for Control Loaded otherwise PresentationSource.FromVisual() returns null.
Various Dispatcher.BeginInvoke methods didn't work consistently for me. Sometimes firing my rendered event long before the control was actually displayed.
This does work for me every time.
I am aware that I am playing with HwndSource here, which is quite low level and I'm not sure of possible implications. (Maybe somebody more experienced can elaborate.)

You can use IsVisibleChnaged event
Assign event handler
MyUserControl.IsVisibleChanged += ScheduleUserControl_IsVisibleChanged;
In event handler check for if is visible or not.
void _IsVisibleChanged(object sender, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
if ((bool)e.NewValue)
{
//Visible
}
else
{
//Not Visible
}
}

You can schedule the beginning of your Storyboard with a lower priority, for example:
Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(BeginStoryboardAction, DispatcherPriority.ContextIdle);
Here's an article that discusses the issues related to using this method:
Build More Responsive Apps With The Dispatcher

Maybe try IsVisibleChanged, haven't used it much myself though.
This event is not raised if the element is not being rendered by the layout system, for reasons other than the value of the IsVisible property. For example, the element might not have an associated visual.

You can use GotFocus Event
<i:Interaction.Triggers>
<i:EventTrigger EventName="GotFocus">
<i:InvokeCommandAction Command="{Binding ContentControlLoadedCommand}"/>
</i:EventTrigger>
</i:Interaction.Triggers>

Related

How to know when binding is completed?

When I set the .ItemSource() property on a DataGrid to a Collection, the call returns fast, but the actual binding happens afterwards. Since I want to display a waiting cursor, I need to detect when the actual binding has finished. Is there any event for this?
Anything based on ItemsControl uses an ItemContainerGenerator to generate its items in the background. You can access the ItemContainerGenerator property of the DataGrid and hook up the StatusChanged event to determine when it's done. If you're using virtualization and scroll, this will fire again so you need to handle that if necessary in your case.
I waited for my DataGrid's Loaded event to fire, and I did a BeginInvoke, like this:
private void SubjectsList_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(DispatcherPriority.Render, new Action(() => ColorMyRows()));
}
More details available in my answer here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/44464630/2101117
Your best bet is to hook into OnPropertyChanged event in your Window or User Control. This event is fired every time a property is updated. Then check for the actual property you wish to observe and take action.
protected override void OnPropertyChanged(DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
if ("YOUR_PROPERTY_NAME".Equals(e.Property.ToString()))
{
// Take action
}
base.OnPropertyChanged(e);
}

Mouse interaction in ListBoxItem children (WPF)

I have a ListBox with an ItemTemplate that contains a control that interacts with the mouse. This interfers with the selection functionality of the ListBox, i.e. clicking a control does not select the item. This is because ListBoxItem sets the Handled property of the mouse event to true in OnMouseLeftButtonDown. I tried the following
protected override void OnMouseLeftButtonDown(MouseButtonEventArgs e) {
base.OnMouseLeftButtonDown(e);
e.Handled = false;
}
but the ListBoxItem “takes over” the mouse and prevents the control from doing its own interaction. Then I had another idea
protected override void OnMouseLeftButtonDown(MouseButtonEventArgs e) {
base.OnMouseLeftButtonDown(e);
((ListBoxItem)VisualTreeHelper.GetParent(VisualTreeHelper.GetParent(VisualTreeHelper.GetParent(this)))).IsSelected = true;
}
which actually works, but feels more like an ugly kludge than an elegant solution. Are there any better solutions that don't rely on the exact contents of the visual tree?
I've found a way that is less of a kludge:
protected override void OnMouseLeftButtonDown(MouseButtonEventArgs e) {
base.OnMouseLeftButtonDown(e);
Selector.SetIsSelected(this, true);
}
For this to have any effect, the control in the ListBox' ItemTemplate needs the following XAML attribute:
Selector.IsSelected="{Binding IsSelected, Mode=OneWayToSource, RelativeSource={RelativeSource AncestorType={x:Type ListBoxItem}}}"
It raises two new questions:
Would it be better to define my own dependency property rather than finding an attached one that isn't currently in use?
Is there a way to achieve something similar in markup only?
I believe the MouseLeftButtonDown is a tunnelling event: you could try using PreviewMouseLeftButtonDown, doing your processing there, then ensuring e.Handled = false; as you tried already - that should do the trick!
Hope that helps.
Here is one simple solution, but unfortunately handler can be attached only in code, not in markup.
Event handler can be added by using handledEventsToo signature of AddHandler method:
myListBox.AddHandler(UIElement.MouseDownEvent,
new MouseButtonEventHandler(ListBox_MouseDown), true);
Third parameter above is handledEventsToo which ensures that this handler will be invoked no matter if it is already marked as Handled (which ListBoxItem does in ListBox).
See Marking Routed Events as Handled, and Class Handling for explanation.
See How to Attach to MouseDown Event on ListBox for example.

