Customize WPF databinding: How to add custom logic? - wpf

i have a question regarding some complex data-binding.
I want to be able to update a grid (which has the property "IsItemsHost" set to true)
dynamically whenever a data-binding occurs.
Actually i am using a CustomControl which is an ItemsControl and this
has the Grid in its ControlTemplate.
To be more specific, i bind the grid to some items and i want to
change the number of grid rows depending on these items,
add something like a header (one row containing some text),
and set the items' Grid.Row and Grid.Column using some custom logic.
What is the easiest way to apply such behaviour
whenever the bound data is updated?
Do i have to use a viewmodel that also contains the header data?
Thanks in advance.
Code of the CustomControl Generic.xaml:
<ResourceDictionary xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:local="clr-namespace:TimeTableControl">
<Style TargetType="{x:Type local:TimeTableControl}">
<Setter Property="Template">
<Setter.Value>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type local:TimeTableControl}">
<Border Width="Auto" Height="Auto" BorderBrush="#FF4B5A9B" BorderThickness="4" CornerRadius="4" Margin="2" Padding="0" Background="White">
<Grid Width="Auto">
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="0.1*"/>
<RowDefinition Height="*"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Viewbox>
<TextBlock HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center" Text="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource TemplatedParent}, Path=DayCaption}"/>
</Viewbox>
<Border Grid.Row="1" BorderThickness="0,2,0,0" BorderBrush="#FF4B5A9B">
<Grid Name="ContentGrid" IsItemsHost="True">
</Grid>
</Border>
</Grid>
</Border>
</ControlTemplate>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
</Style>
</ResourceDictionary>

Grid is used for layout. If you have a changing number of items in some collection, what you really want is ItemsControl, or more specific ListBox (if you want item selection, etc).
If you still want Grid-like behavior of individual rows, you may want to define a Grid in ItemsControl.ItemTemplate and play with Grid.IsSharedSizeScope at ItemsControl level. Alternatively, you may just use ListView instead to get the grid look and item selection in a package.

Update: I got it working by creating a custom panel that uses MeasureOverride and ArrangeOverride to update itself. This lets me adjust the panel to the children and I don't even need to use a grid. This also makes the control lookless.

Related

Stretch WPF ListView Template layout [duplicate]

