I am trying to create a text input field with autocomplete functionality. The list of available options is huge (50,000+) and will need to be queried on TextChanged (after the first 3 characters have been entered).
I have a 99%-working solution with TextBox, setting AutoCompleteCustomSource to my new AutoCompleteStringCollection in the TextChanged event, but that results in occasional memory access violations due to a well-documented bug in the underlying AutoComplete implementation...
Microsoft Support say "Do not modify the AutoComplete candidate list dynamically during key events"...
Several SO threads: 1, 2, 3
These threads have some suggestions on how to prevent the exceptions but nothing seems to completely eliminate them, so I'm looking for an alternative. have tried switching to a ComboBox-based solution but can't get it to behave as I want.
After the user types the third character, I update the ComboBox's DataSource but the first item is automatically selected. The user is not able to continue typing the rest of the name.
The ComboBox items are not visible until the user clicks the triangle to expand the list
If the user selects the text they have entered and starts typing, I set DataSource to null to remove the list of suggestions. Doing this puts the cursor at the start of the text, so their characters appear in completely the wrong order!
My View:
public event EventHandler SearchTextChanged;
public event EventHandler InstrumentSelected;
public Instrument CurrentInstrument
{
get { return comboBoxQuickSearch.SelectedItem as Instrument; }
}
public IEnumerable<Instrument> Suggestions
{
get { return comboBoxQuickSearch.DataSource as IEnumerable<Instrument>; }
set
{
comboBoxQuickSearch.DataSource = value;
comboBoxQuickSearch.DisplayMember = "Name";
}
}
public string SearchText
{
get { return comboBoxQuickSearch.Text; }
}
private void comboBoxQuickSearch_TextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (SearchTextChanged != null)
{
SearchTextChanged(sender, e);
}
}
private void comboBoxQuickSearch_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
{
if (e.KeyCode == Keys.Enter && InstrumentSelected != null)
{
InstrumentSelected(sender, e);
}
}
My Presenter:
private void SearchTextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
lock (searchLock)
{
// Do not update list of suggestions if:
// 1) an instrument has already been selected
// (the user may be scrolling through suggestion list)
// 2) a search has taken place within the last MIN_SEARCH_INTERVAL
if (DateTime.Now - quickSearchTimeStamp < minimumSearchInterval
|| (view.Suggestions != null && view.Suggestions.Any(i => i.Name == view.SearchText)))
{
return;
}
string searchText = view.SearchText.Trim();
if (searchText.Length < SEARCH_PREFIX_LENGTH)
{
// Do not show suggestions
view.Suggestions = null;
searchAgain = false;
}
// If the prefix has been entered or changed,
// or another search is needed to display the full sublist
else if (searchText.Length == SEARCH_PREFIX_LENGTH
|| searchText.Substring(0, SEARCH_PREFIX_LENGTH) != searchTextPrefix
|| searchAgain)
{
// Record the current time and prefix
quickSearchTimeStamp = DateTime.Now;
searchTextPrefix = searchText.Substring(0, SEARCH_PREFIX_LENGTH);
// Query matches from DB
IList<Instrument> matches = QueryMatches(searchText);
// Update suggestions
view.Suggestions = matches;
// If a large number of results was received, search again on the next chararacter
// This ensures the full match list is presented
searchAgain = matches.Count() > MAX_RESULTS;
}
}
}
(The searchAgain bit is left over from the TextBox implementation, where the AutoCompleteCustomSource wouldn't always show the complete list if it contained too many items.)
Can I get the ComboBox to work as I want it to, providing suggestions as the user types, given my requirement to query those suggestions on TextChanged?
Is there some other combination of controls I should use for a better user experience, e.g. ListBox?
I am porting my program from WinForms to WPF and have ran into some issues with the drag and drop. It should allow for dragging from a TreeView (it is like a file explorer) to a textbox which opens the file. However, the WPF version acts like a copy-and-paste of the TreeViewItem's header text automatically. I think I just have something mixed up? Possibly the DataObject stuff.
