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I have been writing C# Winform applications for years but would Like to make the move to wpf applications.
I feel I have gotten all I can out of YouTube tutorials on the subject and have a basic understanding but I feel if I had to do anything at all complex I wouldn't know how to do it correctly and resort to putting everything into the code-behind and start treating it as more of a winform application.
The only place I have found that explicitly lists wpf tutorial videos is http://www.learnvisualstudio.net/ and that appears to only have about two hours of video on the subject.
Ideally I would love to find somewhere that had 10-20 videos that build more and more complex applications that demonstrate the different features within wpf. Is there anything like this? Is a book such as this: WPF 4.5 Unleashed the best way to learn?
Additionally, I would like to learn the MVVM architecture for use in wpf. I would also appreciate any suggestion on that subject too.
modified 5-Jan-15 15:21pm.
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I've never found any tutorials I would consider "100% correct".
Just a tip: Forget Winforms. WPF code written in "Winforms style" is a disaster unless its a quick throw away app. Start with MVVM from Day 1.
Also, you can't do MVVM with .NET "out of the box". You'll need an MVVM framework. There are lots of open source frameworks out there.
If you *REALLY* want to learn WPF / MVVM at an expert level, I'd suggest writing your own MVVM framework as a learning process and having it be your "bag of tricks" that you take with you from job to job. Its not that hard. You pretty start off with a ViewModelBase class and toss in a good old RelayCommand implementation and your pretty much there. You'd also need a messenger service.
DI should definitely be a part of your MVVM toolkit, takes care of a lot of the work.
You may not know any of these terms LOL, but if you research those keywords a little bit, you'll start to get how a proper MVVM application is put together.
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I agree with Sludge, work through some of the MVVM tutorials, we use the Galasoft MVVM light framework which is popular and light weight.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity
RAH
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Oops, was thinking that as a joke, it must have gone out the finger, I suppose I should take the advice and read carefully my responses.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity
RAH
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I am working on an application that will need to open multiple windows, each on a separate thread. I have each on a different thread because each window represents a "Ticket" which will need to get data from a server, update a server, as well as other stuff and when all were running on a single thread some of the ticket windows were lagging.
I am able to create the ticket windows and pass arguments, however as soon as I start trying to update properties on the window I get exceptions. Currently each window that needs to be created is created using this method:
Private Shared Sub CreateNewWindow(Of T As Window)(ByVal newThread As Boolean, ByVal onOpened As Action(Of T), ByVal ParamArray args() As Object)
Dim activateWindow As Action = Sub()
Dim window As T = DirectCast(Activator.CreateInstance(GetType(T), args), T)
AddHandler window.Closed, Sub(s, e)
window.Dispatcher.BeginInvokeShutdown(DispatcherPriority.Background)
End Sub
window.Show()
If onOpened IsNot Nothing Then
onOpened(window)
End If
End Sub
If newThread Then
Dim newWindowThread As New Thread(New ThreadStart(Sub()
SynchronizationContext.SetSynchronizationContext(New DispatcherSynchronizationContext(Dispatcher.CurrentDispatcher))
activateWindow()
System.Windows.Threading.Dispatcher.Run()
End Sub))
newWindowThread.SetApartmentState(ApartmentState.STA)
newWindowThread.IsBackground = True
newWindowThread.Start()
Else
activateWindow()
End If
End Sub
And the window's constructor is:
Public Sub New(properties As WindowProperties)
InitializeComponent()
_ticket = properties.Ticket
Me.Top = properties.Top
SetupWindow()
End Sub
And the SetupWindow method is:
Private Sub SetupWindow()
Try
TitleBarColor = currentSettings.DefaultTicketBrush
_stop = New ManualResetEvent(False)
Me.Name = "TicketWindow_" & Ticket.id
Me.RegisterName(Me.Name, Me)
If currentSettings.FadeInTicketWindow Then
Dim fadeInAnimation As New DoubleAnimation
With fadeInAnimation
.From = 0.0
.To = 1.0
.Duration = New Duration(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(0.75))
.AutoReverse = False
End With
fadeInStoryboard = New Storyboard
fadeInStoryboard.Children.Add(fadeInAnimation)
Storyboard.SetTargetName(fadeInAnimation, Me.Name)
Storyboard.SetTargetProperty(fadeInAnimation, New PropertyPath(Window.OpacityProperty))
fadeInStoryboard.Begin(Me)
End If
Catch ex As Exception
Dim m As String = ex.Message
End Try
End Sub
Where currentSettings is an global object which is an instance of a AppSettings object which contains some configuration data andTitleBarColor is a property of the window (which implements INotifyPropertyChanged) used for binding:
Public Property TitleBarColor As Brush
Get
Return _titleBarColor
End Get
Private Set(value As Brush)
Try
_titleBarColor = value
RaiseEvent PropertyChanged(Me, New PropertyChangedEventArgs("TitleBarColor"))
Catch ex As Exception
Dim m As String = ex.Message
End Try
End Set
End Property
However with the code this way I get an exception in the CreateWindow method at window.show which says "Must create DependencySource on same Thread as the DependencyObject".