I want to have the ListItems to extend with their orange background the full width of the Listbox.
Currently they are only as wide as the FirstName + LastName.
I've set every element I can to: HorizontalAlignment="Stretch".
I want the background of the ListboxItems to expand as the user stretches the Listbox so I don't want to put in absolute values.
What do I have to do so that the background color of the ListBoxItems fill the width of the ListBox?
<Window x:Class="TestListBoxSelectedItemStyle.Window1"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:local="clr-namespace:TestListBoxSelectedItemStyle"
Title="Window1" Height="300" Width="300">
<Window.Resources>
<local:CustomerViewModel x:Key="TheDataProvider"/>
<DataTemplate x:Key="CustomerItemTemplate">
<Border CornerRadius="5" Background="Orange" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" Padding="5" Margin="3">
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" Width="Auto">
<TextBlock HorizontalAlignment="Stretch">
<TextBlock.Text>
<MultiBinding StringFormat="{}{0} {1}">
<Binding Path="FirstName"/>
<Binding Path="LastName"/>
</MultiBinding>
</TextBlock.Text>
</TextBlock>
</StackPanel>
</Border>
</DataTemplate>
</Window.Resources>
<Grid>
<ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding Path=GetAllCustomers, Source={StaticResource TheDataProvider}}"
ItemTemplate="{StaticResource CustomerItemTemplate}"/>
</Grid>
</Window>
I found another solution here, since I ran into both post...
This is from the Myles answer:
<ListBox.ItemContainerStyle>
<Style TargetType="ListBoxItem">
<Setter Property="HorizontalContentAlignment" Value="Stretch"></Setter>
</Style>
</ListBox.ItemContainerStyle>
This worked for me.
I'm sure this is a duplicate, but I can't find a question with the same answer.
Add HorizontalContentAlignment="Stretch" to your ListBox. That should do the trick. Just be careful with auto-complete because it is so easy to get HorizontalAlignment by mistake.
If your items are wider than the ListBox, the other answers here won't help: the items in the ItemTemplate remain wider than the ListBox.
The fix that worked for me was to disable the horizontal scrollbar, which, apparently, also tells the container of all those items to remain only as wide as the list box.
Hence the combined fix to get ListBox items that are as wide as the list box, whether they are smaller and need stretching, or wider and need wrapping, is as follows:
<ListBox HorizontalContentAlignment="Stretch"
ScrollViewer.HorizontalScrollBarVisibility="Disabled">
(credits for the scroll bar idea)
Since the border is used just for visual appearance, you could put it into the ListBoxItem's ControlTemplate and modify the properties there. In the ItemTemplate, you could place only the StackPanel and the TextBlock. In this way, the code also remains clean, as in the appearance of the control will be controlled via the ControlTemplate and the data to be shown will be controlled via the DataTemplate.
The fix for me was to set property HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" on ItemsPresenter inside ScrollViewer..
Hope this helps someone...
<Setter Property="Template">
<Setter.Value>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="ListBox">
<ScrollViewer x:Name="ScrollViewer" BorderBrush="{TemplateBinding BorderBrush}" BorderThickness="{TemplateBinding BorderThickness}" Background="{TemplateBinding Background}" Foreground="{TemplateBinding Foreground}" Padding="{TemplateBinding Padding}" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch">
<ItemsPresenter Height="252" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"/>
</ScrollViewer>
</ControlTemplate>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
I also had the same problem, as a quick workaround, I used blend to determine how much padding was being added. In my case it was 12, so I used a negative margin to get rid of it. Now everything can now be centered properly

Map control within Listbox

I am trying to display multiple maps within an Listbox.
<Grid Name="MainGrid">
<ScrollViewer HorizontalScrollBarVisibility="Disabled" VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Visible" >
<WrapPanel Name="wrap" >
<ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding MyList}">
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<StackPanel>
<Border Margin="5" MinWidth="500" MinHeight="400" BorderThickness="2" BorderBrush="Black"
Width="200"
Height="200" >
<esri:MapView MouseDown="MapView_MouseDown" MouseUp="MapView_MouseUp" >
<esri:Map >
<esri:ArcGISTiledMapServiceLayer ID="BaseMap" ServiceUri="http://services.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/World_Street_Map/MapServer"/>
</esri:Map>
</esri:MapView>
</Border>
</StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>
</WrapPanel>
</ScrollViewer>
</Grid>
The map does not get displayed. Only the logo "esri" gets displayed. But if I remove the listbox, it works fine. What could be the issue?
I am very sure that there are items in my listbox otherwise "esri" would not have appeared.
I have tried Itemscontrol as well but its the same result.
In WPF, we don't put UI elements into collections, we put data objects into collections. Each data item should contain whichever properties are needed to data bind to the UI control that you actually want to display. So your MyList collection should contain a collection of data objects.
Once you have created a custom class to contain these required properties, you will then need to declare a DataTemplate that defines which UI element(s) to display. (See the Data Templating Overview page on MSDN for further information on this).
<ControlTemplate x:Key="YourCustomControlTemplate">
<!-- Define your UI content here -->
</ControlTemplate>
Once you have declared your custom ControlTemplate for your custom data class, you should then put it into a Style for your data object:
<Style TargetType="{x:Type YourXamlPrefix:YourCustomDataClass}">
<Setter Property="Template" Value="{StaticResource YourCustomControlTemplate}" />
</Style>
Note that I have omitted the x:Key directive on this Style... you can add one, but without one (and as long as this Style has been declared in scope of the UI), the Style will be automatically applied to your data objects in the collection.