The fully functional, relevant WinForms code:
private void treeView1_MouseMove(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
if (e.Button != MouseButtons.Left) return;
TreeNode node = treeView1.GetNodeAt(e.Location);
if (node != null) treeView1.DoDragDrop(node, DragDropEffects.Move);
}
textbox[i].DragDrop += (o, ee) =>
{
if (ee.Data.GetDataPresent(typeof(TreeNode)))
{
TreeNode node = (TreeNode)ee.Data.GetData(typeof(TreeNode));
((Textbox)o).Text = File.ReadAllLines(pathRoot + node.Parent.FullPath);
...
The WPF code that should do the same thing:
private void TreeView_PreviewMouseLeftButtonDown(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
{
TreeViewItem item = e.Source as TreeViewItem;
if (item != null)
{
DataObject dataObject = new DataObject();
dataObject.SetData(DataFormats.StringFormat, GetFullPath(item));
DragDrop.DoDragDrop(item, dataObject, DragDropEffects.Move);
}
}
//textbox[i].PreviewDrop += textbox_Drop;
private void textbox_Drop(object sender, DragEventArgs e)
{
TreeViewItem node = (TreeViewItem)e.Data.GetData(typeof(TreeViewItem)); //null?
((Textbox)sender).Text = "";
//this is being executed BUT then the node's header text is being pasted
//also, how do I access the DataObject I passed?
}
Problem: In my WPF version, I am setting the textbox's text to empty (as a test), which occurs, but afterwards the TreeViewItem's header text is being pasted which is not what I want.
Questions: What is the correct way to port this WinForms code to WPF? Why is the text being pasted in the WPF version? How do I prevent that? Am I using the correct events? How do I access the DataObject in textbox_Drop so that I can open the file like I did in the WinForms version? Why is TreeViewItem node always null in the WPF version?
Ah, what the heck, I'll expand my comment to an answer:
The link to read, as mentioned, is this:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh144798.aspx
Short story, the TextBox-derived controls already implement most of the "guts" for basic drag/drop operations, and it is recommended that you extend that rather than provide explicit DragEnter/DragOver/Drop handlers.
Assuming a tree "data" structure like:
public class TreeThing
{
public string Description { get; set; }
public string Path { get; set; }
}
The handlers might look something like this:
this.tb.AddHandler(UIElement.DragOverEvent, new DragEventHandler((sender, e) =>
{
e.Effects = !e.Data.GetDataPresent("treeThing") ?
DragDropEffects.None :
DragDropEffects.Copy;
}), true);
this.tb.AddHandler(UIElement.DropEvent, new DragEventHandler((sender, e) =>
{
if (e.Data.GetDataPresent("treeThing"))
{
var item = e.Data.GetData("treeThing") as TreeThing;
if (item != null)
{
tb.Text = item.Path;
// TODO: Actually open up the file here
}
}
}), true);
And just for giggles, here's a quick-and-dirty test app that is pure showboating in it's use of the Reactive Extensions (Rx) for the drag start stuff:
XAML:
<Window x:Class="WpfApplication1.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525">
<Grid>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition/>
<ColumnDefinition/>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<TreeView x:Name="tree" Grid.Column="0" ItemsSource="{Binding TreeStuff}" DisplayMemberPath="Description"/>
<TextBox x:Name="tb" Grid.Column="1" AllowDrop="True" Text="Drop here" Height="30"/>
</Grid>
</Window>
Nasty code-behind (too lazy to MVVM this):
using System;
using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Reactive.Linq;
using System.Runtime.CompilerServices;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Input;
using System.Windows.Media;
namespace WpfApplication1
{
/// <summary>
/// Interaction logic for MainWindow.xaml
/// </summary>
public partial class MainWindow : Window, INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
TreeStuff = new ObservableCollection<TreeThing>()
{
new TreeThing() { Description="file 1", Path = #"c:\temp\test.txt" },
new TreeThing() { Description="file 2", Path = #"c:\temp\test2.txt" },
new TreeThing() { Description="file 3", Path = #"c:\temp\test3.txt" },
};
var dragStart =
from mouseDown in
Observable.FromEventPattern<MouseButtonEventHandler, MouseEventArgs>(
h => tree.PreviewMouseDown += h,
h => tree.PreviewMouseDown -= h)
