Re: List in wpf designer - WPF Discussion Boards

31-Oct-08 8:39

Hi!
After searches on google and the built in help of visual studio, I tried to get an answer on this question in the MSDN forum, but nobody seems to answer there. I hope i get better results here!

Here's my (slightly edited) post i posted on the MSDN forum:
Hi,

I'd like to make a List<int> property in a custom control, and, when I add that custom control to the main window of the application, want to be able to edit, add and remove elements from that list. The problem is that I can't edit the items in the designer.
I did the following:
1. Create a WPF application
2. Add a Custom Control (WPF)
3. Changed the code in the CustomControl1 class to the following:

public class CustomControl1 : Control 
    { 
        static CustomControl1() 
        { 
            DefaultStyleKeyProperty.OverrideMetadata(typeof(CustomControl1), new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(typeof(CustomControl1))); 
        } 
        private List<int> _intlist = new List<int>(); 
        public List<int> intlist 
        { 
            get { return _intlist; } 
            set { _intlist = value; } 
        } 
    } 
} </int></int></int>

4. Added the namespace to the XAML file of the Window1.xaml from the main WPF application
xmlns:CustCtrl1NameSpace="clr-namespace:WpfApplication3"
5. Added the control to the Grid

<Grid> 
    <CustCtrl1NameSpace:CustomControl1/> 
</Grid>

After i did this, i expected to be able to see and edit the List<int> intlist in the designer, but i can only see it. If i click on the button with the three dots on it on the intlist property in the designer, I get the window to edit it, but everything is grayed out!
I really tried alot of things, and i ran out of ideas now.

Hope you can help me,
Vincent

(this is a copy of my wrongly placed message in the c# forum Blush | :O

)

Wes Aday31-Oct-08 10:01

31-Oct-08 10:01

vincentgr wrote:
but everything is grayed out

Sorry I do not know the answer to this but maybe this will throw into a new direction of thought...

When the item editor window comes up and there isn't anything to add to your list, wouldn't you have to define somewhere the items that could be added to the list so the editor window would be able to display those items?

Why is common sense not common?
Never argue with an idiot. They will drag you down to their level where they are an expert.
Sometimes it takes a lot of work to be lazy
Individuality is fine, as long as we do it together - F. Burns

vincentgr31-Oct-08 10:31

31-Oct-08 10:31

Yes, i thought about that. But where is somewhere? I thought it would be easy to see for the designer because its a List<INT>..
Thanks!
Vincent

Wes Aday31-Oct-08 11:46

31-Oct-08 11:46

vincentgr wrote:
But where is somewhere

Ah.... therein lies the Google search Smile | :)

vincentgr wrote:
it would be easy

Lol But it never is.

vincentgr1-Nov-08 8:45

1-Nov-08 8:45

Wes Aday wrote:
Ah.... therein lies the Google search Smile

I tried to google it, but I really don't know what words to search to.
I tried also if i was able to add an element in the constructor of the class. That's possible.

While thinking about this I got another idea: the grid contains a ColumnDefinitionCollection. I went searching for the sourcecode, but i can only find some sort of referencesource at http://referencesource.microsoft.com/symbols. I just can't find out how to get sourcecode with that, I just need to look inside the Grid c# file! Does anybody know how to do this?

A last idea was with the use of something with the [ ] things in front of the property, but i don't know where to place these and what i should put in there (something in the System.ComponentModel namespace?).

Thanks for all your help!
Vincent

Wes Aday1-Nov-08 10:51

1-Nov-08 10:51

I found this for you:
http://blogs.msdn.com/jgalasyn/archive/2007/10/29/troubleshooting-wpf-designer-load-failures.aspx[^]" which talks about, "If you want your custom control to load in the WPF Designer, you must provide CLR get and set methods for any dependency properties that you have defined. For more information, see Custom Dependency Properties."

but this: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb546970.aspx[^] seemed to be more like what you are looking for,
"Editors can be either inline editors, which allow you edit values directly in the Properties window, or extended editors, which allow you to provide an additional UI for editing a property outside of the Properties window"

Good luck

vincentgr2-Nov-08 2:08

2-Nov-08 2:08

Thanks! it looks a bit complicated, but i'll try to make something out of it.

vincentgr2-Nov-08 3:09

2-Nov-08 3:09

AAAh dammn this is so annoying. I just don't get your samples. I try to get them working but it just seems it isn't what i'm looking for. How did microsoft do this when building the Grid.ColumnDefinitions? Why can't i find out how to do this.

Back to the first thing i found, indexers, maybe that is an idea? I can create them and make them visible in the designer, but then i get a strange string value (so now button with three dots to edit a list or something)

I'm so sorry i just don't get it and keep annoying you with my questions..

Thanks, a thousand times,

Vincent

vincentgr4-Nov-08 8:04

WPF in a web browser using a ElementHost

4-Nov-08 8:04

YAY! I got it to work! well, not completely: i found this (NewItemTypesAttribute)[^] description and tried the sample (copied and pasted the parts I needed). I found out it just don't likes ints! A lot of things you enter int the NewItemTypesAttribute, like TextBlocks which i actually wanted to List (but this didn't work out because of a reason I don't get), but int just doesn't! I tried it after doing this with a List<textblock>, and amazingly, without the NewItemTypesAttribute, it just works!

The problem I first had was that I could add items through the designer (I think I was using Blend then), but if i checked Count or tried to get a value with operator[], it just told me 0 or threw an exception. I checked the Count now, and it works. All very strange..

Here's my code:

private List<TextBlock> _TextBlockList = new List<TextBlock>();
public List<TextBlock> TextBlockList
{
     get
     {
          return _TextBlockList;
     }

     set
     {
          _TextBlockList = value;
     }
}

Thanks for all your help!
Vincent

Gareth H31-Oct-08 3:58

Gareth H

31-Oct-08 3:58

I have a WPF control in a ElementHost. I then display the control on the web page in a object tag

<object id="myObject" classid="http://server/application/ClientBin/MyControl.Chart.DLL#MyControl.Chart.ChartControl" height="600" width="800" />

However, I am getting security exceptions because of the element host. I've signed the DLL and have the certf in IE under trusted root and trusted publisher, and can view the control if I run it normally under a XBAP.

Is there anything else I need to do?, I am a bit lost, I've searched google and not really found much help.

Regards,
Gareth.

(FKA gareth111)

WPF - Getting a Frame control to scroll the content

Evan Stein31-Oct-08 3:45

Evan Stein

31-Oct-08 3:45

I have a Frame control inside a main WPF page. The frame shows other WPF pages. For some reason, the frame clips the content without scrolling. I've tried embedding the frame in other controls, but no luck.

Has anyone dealt with this issue?

Thanks!
Evan

Re: WPF - Getting a Frame control to scroll the content

Wes Aday31-Oct-08 8:30

Re: WPF - Getting a Frame control to scroll the content

31-Oct-08 8:30

Evan Stein wrote:
I've tried embedding the frame in other controls

Sorry, but what does this mean? You mean like wrapping your pages in a scrollviewer control?

Evan Stein31-Oct-08 12:13

Evan Stein

31-Oct-08 12:13

I mean, nesting the Frame as a child control, like so

<ScrollViewer>
   <Frame/>
</ScrollViewer>

As I said, this doesn't seem to help.

Re: WPF - Getting a Frame control to scroll the content

Wes Aday31-Oct-08 12:48