Partially templated ListBox.ItemTemplate

I'm creating a custom control and I'm trying to create partially specified template for list box items. The template has some predefined parts and there should be another part that can be templated when using the control.
For this I have created a dependency property named SuggestionItemTemplate like so:
public static readonly DependencyProperty SuggestionItemTemplateProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register("SuggestionItemTemplate",
typeof(DataTemplate),
typeof(AutoSuggestTextBox),
new PropertyMetadata(null));
In my custom controls' generic.xaml I have:
<Style TargetType="local:AutoSuggestTextBox">
<Setter Property="Template">
<Setter.Value>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="local:AutoSuggestTextBox">
<Grid>
<ListBox x:Name="ItemsControl">
<ListBox.ItemsPanel>
<ItemsPanelTemplate>
<StackPanel />
</ItemsPanelTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemsPanel>
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<Grid>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="*" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ContentPresenter Grid.Column="0"
ContentTemplate="{TemplateBinding SuggestionItemTemplate}"
Content="{Binding}" />
<ToggleButton Grid.Column="1"
x:Name="DetailsHover"
ClickMode="Hover"
Style="{StaticResource DetailsToggleButtonStyle}" />
</Grid>
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>
</Grid>
</ControlTemplate>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
</Style>
Unfortunatelly, this does not work as it's not possible to use TemplateBinding from inside ContentPresenter nested into DataTemplate. (The member "SuggestionItemTemplate" is not recognized or is not accessible.)
I also tried to use ancestor binding (available in Silverlight 5) like:
<ContentPresenter Grid.Column="0"
ContentTemplate="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource FindAncestor, AncestorType=local:AutoSuggestTextBox}, Path=SuggestionItemTemplate}"
Content="{Binding}" />
But this results in binding error:
Error: System.Exception: BindingExpression_CannotFindAncestor
I suppose this happens because I'm inside ControlTemplate of my custom control and "local:AutoSuggestTextBox" is not defined anywhere in the style.
The third option that I tried was to apply ContentTemplate in OnApplyTemplate override but this also doesn't work:
var cp = itemsControlElement.ItemTemplate.LoadContent() as ContentPresenter;
cp.ContentTemplate = SuggestionItemTemplate;
In all cases, I get my grid with two columns, toggle button is visible but content presenter simple prints out view model's type name. (I believe this is the default behavior if the ContentTemplate is null).
Is this even possible to do? Are there any other ways to specify a partial template and then only add customized template part when necessary?
As a workaround for now, I can specify
ItemTemplate="{TemplateBinding SuggestionItemTemplate}"
for the list box and then copy/paste the generic template everywhere I use this control. But this is the behavior I'm hoping to avoid in the first place.
Thanks!
edit: I used the code tags for all blocks of code, but they're not highlighted for some reason. :/
It is possible to walk through Visual Ancestors in the OnApplyTemplate method, find your ContentPresenter(s) and set the ItemTemplate on that. To my mind, this is fine for a single item, but not so much in an ItemsControl scenario.
You could achieve what you are after using your own custom Control. Just give it a Content dependency property of type Object, and a Template DP of type DataTemplate (and multiples of the two if you fancy), and you can set up the root visual style and templates in the default style for your Control.
In this specific case, I would suggest that the best approach is to put your ToggleButton in the ListBoxItem template instead by customising the ListBox.ItemContainerStyle. It is easy to modify the default Control Template using Expression Blend, and the DataContext of the ToggleButton will not change, so the changes to your own logic should be minimal.
Edit: If you mean to use a number of different data templates, perhaps Implicit Data Templates will be more suitable.
I managed to solve this using a different approach. I used ancestor binding but instead of trying to reach the root control (my AutoSuggestTextBox) from the DataTemplate, I ask for a reference to my ListBox (here named ItemsControl).
However, since the ListBox doesn't have the SuggestionItemTemplate property, I sub-classed it to my own CustomListBox where I implemented that property. It all comes down to this code snippet:
<Style TargetType="local:AutoSuggestTextBox">
<Setter Property="Template">
<Setter.Value>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="local:AutoSuggestTextBox">
<Grid>
<local:CustomizableListBox x:Name="ItemsControl"
SuggestionItemTemplate="{TemplateBinding SuggestionItemTemplate}">
<local:CustomizableListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<Grid>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="*" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ContentPresenter Grid.Column="0"
ContentTemplate="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource FindAncestor, AncestorType=local:CustomizableListBox}, Path=SuggestionItemTemplate}"
Content="{Binding}" />
<ToggleButton Grid.Column="1"
x:Name="DetailsHover"
ClickMode="Hover"
Style="{StaticResource DetailsToggleButtonStyle}" />
</Grid>
</DataTemplate>
</local:CustomizableListBox.ItemTemplate>
</local:CustomizableListBox>
</Grid>
</ControlTemplate>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
</Style>