let startPosition = mouseDown.EventArgs.GetPosition(null)
from mouseMove in
Observable.FromEventPattern<MouseEventHandler, MouseEventArgs>(
h => tree.MouseMove += h,
h => tree.MouseMove -= h)
let mousePosition = mouseMove.EventArgs.GetPosition(null)
let dragDiff = startPosition - mousePosition
where mouseMove.EventArgs.LeftButton == MouseButtonState.Pressed &&
(Math.Abs(dragDiff.X) > SystemParameters.MinimumHorizontalDragDistance ||
Math.Abs(dragDiff.Y) > SystemParameters.MinimumVerticalDragDistance)
select mouseMove;
dragStart.ObserveOnDispatcher().Subscribe(start =>
{
var nodeSource = this.FindAncestor<TreeViewItem>(
(DependencyObject)start.EventArgs.OriginalSource);
var source = start.Sender as TreeView;
if (nodeSource == null || source == null)
{
return;
}
var data = (TreeThing)source
.ItemContainerGenerator
.ItemFromContainer(nodeSource);
DragDrop.DoDragDrop(nodeSource, new DataObject("treeThing", data), DragDropEffects.All);
});
this.tb.AddHandler(UIElement.DragOverEvent, new DragEventHandler((sender, e) =>
{
e.Effects = !e.Data.GetDataPresent("treeThing") ?
DragDropEffects.None :
DragDropEffects.Copy;
}), true);
this.tb.AddHandler(UIElement.DropEvent, new DragEventHandler((sender, e) =>
{
if (e.Data.GetDataPresent("treeThing"))
{
var item = e.Data.GetData("treeThing") as TreeThing;
if (item != null)
{
tb.Text = item.Path;
// TODO: Actually open up the file here
}
}
}), true);
this.DataContext = this;
}
private T FindAncestor<T>(DependencyObject current)
where T:DependencyObject
{
do
{
if (current is T)
{
return (T)current;
}
current = VisualTreeHelper.GetParent(current);
}
while (current != null);
return null;
}
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
public ObservableCollection<TreeThing> TreeStuff { get; set; }
protected virtual void OnPropertyChanged([CallerMemberName] string propertyName = null)
{
PropertyChangedEventHandler handler = PropertyChanged;
if (handler != null)
{
handler(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
}
}
}
public class TreeThing
{
public string Description { get; set; }
public string Path { get; set; }
}
}
You've got more than one problem, enough to make this difficult. First issue is that you got the drag object wrong, you are dragging a string but still checking for a TreeViewItem. Just use the same approach as you used in Winforms, dragging the node. Second problem is that TextBox already implements D+D support and that gets in the way of your code. And the reason you saw the text show up after the drop.
Let's tackle the start of the drag first. You'll need to do a bit of extra work since the way you started the drag interferes with the normal usage of the TreeView, it gets very hard to select a node. Only start the drag when the mouse was moved far enough:
private Point MouseDownPos;
private void treeView1_PreviewMouseDown(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e) {
MouseDownPos = e.GetPosition(treeView1);
}
private void treeView1_PreviewMouseMove(object sender, MouseEventArgs e) {
if (e.LeftButton == MouseButtonState.Released) return;
var pos = e.GetPosition(treeView1);
if (Math.Abs(pos.X - MouseDownPos.X) >= SystemParameters.MinimumHorizontalDragDistance ||
Math.Abs(pos.Y - MouseDownPos.Y) >= SystemParameters.MinimumVerticalDragDistance) {
TreeViewItem item = e.Source as TreeViewItem;
if (item != null) DragDrop.DoDragDrop(item, item, DragDropEffects.Copy);
}
}
Now the drop, you will need to implement the DragEnter, DragOver and Drop event handlers to avoid the default D+D support built into TextBox from getting in the way. Setting the e.Handled property to true is necessary:
private void textBox1_PreviewDragEnter(object sender, DragEventArgs e) {
if (e.Data.GetDataPresent(typeof(TreeViewItem))) e.Effects = e.AllowedEffects;
e.Handled = true;
}
private void textBox1_PreviewDrop(object sender, DragEventArgs e) {
var item = (TreeViewItem)e.Data.GetData(typeof(TreeViewItem));
textBox1.Text = item.Header.ToString(); // Replace this with your own code
e.Handled = true;
}
private void textBox1_PreviewDragOver(object sender, DragEventArgs e) {
e.Handled = true;
}
Problem: In my WPF version, I am setting the textbox's text to empty (as a test), which occurs, but afterwards the TreeViewItem's header text is being pasted which is not what I want.
