How do I load user controls dynamically? - wpf

Question

How can I load a user control[s] in a window dynamically (using code at runtime)?

Answer 1

I'd highly recommend having a look at Prism, since composite user interfaces is what it's for. However, since this would require you refactoring your entire application, I'll also answer your question directly.
If you want a single user control in a container, put a ContentControl in your XAML and then set the Content property. If you are using a view model, you could bind Content to a FrameworkElement property on the view model:
contentControlInstance.Content = new CustomUserControl();
If you want multiple controls in a list, use an ItemsControl and assign an ObservableCollection<> to the ItemsSource property. If you are using a view model, you could bind ItemsSource to an ObservableCollection property on the View Model.
Then you can just add/remove views from that ObservableCollection:
private ObservableCollection<FrameworkElement> views =
new ObservableCollection<FrameworkElement>();
private void Initialize()
{
itemsControl.ItemsSource = views;
}
private void AddView(FrameworkElement frameworkElement)
{
views.Add(frameworkElement);
}

Answer 2

For adding multiple controls you need container.
Suppose you have a StackPanel container "myStack"
<Window ..>
<StackPanel Name="MyStack" />
</Window>
You can create control dynamically and add it to container. See code below
void AddButtons()
{
Button B1=new Button(),B2=new Button(), B3=new Button();
B1.Content="Hello";
B2.Content="First";
B3.content="Application";
// Now you can set more properties like height, width, margin etc...
MyStack.Children.Add(B1);
MyStack.Children.Add(B2);
MyStack.Children.Add(B2);
}

Answer 3

Or use binding. Here's a really crude example showing how different WPF controls can be shown in a single WPF window using ContentControl and binding (which is what a toolkit like Prism or Caliburn Micro does).
XAML:
<UserControl x:Class="ViewA">
...
<UserControl/>
<UserControl x:Class="ViewB">
...
<UserControl/>
Code:
void ShowViewModelDialog (object viewModel)
{
var host = new MyViewHost();
FrameworkElement control = null;
string viewModelName = viewModel.GetType().Name;
switch (viewModelName )
{
case ("ViewModelA"):
control = new ViewA();
break;
case ("ViewModelB"):
control = new ViewB();
break;
default:
control = new TextBlock {Text = String.Format ("No view for {0}", viewModelName);
break;
}
if (control!=null) control.DataContext = viewModel;
host.DataContext = control;
host.Show(); // Host window will show either ViewA, ViewB, or TextBlock.
}