Some questions. What option is much better, create a lot of windows in project to move from one window, to another. Or, work in one window and just when I need to move from login window for example, just clear the Grid and Load another Grid with their controls, objects etc. Accept any tips, thanks
You should probably check with your users.
Flow from one window to another is wizard dialog. You can be sure that all steps are taken. But expert users that may be annoying.
On the other side showing all options in main window may be overwhelming for novice users and excellent for experts :)
I like to create just one Window, put a top menu on it, and a ContentPresenter in the center of the window. Then, I create some UserControls that are the "pages" of the app. On the top menu, handle the click events. For example, on the "User Profile" menu, open up the UserProfile page:
contentControl.Content = new UserProfile();
where UserProfile is the UserControl you created.
Also, read about MVVM. If you come from a WindowsForms/WebForms world, then it you be confusing in the beginning, but if you have time to learn, it does worth the effort.
Related
So I'm sure there's an easy way to do this but I don't know the exact terminology for what I'm wanting.
Essentially in my C# xaml uwp app I have a couple objects that need to have details added to them, kind of like file properties. I have a button that I would like to open up another window (still part of the app), just to enter in the properties. I just don't know the terminology to look up what this window would be called or find documentation for it. So the exact same as when you're in a file browser and you open the properties of a file; it opens in a little extra window that you can drag around.
I don't want to be able to use the main window while the properties window is open, and of course they need to be able to transfer data between one another.
In my previous apps I've simply made a grid that appears over everything else in the middle of the app and shaded the outer area. A workaround as I didn't know how to do this.
Can anyone help me out?
Maybe you can use Dialog refer to https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/design/controls-and-patterns/dialogs-and-flyouts/dialogs.
Dialog controls are modal UI overlays that provide contextual app information. They block interactions with the app window until being explicitly dismissed. They often request some kind of action from the user.
Ok, I'm being really thick here and am having a few minor issues which are turning into major ones in my head:
I have a MainWindow that houses a tab control into which I have several "apps" sitting which all have their own solutions. I have built a neat "loading" control which is housed in the main window but is hidden and is only displayed when one of the displayed pages has a button clicked. However, I don't seem to be able to access the user control from the page.
As an example, I have an admin page which controls users in a database which wotks fine. When I click on the submit button I want to make the user control visible on the MainWindow and when the function is finished to hide the control. I know how to unhide and hide the control just not how to access it. I have attached a representation of the file structure below so you can see the issue I have accessing the MainWindow in the main solution from say the pageAdmin.xaml.
I have been googalizing this for a while and can't seem to find a solution that works. Can anyone point me in the right direction? I am open to any suggestions about how to handle this.
Andy
Just to be sure: what do you mean with "apps"? Do you have one WPF application which hosts different components?
Maybe PRISM (Microsoft Framework) is interesting for you. In PRISM you can dynamically load components from different dlls and host them in one WPF application. It has a build in messaging framwork which works very well and the diffetent dlls don't need any references among themselves.
All in WPF:
Developing a wizard application, user has to answer a number of simple questions before brought to the main app. The main app is then prefilled with the information obtained from the wizard.
I started with a Window which I then planned to add usercontrols to. The main window would have the user control in the first row, then Next and Previous buttons to control moving between the controls in the second row. This way I could easily control the logic to switch between screens like:
WizardControl1.IsVisible = false;
WizardControl2.IsVisible = true;
But for some reason, user controls do not have setter for IsVisible. Hurray.
So then I thought I would just use seperate windows for each section of the wizard. The problem with this approach is that now when stepping between, the window opens in random positions, and by steppign through the wizard with next, the next window pops up randomly which is really distracting and frustrating.
So how can I develop a wizard properly? I don't get why this is so hard...not exactly rocket science... replacing text and controls and storing input after pressing next/previous!
Thanks
Check this link:
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/WPF/InternationalizedWizard.aspx
This is the article about building wizard in WPF by Josh Smith, it's seems to be nice pattern.
I found it's helpful for me, hope you'll too.
There is also an open source Avalon Wizard control on codeplex.
I'd probably aproach this using data binding and template selectors. Have the wizard form bind to a "WizardData" class, which exposes a list of "WizardPage" base classes.