However If I change the TitleBarColor properties Set method to:
LTitleBar.Dispatcher.Invoke(New Action(Sub()
LTitleBar.Fill = value
End Sub))
Then the exception is caught in the property with the message "The calling thread cannot access this object because a different thread owns it."
I would appreciate any assistance in how I can update properties of a window which is on a separate thread but needs to access objects on a different thread (e.g. currentSettings) and still have binding working. I have tried various pieces of code I have found on the web but none of them have worked for me. There was one piece of code that seems to work (no exception thrown) but the bound properties did not update when a change was made to the TitleBarColor property.
Thank you in advance for any assistance with this.
A black hole is where God tried to divide by zero.
There are 10 kinds of people in the world; those who understand binary and those who don't.
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I am unsure whether the problem was generated from these objects, or from any other underlying objects inside your code. I remember, I once had the same problem and the Dispatcher worked for me.
But I would like to advise, that the second exception is raised when there was a resource being used and another thread attempts to use it too. In that case, it throws this exception. So, a tip might be give to you, you must always try to use the Dispose() method to dispose all of the resources and release them before closing your applications. This would minimize the second exceptions.
Or even if you don't remember calling this method on every dispose-able object. Them you might consider using such objects under a using block. Which will let the .NET take care of these resources once you're done working with them.
The sh*t I complain about
It's like there ain't a cloud in the sky and it's raining out - Eminem
~! Firewall !~
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As discussed in your other thread, all GUI work needs to be done on the main thread. You need to restructure your code so that the *work* for each window is done in a background thread (easy with the async keyword or TPL for example) so it doesn't block the UI.
Also, bindings should generally be lazy loaded. If they are expensive or time consuming, you should make them async or background.
You will encounter endless hurdles creating GUI objects on background threads.
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I have this enum:
public enum MyEnum
{
[Description("This is enum A")]
EnumA,
[Description("This is enum B")]
EnumB,
[Description("This is enum C")]
EnumC,
}
}
I bound it to a datagrid like this:
<Window.Resources>
<ResourceDictionary>
<ObjectDataProvider x:Key="projectTypeList"
MethodName="GetValues"
ObjectType="{x:Type enums:MyEnum}">
<ObjectDataProvider.MethodParameters>
<x:Type TypeName="enums:MyEnum"/>
</ObjectDataProvider.MethodParameters>
</ObjectDataProvider>
</ResourceDictionary>
</Window.Resources>
and then
<DataGrid Grid.Row="1">
<DataGrid.Columns>
<DataGridComboBoxColumn Header="Project Type"
ItemsSource="{Binding Source={StaticResource projectTypeList}}"
Width="150"/>
</DataGrid.Columns>
</DataGrid>
I can see the enum values in the combo. What I'd really like is to show the descriptions. Can someone show me how to do this?
Many thanks!
If it's not broken, fix it until it is
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Something along this[^] lines should do it.