Silverlight DataBinding Loading Animation

Is there an event somewhere in the Silverlight control model that is raised once an item is databound? I am binding at design time to a large amount of data and would like to display an animation until the databinding is complete.
There is no specific event that is fired when databinding is completed. Your best bet would probably be to key off of the FrameworkElement.LayoutUpdated event. This is the last event in the lifecycle before a control is ready for user interaction. However, this event will continue to be raised many more times due to property changes, size changes, and explicit calls to UpdateLayout() or InvalidateArrange(). Therefore you will have to add some extra logic to make sure that the LayoutUpdated event warrants stopping/hiding your animation, such as only doing it the first time or if you are sure the event was fired due to a change in databinding.
If the control is actually your own custom control and you are binding to custom DependencyProperties on that control then you could raise your own event on the PropertyChangedCallbacks for each of the properties to signal that they have been updated via databinding.
Here's what I do:
private object lastDataContext;
private void MyClass_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
if (DataContext != lastDataContext)
{
perform_onetime_operation();
lastDataContext = DataContext;
}
}
That way perform_onetime_operation will get called not just the first time databinding happens, but any time that the DataContext changes meaning that data is re-bound.

How to capture a mouse click on an Item in a ListBox in WPF?

I want to get notified when an item in a ListBox gets clicked by the mouse, whether it is already selected or not.
I searched and found this: (http://kevin-berridge.blogspot.com/2008/06/wpf-listboxitem-double-click.html see the comments)
private void AddDoubleClickEventStyle(ListBox listBox, MouseButtonEventHandler mouseButtonEventHandler)
{
if (listBox.ItemContainerStyle == null)
listBox.ItemContainerStyle = new Style(typeof(ListBoxItem));
listBox.ItemContainerStyle.Setters.Add(new EventSetter()
{
Event = MouseDoubleClickEvent,
Handler = mouseButtonEventHandler
});
}
//Usage:
AddDoubleClickEventStyle(listView1, new MouseButtonEventHandler(listView1_MouseDoubleClick));
This works, but it does it for a DoubleClick. I can't get it working for a single click though. I tried MouseLeftButtonDownEvent - as there doesn't seem to be a MouseClick event, but it's not being called.
A bit more general side question: How can I see what events do exist and which handlers correspond to them and when they actually do something? For example, what tells me that for a MouseDoubleClickEvent I need a MouseButtonEventHandler? Maybe for a MouseLeftButtonDownEvent I need some other handler and that's why it's not working?
I also tried subclassing ListBoxItem and override OnMouseLeftButtonDown - but it doesn't get called either.
Marc
I believe that your MouseLeftButtonDown handler is not called because the ListBox uses this event internally to fire its SelectionChanged event (with the thought being that in the vast majority of cases, SelectionChanged is all you need). That said, you have a couple of options.