Keyboard navigation in WPF Grids

Suppose you have a StackPanel, which contains a ScrollViewer which contains another StackPanel with an ItemsControl with a bound ItemsSource. This ItemsSource is bound to a collection of Grids created at runtime. Each Grid contains a label and a textbox/combobox/a few checkboxes that all have a unique TabIndex value within the StackPanel.
Here is the xaml:
<ScrollViewer Name="scrollViewer" HorizontalScrollBarVisibility="Auto" VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Auto">
<StackPanel Name="stackPanel" MinWidth="500" Width="Auto">
<ItemsControl Name="itemsControl" ItemsSource="{Binding ElementName=SomeWindow, Path=GridsCollection,Mode=TwoWay,UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged}"/>
</StackPanel>
</ScrollViewer>
I want to simply tab from one control to the next, but only within the controls in the grids in the grids collection. So far I've tried different KeyboardNavigation.TabNavigation settings but without any luck. What is the best way to do this?
Set TabNavigation to KeyboardNavigationMode.Cycle for each container you want to behave like that, so the focus won't escape it as long as you use Tab and Shift+Tab:
KeyboardNavigation.SetTabNavigation(grid1, KeyboardNavigationMode.Cycle);
If you want to change Ctrl+Tab behaviour, use KeyboardNavigation.SetControlTabNavigation.
You can apply an implicit style that disables tabbing for every Control, then you re-enable it for just what you want to be tab-able:
<ScrollViewer Name="scrollViewer" HorizontalScrollBarVisibility="Auto" VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Auto">
<ScrollViewer.Resources>
<Style TargetType="Control">
<Setter Property="IsTabStop" Value="False" />
</Style>
</ScrollViewer.Resources>
<StackPanel Name="stackPanel" MinWidth="500" Width="Auto">
<ItemsControl Name="itemsControl"
ItemsSource="{Binding ElementName=SomeWindow, Path=GridsCollection,Mode=TwoWay,UpdateSourceTrigger=PropertyChanged}"/>
</StackPanel>
</ScrollViewer>
Don't forget to set IsTabStop on your dynamically generated Grids to True

WPF: Grid with column/row margin/padding?