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Hello,
i am developing a Form where the user need to drag and drop between Grid,StackPanel etc. some data you can see the code below :
<Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot">
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="*"/>
<RowDefinition Height="*"/>
<RowDefinition Height="*"/>
<RowDefinition Height="30"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Grid x:Name="box1" Grid.Row="0" AllowDrop="True" Drop="box_Drop" >
<Grid x:Name="grid1" Background="Aqua" Margin="15" MouseMove="grid_MouseMove">
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="*" />
<RowDefinition Height="*" />
<RowDefinition Height="*" />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="28*" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="445*" />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Grid Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="0">
<TextBlock Text="1"></TextBlock>
</Grid>
<Grid Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="1">
<TextBlock Text="2"></TextBlock>
</Grid>
<Grid Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="2">
<TextBlock Text="3"></TextBlock>
</Grid>
<StackPanel Name="firsts" AllowDrop="True" Drop="box_Drop_first" Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="1" >
<StackPanel MouseMove="grid_MouseMove_first" Name="firstsrow" Margin="2" Background="Beige" Height="17"></StackPanel>
</StackPanel>
<StackPanel Name="seconds" AllowDrop="True" Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="1" Drop="box_Drop_first" >
<StackPanel MouseMove="grid_MouseMove_first" Name="secondrow" Margin="2" Background="Gainsboro" Height="17"></StackPanel>
</StackPanel>
<StackPanel Name="thirds" AllowDrop="True" Grid.Row="2" Grid.Column="1" Drop="box_Drop_first" >
<StackPanel MouseMove="grid_MouseMove_first" Name="thirdrow" Margin="2" Background="Red" Height="17"></StackPanel>
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
</Grid>
<Grid x:Name="box2" Grid.Row="1" AllowDrop="True" Drop="box_Drop">
<Grid x:Name="grid2" Background="blue" Margin="15" MouseMove="grid_MouseMove">
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="*" />
<RowDefinition Height="*" />
<RowDefinition Height="*" />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="28*" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="445*" />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
</Grid>
</Grid>
<Grid x:Name="box3" Grid.Row="2" AllowDrop="True" Drop="box_Drop">
<TextBlock Text="3" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Width="30" Margin="10,0,0,77"></TextBlock>
<Grid x:Name="grid3" Background="green" Margin="15" MouseMove="grid_MouseMove">
</Grid>
</Grid>
</Grid>
and the code Behind :
public partial class Window1 : Window
{
public Window1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void grid_MouseMove(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
// Get the grid that is the source of drag
Grid selectedGrid = sender as Grid;
if (selectedGrid != null && e.LeftButton == MouseButtonState.Pressed)
{
// Add that grid as drag source and data
DragDrop.DoDragDrop(selectedGrid, selectedGrid, DragDropEffects.Move);
}
}
private void box_Drop(object sender, DragEventArgs e)
{
// Get the selected box in which the object is being dropped
Grid selectedBox = sender as Grid;
if (selectedBox != null)
{
// Get that data that is being dropped - in this case, the grid from other box
Grid droppedGrid = (Grid)e.Data.GetData(typeof(Grid));
// We need to remove the dragged grid from it's source box in order to be able to add it to selected box
Grid sourceBox = (Grid)droppedGrid.Parent;
// Remove the dropped grid from source box
sourceBox.Children.Remove(droppedGrid);
// We need to remove the other grid from the selected box in order to be able to move it to source box
// Get existing child element, the box has only one child - the grid that we need
Grid existingChild = (Grid)selectedBox.Children[0];
// Remove existing child grid from selected box
selectedBox.Children.Remove(existingChild);
// Finally, move grids to new boxes
// Move existing child grid to source box
sourceBox.Children.Add(existingChild);
// Move the dropped grid to selected box
selectedBox.Children.Add(droppedGrid);
}
}
private void box_Drop_first(object sender, DragEventArgs e)
{
StackPanel selectedBox = sender as StackPanel;
if (selectedBox != null)
{
// Get that data that is being dropped - in this case, the grid from other box
StackPanel droppedGrid = (StackPanel)e.Data.GetData(typeof(StackPanel));
// We need to remove the dragged grid from it's source box in order to be able to add it to selected box
// StackPanel sourceBox = new StackPanel();
StackPanel sourceBox = (StackPanel)droppedGrid.Parent;
// Remove the dropped grid from source box
sourceBox.Children.Remove(droppedGrid);
// We need to remove the other grid from the selected box in order to be able to move it to source box
// Get existing child element, the box has only one child - the grid that we need
StackPanel existingChild = (StackPanel)selectedBox.Children[0];
// Remove existing child grid from selected box
selectedBox.Children.Remove(existingChild);
// Finally, move grids to new boxes
// Move existing child grid to source box
sourceBox.Children.Add(existingChild);
// Move the dropped grid to selected box
selectedBox.Children.Add(droppedGrid);
}
}
private void grid_MouseMove_first(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
StackPanel selectedGrid = sender as StackPanel;
if (selectedGrid != null && e.LeftButton == MouseButtonState.Pressed)
{
// Add that grid as drag source and data
DragDrop.DoDragDrop(selectedGrid, selectedGrid, DragDropEffects.Move);
}
}
}
The Grids "box1,box2,box3" are not movable instead their Childs are all movable (beacause in teh final project these will be populate with data then the user should be able to move and change the data when need) .