I think a parent UI element is handling (and therefore overriding) the Drop event so you're not getting the results you expect. As a matter of fact, when trying to recreate your issue, I couldn't even get my TextBox.Drop event to fire. However, using the TextBox's PreviewDrop event, I was able to get what (I think) is your expected result. Try this:
private void textBox1_PreviewDrop(object sender, DragEventArgs e)
{
TextBox tb = sender as TextBox;
if (tb != null)
{
// If the DataObject contains string data, extract it.
if (e.Data.GetDataPresent(DataFormats.StringFormat))
{
string fileName = e.Data.GetData(DataFormats.StringFormat) as string;
using (StreamReader s = File.OpenText(fileName))
{
((TextBox)sender).Text = s.ReadToEnd();
}
}
}
e.Handled = true; //be sure to set this to true
}
I think that code snippet should answer most of the questions you posed except for this one:
Why is TreeViewItem node always null in the WPF version?
The DataObject you are passing in the DragDrop event does not support passing a TreeViewItem. In your code (and mine) we specify that the data format will be DataFormats.StringFormat which cannot be cast to a TreeViewItem.
GetFullPath seems to be outputting a wrong value. What you want to drag/drop is the Header and you can get it directly from item. Also bear in mind that the method below is associated with the MouseMove Event of the TreeView.
private void TreeView_MouseMove(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
{
if (e.LeftButton != MouseButtonState.Pressed) return;
TreeViewItem item = e.Source as TreeViewItem;
if (item != null)
{
DataObject dataObject = new DataObject();
dataObject.SetData(DataFormats.StringFormat, item.Header);
DragDrop.DoDragDrop(item, dataObject, DragDropEffects.Move);
}
}
I did create the drop part based on text rather than on the TreeViewItem (e.Data.GetData(typeof(string)).ToString()) but the most surprising thing is that it isn't even required. If you open a new C# WPF project, put a TreeView and a TextBox on it (, update the XAML part) and copy the code above, you can drop text from the TreeView into the TextBox without doing anything else!! The text is copied into the TextBox without accounting for the Drop handling.
Am I using the correct events?:
I think you are using the correct events, but I think you have several problems in your code.
I assume you have set the DataContext of your treeview to the real items and you use binding.
How do I access the DataObject in textbox_Drop ? -->
For getting the DataObject you have to get the real item by recursion (other solutions possible)
DependencyObject k = VisualTreeHelper.HitTest(tv_treeView, DagEventArgs.GetPosition(lv_treeView)).VisualHit;
while (k != null)
{
if (k is TreeViewItem)
{
TreeViewItem treeNode = k as TreeViewItem;
// Check if the context is your desired type
if (treeNode.DataContext is YourType)
{
// save the item
targetTreeViewItem = treeNode;
return;
}
}
else if (k == tv_treeview)
{
Console.WriteLine("Found treeview instance");
return;
}
// Get the parent item if no item from YourType was found
k = VisualTreeHelper.GetParent(k);
}
Why is the text being pasted in the WPF version? -->
The Header is displayed because (I assume) it is like the tostring method on your items. If for a complex item the binding is not specified, the ToString Method is executed.