First, you could subscribe to the PreviewLeftButtonDown event instead. Most routed events have a routing strategy of Bubbling, which means that the control that generated the event gets it first, and if not handled, the event works its way up the visual tree giving each control a chance at handling the event. The Preview events, on the other hand, are Tunneling. This means that they start at the root of the visual tree (generally Window), and work their way down to the control that generated the event. Since your code would get the chance to handle the event prior to the ListBoxItem, this will get fired (and not be handled) so your event handler will be called. You can implement this option by replacing MouseDoubleClickEvent in your sample with PreviewMouseLeftButtonDown.
The other option is to register a class handler that will be notified whenever a ListBoxItem fires the MouseLeftButtonDown event. That is done like this:
EventManager.RegisterClassHandler(typeof(ListBoxItem),
ListBoxItem.MouseLeftButtonDownEvent,
new RoutedEventHandler(this.MouseLeftButtonDownClassHandler));
private void OnMouseLeftButtonDown(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
}
Class Handlers are called before any other event handlers, but they're called for all controls of the specified type in your entire application. So if you have two ListBoxes, then whenever any ListBoxItem is clicked in either of them, this event handler will be called.
As for your second question, the best way to know what type of event handler you need for a given event, and to see the list of events available to a given control, is to use the MSDN documentation. For example, the list of all events handled by ListBoxItem is at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.controls.listboxitem_events.aspx. If you click on the link for an event, it includes the type of the event handler for that event.
There is also another way - to handle PreviewMouseDown event and check if it was triggered by the list item:
In XAML:
<ListBox PreviewMouseDown="PlaceholdersListBox_OnPreviewMouseDown"/>
In codebehind:
private void PlaceholdersListBox_OnPreviewMouseDown(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
{
var item = ItemsControl.ContainerFromElement(sender as ListBox, e.OriginalSource as DependencyObject) as ListBoxItem;
if (item != null)
{
// ListBox item clicked - do some cool things here
}
}
Was inspired by this answer, but it uses listbox by name, I propose to use sender argument to avoid unnecessary dependencies.
I think the first option in Andy's answer, of using PreviewMouseLeftButtonDown, is the way to go about this. In XAML it would look like this:
<ListBox Name="testListBox">
<ListBox.ItemContainerStyle>
<Style TargetType="{x:Type ListBoxItem}">
<EventSetter
Event="PreviewMouseLeftButtonDown"
Handler="ListBox_MouseLeftButtonDown" />
</Style>
</ListBox.ItemContainerStyle>
</ListBox>
There is another way to get MouseDown event in ListBox. You can add event handler for events that are marked as handled by using handledEventsToo signature of AddHandler method:
myListBox.AddHandler(UIElement.MouseDownEvent,
new MouseButtonEventHandler(ListBox_MouseDown), true);
Third parameter above is handledEventsToo which ensures that this handler will be invoked no matter if it is already marked as Handled (which ListBoxItem does in ListBox).
See Marking Routed Events as Handled, and Class Handling for explanation.
See How to Attach to MouseDown Event on ListBox for example.
You can use Event="MouseLeftButtonUp"
Unlike "PreviewLeftButtonDown" it will get the ListBoxItem handled too.
You can use the SelectionChangedEventArgs argument of the SelectionChanged event to find what item is add or removed through AddedItems and RemovedItems, usually only have the latest clicked on, or if not, then look at the last item which is the count-1.

