WPF layout with menu assistance required

You have two options.

Using the navigation framework or manually adding the controls to the main window. Basically, I would do the latter. To do this you need to create a main window or user control. In this you add a content control. You would then in code, add other user controls to the content control.

This is a very basic and high overview. Please see some links below that will help.

thanks

WPF-A-Beginner-s-Guide-Part-1-of-n[^]

Without blowing your mind too much, I recommend you start to understand MVVM with WPF. I would also recommend using a framework that handles many of the boiler plate or comlex code that you end up writing.

Here are some recommended links:

http://cinch.codeplex.com[^]
http://compositewpf.codeplex.com/[^]

I use the Prism framework. I big learning curve, but the sample downloads and the accompanying documentation are really good.

Finally I would also recommend In the Box – MVVM Training[^]

UPDATE:
Ok, Add 3 wpf usercontrols to your solution called view1,view2 and view3.

Next try:

<Window x:Class="TestWPFApplication.MainWindow"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        Title="MainWindow"
        Width="800"
        Height="600">
    <Grid>
        <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
            <ColumnDefinition Width="250" />
            <ColumnDefinition Width="*" />
        </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
        <Border Margin="10"
                BorderBrush="BlueViolet"
                BorderThickness="2"
                CornerRadius="8">
            <StackPanel Orientation="Vertical">
                <Button Name="Btn1" Margin="10" Tag="1" Click="MenuBtn_OnClick">View 1</Button>
                <Button Name="Btn2" Margin="10" Tag="2" Click="MenuBtn_OnClick">View 2</Button>
                <Button Name="Btn3" Margin="10" Tag="3" Click="MenuBtn_OnClick">View 2</Button>
            </StackPanel>
        </Border>
        <Border Grid.Column="1"
                Margin="10"
                BorderBrush="Chartreuse"
                BorderThickness="2"
                CornerRadius="8">
            <ContentControl Name="CcMainContent" />
        </Border>
    </Grid>
</Window>

then in code behind something like:

namespace TestWPFApplication
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Interaction logic for MainWindow.xaml
    /// </summary>
    public partial class MainWindow : Window
    {
        public MainWindow()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            Loaded += (s, e) => LoadView(1);
        }

        public void LoadView(int viewId)
        {
            switch (viewId)
            {
                case 1:
                    CcMainContent.Content = new View1();
                    break;
                case 2:
                    CcMainContent.Content = new View2();
                    break;
                case 3:
                    CcMainContent.Content = new View3();
                    break;
            }
        }

        private void MenuBtn_OnClick(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            Button menuButton = sender as Button;

            if (menuButton != null)
            {
                LoadView(Convert.ToInt32(menuButton.Tag));
            }
        }
    }
}

UPDATE 2: AND IN VB!

Namespace TestWPFApplication
    ''' <summary>
    ''' Interaction logic for MainWindow.xaml
    ''' </summary>
    Partial Public Class MainWindow
        Inherits Window
        Public Sub New()
            InitializeComponent()
            AddHandler Loaded, AddressOf MainWindow_Loaded
        End Sub

        Private Sub MainWindow_Loaded(sender As Object, e As RoutedEventArgs)
            LoadView(1)
        End Sub

        Public Sub LoadView(viewId As Integer)
            Select Case viewId
                Case 1
                    CcMainContent.Content = New View1()
                Case 2
                    CcMainContent.Content = New View2()
                Case 3
                    CcMainContent.Content = New View3()
            End Select
        End Sub

        Private Sub MenuBtn_OnClick(sender As Object, e As RoutedEventArgs)
            Dim menuButton As Button = TryCast(sender, Button)

            If menuButton IsNot Nothing Then
                LoadView(Convert.ToInt32(menuButton.Tag))
            End If
        End Sub
    End Class
End Namespace