WPF - Animate ListBox.ScrollViewer.HorizontalOffset? - wpf

Question

I have a collection of Visuals in a ListBox. I need to find the XPosition of an element inside it and then animate the HorizontalOffset of the ListBox's ScrollViewer. Essentially I want to created an animated ScrollIntoView method.
This gives me a couple of problems. Firstly, how can I get a reference to the ListBoxs scrollviewer? Secondly, how can i get the relative XPosition or HozintalOfffset of an arbitrary element in the ListBox?
I'm not reponding to any input on the ListBox itself so I can't use Mouse related properties.

Answer 1

I don't think you will be able to use a WPF storyboard for the animation because storyboards animate WPF dependency properties. You will need to call ScrollViewer.ScrollToHorizontalOffset(double) to scroll.
You could try creating a custom dependency property that calls SetHorizontalOffset in the OnDependencyPropertyChanged() function. Then you could animate this property.
public static readonly DependencyProperty ScrollOffsetProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register("ScrollOffset", typeof(double), typeof(YOUR_TYPE),
new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(0.0, new PropertyChangedCallback(OnScrollOffsetChanged)));
public double ScrollOffset
{
get { return (double)GetValue(ScrollOffsetProperty); }
set { SetValue(ScrollOffsetProperty, value); }
}
private static void OnScrollOffsetChanged(DependencyObject obj, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs args)
{
YOUR_TYPE myObj = obj as YOUR_TYPE;
if (myObj != null)
myObj.SCROLL_VIEWER.ScrollToHorizontalOffset(myObj.ScrollOffset);
}
To get the scroll viewer you can use the VisualTreeHelper to search the visual children of the ListBox. Save a reference to the ScrollViewer because you will need it later. Try this:
public static childItem FindVisualChild<childItem>(DependencyObject obj)
where childItem : DependencyObject
{
// Iterate through all immediate children
for (int i = 0; i < VisualTreeHelper.GetChildrenCount(obj); i++)
{
DependencyObject child = VisualTreeHelper.GetChild(obj, i);
if (child != null && child is childItem)
return (childItem)child;
else
{
childItem childOfChild = FindVisualChild<childItem>(child);
if (childOfChild != null)
return childOfChild;
}
}
return null;
}
This function returns the first visual child of the parameter type. Call FindVisualChild<ScrollViewer>(ListBox) to get the ScrollViewer.
Finally, try using UIElement.TranslatePoint(Point, UIElement) to get the X position of the item. Call this function on the item, pass in 0,0 for the point, and pass in the ScrollViewer.
Hope this helps.

Answer 2

I'm not sure if my method is good practice but for the limited time I had it seemed to work okay. Instead of using a story board I just used a DispatcherTimer instead.
ScrollLeftButtonCommand = new DelegateCommand(
o =>
{
var scrollViewer = (ScrollViewer)o;
scrollTimer = new DispatcherTimer();
scrollTimer.Start();
scrollTimer.Interval = TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(30);
scrollTimer.Tick += (s, e) =>
{
scrollViewer.ScrollToHorizontalOffset(scrollViewer.HorizontalOffset - 50);
if (scrollViewer.HorizontalOffset <= 0)
{
scrollTimer.Stop();
}
};
});
Make sure it's a DispatchTimer so the thread is able to take control of the UI element
Also remember to bind to your object in your view!
<Button CommandParameter="{Binding ElementName=MyScrollViewer }"
Command="{Binding ScrollLeftButtonCommand }"/>