Can't set focus to a child of UserControl

I have a UserControl which contains a TextBox. When my main window loads I want to set the focus to this textbox so I added Focusable="True" GotFocus="UC_GotFocus" to the UserControls definition and FocusManager.FocusedElement="{Binding ElementName=login}" to my main windows definition. In the UC_GotFocus method i simply call .Focus() on the control i want to focus on but this doesn't work.
All i need to do is have a TextBox in a UserControl receive focus when the application starts.
Any help would be appreciated, thanks.
I recently fixed this problem for a login splash screen that is being displayed via a storyboard when the main window is first loaded.
I believe there were two keys to the fix. One was to make the containing element a focus scope. The other was to handle the Storyboard Completed event for the storyboard that was triggered by the window being loaded.
This storyboard makes the username and password canvas visible and then fades into being 100% opaque. The key is that the username control was not visible until the storyboard ran and therefore that control could not get keyboard focus until it was visible. What threw me off for awhile was that it had "focus" (i.e. focus was true, but as it turns out this was only logical focus) and I did not know that WPF had the concept of both logical and keyboard focus until reading Kent Boogaart's answer and looking at Microsoft's WPF link text
Once I did that the solution for my particular problem was straightforward:
1) Make the containing element a focus scope
<Canvas FocusManager.IsFocusScope="True" Visibility="Collapsed">
<TextBox x:Name="m_uxUsername" AcceptsTab="False" AcceptsReturn="False">
</TextBox>
</Canvas>
2) Attach a Completed Event Handler to the Storyboard
<Storyboard x:Key="Splash Screen" Completed="UserNamePassword_Storyboard_Completed">
...
</Storyboard>
and
3) Set my username TextBox to have the keyboard focus in the storyboard completed event handler.
void UserNamePassword_Storyboard_Completed(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
m_uxUsername.Focus();
}
Note that calling item.Focus() results in the call Keyboard.Focus(this), so you don't need to call this explicitly. See this question about the difference between Keyboard.Focus(item) and item.Focus.
Its stupid but it works:
Pop a thread that waits a while then comes back and sets the focus you want. It even works within the context of an element host.
private void ListView_SelectionChanged(object sender, SelectionChangedEventArgs e)
{
System.Threading.ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(
(a) =>
{
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(100);
someUiElementThatWantsFocus.Dispatcher.Invoke(
new Action(() =>
{
someUiElementThatWantsFocus.Focus();
}));
}
);
}
Just recently I had a list-box that housed some TextBlocks. I wanted to be able to double click on the text block and have it turn into a TextBox, then focus on it and select all the text so the user could just start typing the new name (Akin to Adobe Layers)
Anyway, I was doing this with an event and it just wasn't working. The magic bullet for me here was making sure that I set the event to handled. I figure it was setting focus, but as soon as the event went down the path it was switching the logical focus.
The moral of the story is, make sure you're marking the event as handled, that might be your issue.
“When setting initial focus at application startup, the element to
receive focus must be connected to a PresentationSource and the
element must have Focusable and IsVisible set to true. The recommended
place to set initial focus is in the Loaded event handler"
(MSDN)
Simply add a "Loaded" event handler in the constructor of your Window (or Control), and in that event handler call the Focus() method on the target control.
public MyWindow() {
InitializeComponent();
this.Loaded += new RoutedEventHandler(MyWindow_Loaded);
}
void MyWindow_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) {
textBox.Focus();
}
since i tried a fuzquat's solution and found it the most generic one, i thought i'd share a different version, since some complained about it looking messy. so here it is:
casted.Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(new Action<UIElement>(x =>
{
x.Focus();
}), DispatcherPriority.ApplicationIdle, casted);
no Thread.Sleep, no ThreadPool. Clean enough i hope.
UPDATE:
Since people seem to like pretty code:
public static class WpfExtensions
{
public static void BeginInvoke<T>(this T element, Action<T> action, DispatcherPriority priority = DispatcherPriority.ApplicationIdle) where T : UIElement
{
element.Dispatcher.BeginInvoke(priority, action);
}
}
now you can call it like this:
child.BeginInvoke(d => d.Focus());
WPF supports two different flavors of focus:
Keyboard focus
Logical focus
The FocusedElement property gets or sets logical focus within a focus scope. I suspect your TextBox does have logical focus, but its containing focus scope is not the active focus scope. Ergo, it does not have keyboard focus.
So the question is, do you have multiple focus scopes in your visual tree?
I found a good series of blog posts on WPF focus.
Part 1: It’s Basically Focus
Part 2: Changing WPF focus in code
Part 3: Shifting focus to the first available element in WPF