The WizardData class can expose properties defining the correct info on the forms, and display a control for the main page that uses a template selector to determine the proper control to display based on the actual type of the particular wizard page.
It sounds like more work than it is, really. It also gives you the benefit of good separation between code and UI (all "work" is done by the WizardData and WizardPage classes), and the ability to test logic independent of the UI.
It's also a very WPF/MVVM way of approaching the problem.
I recognize this does not directly address your question, but I thought I'd mention it as a possible alternative. I've used Actipro's Wizard control with pretty good results, and when I have needed support, they have been very responsive. I am not affiliated with them in any way; I just like not having to write the plumbing to manage a wizard.
The property is called "Visibility".
I find that I do better when I dynamically add and removing controls rather than hide them.
I was looking for a Wizard solution too. I have the need to stick with stock WPF components so I implemented the wizard using a standard form and a tab control.
I only hide the tabs at runtime so there available in the IDE. At runtime just use Back, Next, Finish... to navigate thru the tab items
works good
I am trying to create a panel which will have a set of "buttons" on it.
These buttons should have the following behaviour:
Appear similar to a tag (with
rounded edges)
Contain a red
cross to remove the filter/tag from
the panel, similar to the way internet
explorer tabs have an embedded cross to close the individual tab.
allow the user to click
on the tag and respond like a normal
button (as long as the click is not
in the red cross)
Number 1 is no problem, this is just appearance, however, regarding numbers 2 and 3, I am not sure if there is already code out there do to something similar...and I dont really want to reinvent the wheel if I can avoid it!
My question is: Does anyone know if there is something out there in infragistics which will do this simply, or will I need to write this myself by subclassing winform buttons?
Thanks in advance!
Is this new development or maintenance of an existing project?
If it is maintenance, you have a somewhat tougher time ahead. You'll implement a UserControl, probably segmented into two buttons. Use docking to get the behavior as correct as possible. The far right button would contain your cross image; the left (which would need to auto-expand as you resize the control) would contain your primary button behavior. Play with the visual styles until you get them right (EG, removing borders, etc).
If this is new development, and you haven't gotten too far into it, you might consider using Windows Presentation Framework (WPF) instead of WinForms. It will be easier to build the control and get it to look exactly how you want it. WPF includes an extremely powerful control compositing system which allows you to layer multiple controls on top of each other and have them work exactly as you'd expect, and it carries the added advantage of allowing full visual control out-of-the-box.
Either way, this is more work than dropping in an external component ... I've used Infragistics for years, and I can't think of anything they have which is comparable. The closest, but only if you're building an MDI application and these controls are for window navigation, is the Tabbed MDI window management tools -- and there, only the tabs (which replace window title bars) have this behavior.
I don't think that infragistics can do something like this. The UltraButton control can't.
Implementing a own control wouldn't be that hard.
your probably going to have to make a costume control for this type of work.
I'm searching a C# component or code snipped that does something like that:
I want to inform new users about the most important program functions if he opens a new window for example.
It should be a box showing text (formated if possible) that is of course not modal and has some mechanism to 'go out of the way' if the user enters the textbox area. So that he can access what's underneath it. Alternativly the window could also stick to the border of the window, but there needs to be a way that this also works if the window is maximized.
So I want to present him with a short introduction of what he can do in every corner of my app most painlessly.
Thank you!
I use a "bar" at the top of every window to display some information about the current window/dialog.
Use tooltips. They can be programmatically controlled, and you can have them appear at will. You'll need to add the functionality to your app to keep track of what tooltips have been shown to the user already.
You can add a "balloon" style by setting the IsBalloon property to true.
You can also replace them with smaller descriptions for when the user wants to hover over the control and have them displayed again.
I'm already using tooltips heavily. However, they aren't very practical when displaying bigger amounts of data and they are bound to specific user actions.
Have you considered having a contextual menu for each form / page which contains links to Adobe Captivate style presentations for each available task? That way the user can investigate an example of how to achieve a task relating to what they are trying to achieve from within the application / site.
This approach would require a good deal of maintenance and management if your code changes regularly but coordinating it with a training department can provide rich help features in your application.
See http://www.adobe.com/products/captivate/ for more information.