Try not to set the Text directly in the handler of the drop event. Set the data context to your item (to the item you found in 1. point) and then specify the binding path via XAML. (for displaying)
I have 2 LookUpEdit controls from DevExpress on my form. Both use an ObservableCollection as it's datasource, one being of type string and the other of type double. The LookUpEdit control has an event called ProcessNewValue which fires when, you guessed it, a new value is entered in the control. I've added some code in this event to add the newly added value to the ObservableCollection and it automatically selects it once done. This works as expected for the string LooUpEdit but when I try it with the double LookUpEdit`, it adds it to the collection but then it clears out the control.
Here's the code to load the controls, which gets called in Form_Load():
void InitControls()
{
double[] issueNumbers = new double[5];
issueNumbers[0] = 155;
issueNumbers[1] = 156;
issueNumbers[2] = 157;
issueNumbers[3] = 158;
issueNumbers[4] = 159;
ObservableCollection<double> issues = new ObservableCollection<double>(issueNumbers);
lookupIssues.Properties.DataSource = issues;
DevExpress.XtraEditors.Controls.LookUpColumnInfoCollection colInfo = lookupIssues.Properties.Columns;
colInfo.Clear();
colInfo.Add(new DevExpress.XtraEditors.Controls.LookUpColumnInfo("Column"));
colInfo[0].Caption = "Issue ID's";
string[] stringNumbers = Array.ConvertAll<double, string>(issueNumbers, Convert.ToString);
ObservableCollection<string> issuesString = new ObservableCollection<string>(stringNumbers);
lookupStringValue.Properties.DataSource = issuesString;
colInfo.Clear();
colInfo.Add(new DevExpress.XtraEditors.Controls.LookUpColumnInfo("Column"));
colInfo[0].Caption = "String Issue ID's";
}
And here's the ProcessNewValue event for both (I've renamed them to try to make it easier to see which does what):
private void OnProcessNewValue_Double(object sender, DevExpress.XtraEditors.Controls.ProcessNewValueEventArgs e)
{
ObservableCollection<double> source = (ObservableCollection<double>)(sender as LookUpEdit).Properties.DataSource;
if (source != null)
{
if ((sender as LookUpEdit).Text.Length > 0)
{
source.Add(Convert.ToDouble((sender as LookUpEdit).Text));
(sender as LookUpEdit).Refresh();
}
}
e.Handled = true;
}
private void OnProcessNewValue_String(object sender, DevExpress.XtraEditors.Controls.ProcessNewValueEventArgs e)
{
ObservableCollection<string> source = (ObservableCollection<string>)(sender as LookUpEdit).Properties.DataSource;
if (source != null)
{
if ((sender as LookUpEdit).Text.Length > 0)
{
source.Add((sender as LookUpEdit).Text);
(sender as LookUpEdit).Refresh();
}
}
e.Handled = true;
}
As you can see, the code it identical with the exception of one converting text to a double before adding it to the collection.
Anyone know why the double value gets added to the collection but the control doesn't automatically select it like it does with a string collection? I've even tried to hard-code the newly added value right after e.Handled = true; but it still doesn't select it. What's weird is that if I run it through the debugger, I can step through and see that the lookupIssues control indeed gets the newly added value AND it's Text property is set to it, but as soon as the event terminates, the control clears it out.....really strange.
Any help is greatly appreciated!
BTW, I can add a link to a sample project that duplicates the problem but you would need to have DevExpress v12.2.6 controls installed in order to compile the project.
I posted this to the DevExpress team as well and they were gracious enough to provide the solution:
I agree that this discrepancy appears confusing as-is. The reason for the discrepancy is LookUpEdit.ProcessNewValueCore makes a call to RepositoryItemLookUpEdit.GetKeyValueByDisplayValue which returns a null value from the LookUpListDataAdapter because no implicit conversion exists from double to string. You may resolve the discrepancy with the following change to your ProcessNewValue handler:
private void OnProcessNewValue_Double(object sender, DevExpress.XtraEditors.Controls.ProcessNewValueEventArgs e)
{
ObservableCollection<double> source = (ObservableCollection<double>)(sender as LookUpEdit).Properties.DataSource;
if (source != null) {
if ((sender as LookUpEdit).Text.Length > 0) {
double val = Convert.ToDouble((sender as LookUpEdit).Text);
source.Add(val);
e.DisplayValue = val;
(sender as LookUpEdit).Refresh();
}
}
e.Handled = true;
}
The control now behaves as expected. I hope this can help someone else out :)
I'm using virtual mode of listview to show a larg data. But I don't know how to show image for each item. Who can help me ?