Is it easily possible to specify a margin and/or padding for rows or columns in a WPF Grid?
I could of course add extra columns to space things out, but this seems like a job for padding/margins (it will give much simplier XAML). Has someone derived from the standard Grid to add this functionality?
RowDefinition and ColumnDefinition are of type ContentElement, and Margin is strictly a FrameworkElement property. So to your question, "is it easily possible" the answer is a most definite no. And no, I have not seen any layout panels that demonstrate this kind of functionality.
You can add extra rows or columns as you suggested. But you can also set margins on a Grid element itself, or anything that would go inside a Grid, so that's your best workaround for now.
Use a Border control outside the cell control and define the padding for that:
<Grid>
<Grid.Resources >
<Style TargetType="Border" >
<Setter Property="Padding" Value="5,5,5,5" />
</Style>
</Grid.Resources>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition/>
<RowDefinition/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Border Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="0">
<YourGridControls/>
</Border>
<Border Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="0">
<YourGridControls/>
</Border>
</Grid>
Source:
Original Source
and from Way Back Machine
You could use something like this:
<Style TargetType="{x:Type DataGridCell}">
<Setter Property="Padding" Value="4" />
<Setter Property="Template">
<Setter.Value>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type DataGridCell}">
<Border Padding="{TemplateBinding Padding}" BorderBrush="{TemplateBinding BorderBrush}" BorderThickness="{TemplateBinding BorderThickness}" Background="{TemplateBinding Background}" SnapsToDevicePixels="True">
<ContentPresenter SnapsToDevicePixels="{TemplateBinding SnapsToDevicePixels}"/>
</Border>
</ControlTemplate>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
Or if you don't need the TemplateBindings:
<Style TargetType="{x:Type DataGridCell}">
<Setter Property="Template">
<Setter.Value>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type DataGridCell}">
<Border Padding="4">
<ContentPresenter />
</Border>
</ControlTemplate>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
</Style>
Thought I'd add my own solution because nobody yet mentioned this. Instead of designing a UserControl based on Grid, you can target controls contained in grid with a style declaration. Takes care of adding padding/margin to all elements without having to define for each, which is cumbersome and labor-intensive.For instance, if your Grid contains nothing but TextBlocks, you can do this:
<Style TargetType="{x:Type TextBlock}">
<Setter Property="Margin" Value="10"/>
</Style>
Which is like the equivalent of "cell padding".
I am surprised I did not see this solution posted yet.
Coming from the web, frameworks like bootstrap will use a negative margin to pull back rows / columns.
It might be a little verbose (albeit not that bad), it does work and the elements are evenly spaced and sized.
In the example below I use a StackPanel root to demonstrate how the 3 buttons are evenly spaced using margins. You could use other elements, just change the inner x:Type from button to your element.
The idea is simple, use a grid on the outside to pull the margins of elements out of their bounds by half the amount of the inner grid (using negative margins), use the inner grid to evenly space the elements with the amount you want.
Update:
Some comment from a user said it doesn't work, here's a quick video demonstrating: https://youtu.be/rPx2OdtSOYI
<StackPanel>
<Grid>
<Grid.Resources>
<Style TargetType="{x:Type Grid}">
<Setter Property="Margin" Value="-5 0"/>
</Style>
</Grid.Resources>
<Grid>
<Grid.Resources>
<Style TargetType="{x:Type Button}">
<Setter Property="Margin" Value="10 0"/>
</Style>
</Grid.Resources>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="*" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="*" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="*" />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Button Grid.Column="0" Content="Btn 1" />
<Button Grid.Column="1" Content="Btn 2" />
<Button Grid.Column="2" Content="Btn 3" />
</Grid>
</Grid>
<TextBlock FontWeight="Bold" Margin="0 10">
Test
</TextBlock>
</StackPanel>
Edited:
To give margin to any control you could wrap the control with border like this
<!--...-->
<Border Padding="10">
<AnyControl>
<!--...-->
You could write your own GridWithMargin class, inherited from Grid, and override the ArrangeOverride method to apply the margins
I did it right now with one of my grids.
First apply the same margin to every element inside the grid. You can do this mannualy, using styles, or whatever you like. Lets say you want an horizontal spacing of 6px and a vertical spacing of 2px. Then you add margins of "3px 1px" to every child of the grid.
Then remove the margins created around the grid (if you want to align the borders of the controls inside the grid to the same position of the grid). Do this setting a margin of "-3px -1px" to the grid. That way, other controls outside the grid will be aligned with the outtermost controls inside the grid.