They are all good to read, but the 3rd part specifically deals with setting focus to a UI element in a UserControl.
Set your user control to Focusable="True" (XAML)
Handle the GotFocus event on your control and call yourTextBox.Focus()
Handle the Loaded event on your window and call yourControl.Focus()
I have a sample app running with this solution as I type. If this does not work for you, there must be something specific to your app or environment that causes the problem. In your original question, I think the binding is causing the problem.
I hope this helps.
After having a 'WPF Initial Focus Nightmare' and based on some answers on stack, the following proved for me to be the best solution.
First, add your App.xaml OnStartup() the followings:
EventManager.RegisterClassHandler(typeof(Window), Window.LoadedEvent,
new RoutedEventHandler(WindowLoaded));
Then add the 'WindowLoaded' event also in App.xaml :
void WindowLoaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
var window = e.Source as Window;
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(100);
window.Dispatcher.Invoke(
new Action(() =>
{
window.MoveFocus(new TraversalRequest(FocusNavigationDirection.First));
}));
}
The threading issue must be use as WPF initial focus mostly fails due to some framework race conditions.
I found the following solution best as it is used globally for the whole app.
Hope it helps...
Oran
I converted fuzquat's answer to an extension method. I'm using this instead of Focus() where Focus() did not work.
using System;
using System.Threading;
using System.Windows;
namespace YourProject.Extensions
{
public static class UIElementExtension
{
public static void WaitAndFocus(this UIElement element, int ms = 100)
{
ThreadPool.QueueUserWorkItem(f =>
{
Thread.Sleep(ms);
element.Dispatcher.Invoke(new Action(() =>
{
element.Focus();
}));
});
}
}
}
I've noticed a focus issue specifically related to hosting WPF UserControls within ElementHosts which are contained within a Form that is set as an MDI child via the MdiParent property.
I'm not sure if this is the same issue others are experiencing but you dig into the details by following the link below.
Issue with setting focus within a WPF UserControl hosted within an ElementHost in a WindowsForms child MDI form
I don't like solutions with setting another tab scope for UserControl. In that case, you will have two different carets when navigating by keyboard: on the window and the another - inside user control. My solution is simply to redirect focus from user control to inner child control. Set user control focusable (because by default its false):
<UserControl ..... Focusable="True">
and override focus events handlers in code-behind:
protected override void OnGotFocus(RoutedEventArgs e)
{
base.OnGotFocus(e);
MyTextBox.Focus();
}
protected override void OnGotKeyboardFocus(KeyboardFocusChangedEventArgs e)
{
base.OnGotKeyboardFocus(e);
Keyboard.Focus(MyTextBox);
}
What did the trick for me was the FocusManager.FocusedElement attribute. I first tried to set it on the UserControl, but it didn't work.
So I tried putting it on the UserControl's first child instead:
<UserControl x:Class="WpfApplication3.UserControl1"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
<Grid FocusManager.FocusedElement="{Binding ElementName=MyTextBox, Mode=OneWay}">
<TextBox x:Name="MyTextBox"/>
</Grid>
... and it worked! :)
I have user control - stack panel with two text boxes.The text boxes were added in contructor, not in the xaml. When i try to focus first text box, nothing happend.
The siggestion with Loaded event fix my problem. Just called control.Focus() in Loaded event and everthing.
Assuming you want to set focus for Username textbox, thus user can type in directly every time it shows up.
In Constructor of your control:
this.Loaded += (sender, e) => Keyboard.Focus(txtUsername);
After trying combinations of the suggestions above, I was able to reliably assign focus to a desired text box on a child UserControl with the following. Basically, give focus to the child control and have the child UserControl give focus to its TextBox. The TextBox's focus statement returned true by itself, however did not yield the desired result until the UserControl was given focus as well. I should also note that the UserControl was unable to request focus for itself and had to be given by the Window.
For brevity I left out registering the Loaded events on the Window and UserControl.
Window
private void OnWindowLoaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
ControlXYZ.Focus();
}
UserControl
private void OnControlLoaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
TextBoxXYZ.Focus();
}
I set it in the PageLoaded() or control loaded, but then I'm calling WCF async service and doing stuff that seems to lose the focus. I have to to set it at the end of all the stuff I do. That's fine and all, but sometimes I make changes to the code and then I forget that I'm also setting the cursor.
I had same problem with setting keyboard focus to canvas in WPF user control.
My solution
In XAML set element to Focusable="True"
In element_mousemove event create simple check:
if(!element.IsKeyBoardFocused)
element.Focus();
In my case it works fine.

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