When i debug the project and i want move the StackPanel"firstrow,secondrow,thirdrow" between others StackPanel as"firsts,seconds.thirds" i got always an error as "Object reference not set to an instance of an object." or "Specified argument was out of the range of valid values.
Parameter name: index" then don't allow to drag drop .
Sincerely i am new of WPF then sure i done some mistakes then i ask you kindly if you have some suggestion or better idea to work out this error.
Thank you in advance for the attention.
Sincerely
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The simple answer to this is, that some of the objects that you're trying to pass has not been initialized (or putting it simple, does not exist; is null). Try to create an instance of all of the objects, and their properties that are requried to be passed on as a parameter.
Are all of your objects initialized?
The sh*t I complain about
It's like there ain't a cloud in the sky and it's raining out - Eminem
~! Firewall !~
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Your Code is behaving the correct way. box1,box2,box3 cannot be moved becaused you did not handle the events to move them but stackPanels which are the Children can move.
Vuyiswa Maseko,
Spoted in Daniweb-- Sorry to rant. I hate websites. They are just wierd. They don't behave like normal code.
C#/VB.NET/ASP.NET/SQL7/2000/2005/2008
http://www.vuyiswamaseko.com
vuyiswa[at]dotnetfunda.com
http://www.Dotnetfunda.com
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In my application I have a window with a custom look and title bar. The XAML for my window is:
<Window x:Class="TicketWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="Ticket Window" Height="300" Width="300"
WindowStyle="None" ShowInTaskbar="False">
<WindowChrome.WindowChrome>
<WindowChrome CaptionHeight="{Binding ActualHeight,ElementName=titlebar}"/>
</WindowChrome.WindowChrome>
<DockPanel LastChildFill="True">
<Border Background="{DynamicResource {x:Static SystemColors.ScrollBarBrushKey}}" DockPanel.Dock="Top" Height="25" x:Name="titlebar">
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Title, RelativeSource={RelativeSource FindAncestor,AncestorType=Window},FallbackValue=Title}"
Margin="10,0,0,0"
VerticalAlignment="Center">
<TextBlock.Effect>
<DropShadowEffect Color="White" ShadowDepth="3"/>
</TextBlock.Effect>
</TextBlock>
</Border>
<Border BorderBrush="LightGray" BorderThickness="1" Padding="4">
<TextBlock><Run Text="Window content"/><InlineUIContainer>
<Button Content="Button" Width="75" Click="Button_Click"/>
</InlineUIContainer></TextBlock>
</Border>
</DockPanel>
</Window>
I would like to be able to blink the title bar under some circumstances from a second thread using a loop. For testing purposes I am using the button to start the thread to blink the title bar between green and red with a half-second delay in between the changes.
In the button's click event I create a thread and start it:
Private Sub Button_Click(sender As Object, e As RoutedEventArgs)
Try
Dim thread As New Thread(AddressOf ChangeTitleBarColor)
thread.Start()
Catch ex As Exception
Dim m As String = ex.Message
End Try
End Sub
I've only used the Dispatcher a couple of times, so to initially test the ChagneTitleBarColor method and ensure I was using the Dispatch correct I used the following code:
Private Sub ChangeTitleBarColor()
Try
titlebar.Dispatcher.Invoke(Threading.DispatcherPriority.Render, Sub()
titlebar.Background = Brushes.Green
End Sub)
Thread.Sleep(500)
titlebar.Dispatcher.Invoke(Threading.DispatcherPriority.Render, Sub()
titlebar.Background = Brushes.Red
End Sub)
Thread.Sleep(500)
Catch ex As Exception
Dim m As String = ex.Message
End Try
End Sub
And this worked; the title bar went from the default grey to green, there is a half-second delay, and then the title bar changes to red. Next I tried the following code:
Private Sub ChangeTitleBarColor()
Try
titlebar.Dispatcher.Invoke(Threading.DispatcherPriority.Render, Sub()
titlebar.Background = Brushes.Green
Thread.Sleep(500)
titlebar.Background = Brushes.Red
End Sub)
Catch ex As Exception
Dim m As String = ex.Message
End Try
End Sub
However the title bar never turns green with the above code; it goes from grey to red. So I took the the first version of the ChangeTitleBarColor and added a loop so the title bar would switch between green and red indefinitely:
Private Sub ChangeTitleBarColor()
Try
While True
titlebar.Dispatcher.Invoke(Threading.DispatcherPriority.Render, Sub()
titlebar.Background = Brushes.Green
End Sub)
Thread.Sleep(500)
titlebar.Dispatcher.Invoke(Threading.DispatcherPriority.Render, Sub()
titlebar.Background = Brushes.Red
End Sub)
Thread.Sleep(500)
End While
Catch ex As Exception
Dim m As String = ex.Message
End Try
And this works fine as well.