I ran into this problem while developing some software recently and it occured to me to ask WHY? Why have they done this...the answer was right there in front of me. A row of data is an object, so if we maintain object orientation, then the design for a particular row should be seperated (suppose you need to re-use the row display later on in the future). So I started using databound stack panels and custom controls for most data displays. Lists have made the occasional appearance but mostly the grid has been used only for primary page organization (Header, Menu Area, Content Area, Other Areas). Your custom objects can easily manage any spacing requirements for each row within the stack panel or grid (a single grid cell can contain the entire row object. This also has the added benefit of reacting properly to changes in orientation, expand/collapses, etc.
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition />
<RowDefinition />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<custom:MyRowObject Style="YourStyleHereOrGeneralSetter" Grid.Row="0" />
<custom:MyRowObject Style="YourStyleHere" Grid.Row="1" />
</Grid>
or
<StackPanel>
<custom:MyRowObject Style="YourStyleHere" Grid.Row="0" />
<custom:MyRowObject Style="YourStyleHere" Grid.Row="1" />
</StackPanel>
Your Custom controls will also inherit the DataContext if your using data binding...my personal favorite benefit of this approach.
I had similar problem recently in two column grid, I needed a margin on elements in right column only. All elements in both columns were of type TextBlock.
<Grid.Resources>
<Style TargetType="{x:Type TextBlock}" BasedOn="{StaticResource OurLabelStyle}">
<Style.Triggers>
<Trigger Property="Grid.Column" Value="1">
<Setter Property="Margin" Value="20,0" />
</Trigger>
</Style.Triggers>
</Style>
</Grid.Resources>
One possibility would be to add fixed width rows and columns to act as the padding / margin you are looking for.
You might also consider that you are constrained by the size of your container, and that a grid will become as large as the containing element or its specified width and height. You could simply use columns and rows with no width or height set. That way they default to evenly breaking up the total space within the grid. Then it would just be a mater of centering your elements vertically and horizontally within you grid.
Another method might be to wrap all grid elements in a fixed with single row & column grid that has a fixed size and margin. That your grid contains fixed width / height boxes which contain your actual elements.
in uwp (Windows10FallCreatorsUpdate version and above)
<Grid RowSpacing="3" ColumnSpacing="3">
Though you can't add margin or padding to a Grid, you could use something like a Frame (or similar container), that you can apply it to.
That way (if you show or hide the control on a button click say), you won't need to add margin on every control that may interact with it.
Think of it as isolating the groups of controls into units, then applying style to those units.
As was stated before create a GridWithMargins class.
Here is my working code example
public class GridWithMargins : Grid
{
public Thickness RowMargin { get; set; } = new Thickness(10, 10, 10, 10);
protected override Size ArrangeOverride(Size arrangeSize)
{
var basesize = base.ArrangeOverride(arrangeSize);
foreach (UIElement child in InternalChildren)
{
var pos = GetPosition(child);
pos.X += RowMargin.Left;
pos.Y += RowMargin.Top;
var actual = child.RenderSize;
actual.Width -= (RowMargin.Left + RowMargin.Right);
actual.Height -= (RowMargin.Top + RowMargin.Bottom);
var rec = new Rect(pos, actual);
child.Arrange(rec);
}
return arrangeSize;
}
private Point GetPosition(Visual element)
{
var posTransForm = element.TransformToAncestor(this);
var areaTransForm = posTransForm.Transform(new Point(0, 0));
return areaTransForm;
}
}
Usage:
<Window x:Class="WpfApplication1.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:WpfApplication1"
mc:Ignorable="d"
Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525">
<Grid>
<local:GridWithMargins ShowGridLines="True">
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition />
<RowDefinition />
<RowDefinition />
<RowDefinition />
<RowDefinition />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition />
<ColumnDefinition />
<ColumnDefinition />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Rectangle Fill="Red" Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="0" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" />
<Rectangle Fill="Green" Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="0" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" />
<Rectangle Fill="Blue" Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="1" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" />
</local:GridWithMargins>
</Grid>
</Window>
Sometimes the simple method is the best. Just pad your strings with spaces. If it is only a few textboxes etc this is by far the simplest method.
You can also simply insert blank columns/rows with a fixed size. Extremely simple and you can easily change it.

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