I wrote
private void ListContact_RetrieveVirtualItem(object sender, RetrieveVirtualItemEventArgs e)
{
MyContact contact = ContactData.GetMyContact(e.ItemIndex);
if (e.Item == null) e.Item = new ListViewItem(contact.ToString());
if (contact.Photo != null)
{
e.Item.ImageList.Images.Add("" + contact.Id, contact.Photo);
e.Item.ImageKey = "" + contact.Id;
}
else
{
e.Item.ImageKey = "default";
}
}
But it don't work properly
This seems to be a bug in the .NET Framework (that's been marked as Won't fix). You might want to check this out. The solution would be to use ImageIndex instead of ImageKey.
I have a list of files in a ListView in WPF. Users can drag files onto the list view, and right now they are just appended to the end of the list. Is it possible to insert the file into the ListView right where the user dropped it?
WPF isn't really designed to be used that way. While you can brute force add ListViewItem's directly to the ListView, the way it's really supposed to work is that you have a collection of some kind (ObservableCollection<FileInfo> would work well) and bind the ListView's ItemsSource property to that collection.
Then the answer is simple. Instead of the Add method, you use the Insert method of the collection which takes an index.
As for finding which ListViewItem the mouse event occurred over, you could use the VisualTreeHelper.HitTest method.
From my point of view it is little tricky when I used the templated item. I have fight with it little bit. I am sharing my usecase which works with DraggableListBox. But I suppose the same solution works with ListBox control.
As the first I created the dependency object extension which is able to provide me ListItem element:
public static class WpfDomHelper
{
public static T FindParent<T>(this DependencyObject child) where T : DependencyObject
{
DependencyObject parentObject = VisualTreeHelper.GetParent(child);
if (parentObject == null) return null;
T parent = parentObject as T;
if (parent != null)
return parent;
else
return FindParent<T>(parentObject);
}
}
Then I implemented Drop logic which inserts(adds) item according specific Drop Y position of destination ListBoxItems:
private void Grid_Drop(object sender, DragEventArgs e)
{
int dropIndex = -1; // default position directong to add() call
// checking drop destination position
Point pt = e.GetPosition((UIElement)sender);
HitTestResult result = VisualTreeHelper.HitTest(this, pt);
if (result != null && result.VisualHit != null)
{
// checking the object behin the drop position (Item type depend)
var theOne = result.VisualHit.FindParent<Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Controls.WPF.DraggableListBoxItem>();
// identifiing the position according bound view model (context of item)
if (theOne != null)
{
//identifing the position of drop within the item
var itemCenterPosY = theOne.ActualHeight / 2;
var dropPosInItemPos = e.GetPosition(theOne);
// geting the index
var itemIndex = tasksListBox.Items.IndexOf(theOne.Content);
// decission if insert before or below
if (dropPosInItemPos.Y > itemCenterPosY)
{ // when drag is gropped in second half the item is inserted bellow
itemIndex = itemIndex + 1;
}
dropIndex = itemIndex;
}
}
.... here create the item .....
if (dropIndex < 0)
ViewModel.Items.Add(item);
else
ViewModel.Items.Insert(dropIndex, item);
e.Handled = true;
}
So this solution works with my template DraggableListBoxView, I suppose the same solution must work with standard ListBoxView. Good Luck
You can do this. It takes a bit of work, but it can be done. There are a couple demos out there, here is one on CodeProject. This particular one is by the wpf master known as Josh Smith. It's probably not exactly what you are looking for, but it should be pretty darn close.