I even tried adding another Thread.Sleep(500) after the changing the color to red and a call to an empty action (Private EmptyDelegate As New Action(Sub()End Sub)) using the Dispatch.Invoke before each call to the sleep method of Thread and it still didn't work.
I would appreciate it if someone could explain why if I change the title bar twice in the single invoke statement (as in the second example of the ChangeTitleBarColor below) why the color only changes a single time? Is there a simpler way to switch the title bar between two colors indefinitely from a second thread?
Thank you in advance. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
A black hole is where God tried to divide by zero.
There are 10 kinds of people in the world; those who understand binary and those who don't.
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Hi,
I am setting the selected index of combobox in ViewModel constructor. After setting the selectedIndex I have fire the SelectionChanged event. Kindly help me.
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With Google now having screwed Silverlight by removing support NPAPI what future does it have, if any?
Should we start looking at HTML5? Or is there something better coming?
TIA
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That is really a question for Microsoft to answer.
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Microsoft recommends using HTML5 for web based applications. Silverlight is purely in maintenance mode now.
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Never used them or stumble on any custom implementation of them.
Dunno why I need them! Nor how I should write them!
Any tips or explanation please?
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Automation Peers allow us to programatically control UI elements from outside the application (i.e., to do things like automated UI testing).
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[UPDATE]
Figured it out. Was binding to the event instead of the Handler
[UPDATE]
I created a user control with this event:
public partial class AssignedEmployeesControl : _BaseUserControl
{
public static readonly RoutedEvent AssignmentRemovedEvent =
EventManager.RegisterRoutedEvent("AssignmentRemoved",
RoutingStrategy.Bubble, typeof(RoutedEventHandler),
typeof(AssignedEmployeesControl));
public event RoutedEventHandler AssignmentRemoved
{
add { AddHandler(AssignmentRemovedEvent, value); }
remove { RemoveHandler(AssignmentRemovedEvent, value); }
}
protected void OnAssignmentRemoved()
{
RaiseEvent(new RoutedEventArgs(AssignmentRemovedEvent));
}
I then add my control to a DataGrid in another control
<DataGridTemplateColumn Header="Assigned Employees"
Width="*">
<DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<vc:AssignedEmployeesControl EngineRef="{Binding
ElementName=employeeJobAssignmentsView, Path=EngineRef}"
AssignmentShift="{Binding Shift}">
<i:Interaction.Triggers>
<i:EventTrigger EventName="AssignmentRemovedEvent">
<i:InvokeCommandAction
Command="{Binding ElementName=employeeJobAssignmentsView,
Path=AssignmentRemovedCommand}"/>
</i:EventTrigger>
</i:Interaction.Triggers>
</vc:AssignedEmployeesControl>
</DataTemplate>
</DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate>
</DataGridTemplateColumn>
I then have a command to catch the event:
private ICommand _AssignmentRemovedCommand;
public ICommand AssignmentRemovedCommand
{
get
{
if (_AssignmentRemovedCommand == null)
_AssignmentRemovedCommand = new RelayCommand(p =>
assignmentRemovedExecuted(), p => assignmentRemovedCanExecute());
return _AssignmentRemovedCommand;
}
}
private bool assignmentRemovedCanExecute()
{
return true;
}
private void assignmentRemovedExecuted()
{
}
When I run it, my control calls OnAssignmentRemoved, but the host control's assignmentRemovedExecuted method never fires.
I get no compilation errors or ouput methods. I get no response at all.
Can anyone see what's wrong?
Thanks
If it's not broken, fix it until it is
modified 18-Dec-14 16:01pm.
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