C# WPF: Listbox with drag to select text - c#

I need to create a WPF ListBox that supports two features:
Content Converter Binding:
The items in the ListBox need to be passed to a converter that converts the items to a text format.
Display items in a way that lets users select and copy text from ListBox items
I need the text of each ListBox item to be selectable. Users want to use their mouse to drag-to-select parts of the elements so they can copy the text to their clipboard.
I implemented [this copy/paste solution][1] but it does not let a user select parts of the ListBox item text, rather it supports copying the entire text.
I'm able to create a ListBox using the converter, but I can not figure out how to put the converted text into a control that lets users select the displayed text. Here is what I have:
<ListBox Name="FinishedTestErrorsListBox"
FontSize="12"
ItemsSource="{Binding Path=SelectedComparisonResult.TestFailItems}">
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<ContentControl Content="{Binding Converter={StaticResource testFailItemConverter}}"/>
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>
I've tried adding a TextBox to the DataTemplate as shown below...
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Converter={StaticResource testFailItemConverter}}"/>
... but this creates a runtime error caused by sending the wrong type of object to the converter. I know here I'm not setting up the converter binding properly, though I don't have a good grasp on how I should setup the binding here or why this causes errors.
So, my question is:
What content container can I use to let users select text from the individual ListBox items?
Thank you for any help,
Charlie
EDIT
Here's the converter code...
public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
{
ITestFailItem i = (ITestFailItem)value;
return i.Itemize();
}
EDIT 2
The following runtime error is throw when the ListBox is first initialized:
An unhandled exception of type 'System.Windows.Markup.XamlParseException' occurred in PresentationFramework.dll
Additional information: Provide value on 'System.Windows.Baml2006.TypeConverterMarkupExtension' threw an exception
EDIT 3
The culprit is a line of code I'd omitted from the original snippet as I thought it was irrelevant - I've learned a good lesson along the way!
Extension Question
Why does the following snippet cause an error? How can I achieve the desired affect of making the textbox span the entire containing grid?
<TextBox Width="*"
Text="{Binding Path=., Converter={StaticResource testFailItemConverter}}"/>

Try this. TextBlocks don't support text selection, but TextBoxes do. You just have to make it read-only so the user can't modify the text, and change its border thickness and background so they look like labels:
<ListBox Name="FinishedTestErrorsListBox"
FontSize="12"
ItemsSource="{Binding Path=SelectedComparisonResult.TestFailItems}">
<ListBox.Resources>
<converter:TestFailItemConverter x:Key="testFailItemConverter" />
</ListBox.Resources>
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<TextBox Text="{Binding Path=.,
Converter={StaticResource testFailItemConverter},
Mode=OneWay}"
BorderThickness="0"
Background="Transparent"
IsReadOnly="True"/>
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>

Have You tried TextBox? You can select text inside textbox. Path have to be changed to Path=.
<TextBox Text="{Binding Path=., Converter={StaticResource testFailItemConverter}}" />
There is not much code to work with, but this code works for me:
xaml:
<Window x:Class="StackOverflowTest.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:s="clr-namespace:StackOverflowTest"
Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525">
<Window.Resources>
<s:TestFailItemConverter x:Key="testFailItemConverter" />
</Window.Resources>
<Grid>
<ListBox Name="FinishedTestErrorsListBox"
FontSize="12"
ItemsSource="{Binding Path=SelectedComparisonResult.TestFailItems}">
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<!--<ContentControl Content="{Binding Converter={StaticResource testFailItemConverter}}"/>-->
<TextBox Text="{Binding Path=., Converter={StaticResource testFailItemConverter}}" />
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>
</Grid>
</Window>
Model's code:
public class Dummy
{
public ObservableCollection<string> TestFailItems { get; set; }
public Dummy()
{
TestFailItems = new ObservableCollection<string>(new List<string> { "a", "b" });
}
}
public class Model
{
public Dummy SelectedComparisonResult { get; set; }
public Model()
{
SelectedComparisonResult = new Dummy();
}
}
Converter's code:
public class TestFailItemConverter: IValueConverter
{
public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
{
return "aa";
}
public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
{
return value;
}
}

Related

Computing and viewing column outside model using MVVM

I need to solve following problem using C# MVVM. I'm using following model.
And one of my UserControls got following ListBox template.
<ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding OrdersListViewViewModel.AllItems, Source={StaticResource Locator}}" SelectedItem="{Binding OrdersListViewViewModel.SelectedItem, Source={StaticResource Locator}}" Background="White">
<ListBox.ItemsPanel>
<ItemsPanelTemplate>
<WrapPanel Orientation="Horizontal" Margin="0 0 0 0" Height="Auto" Width="Auto" />
</ItemsPanelTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemsPanel>
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<StackPanel Margin="0,7,0,6" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Orientation="Horizontal">
<Image Width="25" Height="25" Margin="5 2 0 0" Source="{Binding OrdersListViewViewModel.OrderDeliveryStateImage, Mode=OneWay, Source={StaticResource Locator}}"/>
<TextBlock Margin="25,5,25,5" Text="{Binding OrdersListViewViewModel.AllItems/Customer.CustomerName, FallbackValue=N/A, Mode=OneWay, Source={StaticResource Locator}}" FontSize="20"/>
</StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
</ListBox>
The list is showing all orders (customer names) loaded from database. Image which is beside the TextBlock I want to fill in with a picture. If all orderitems under the order have been delivered (Delivered=1) it should use picture1, otherwise picture2.
So I'm binding ObservableCollection<Order>. Model is generated from .tt using entity framework (db first) so it's bad idea to place computing directly into Order.cs class because of possible db updates.
My first idea was to use MSSQL Computed column but I think that's not a good aproach (there can be a lot of situations like this one in a solution) so model would be huge and complicated.
Second idea was to use a converter but it should be used for a simple tasks, not for a computation logic (which this is).
Third idea was to change ObservableCollection<Order> to ObservableCollection<Tuple<string,Order>> and somehow bind it to a view but....you know, that's a bad idea.
So my question is simple. How can I solve this issue (where to place a computation logic of this purpose) using a MVVM best practice.
Thanks.
Well after a googling around I've decided to create this solution. Maybe it will help to someone.
First I've created partial class of Order entity in order to separate files so when entity framework will update the Order entity, it will not overwrite my customizations.
Then I've created custom property which determine if the Order has been delivered. So computation logic still stays at the model.
public partial class Order
{
public bool IsOrderDelivered
{
get
{
int orderDelivered = 1;
foreach (var orderItem in this.OrderItems)
{
orderDelivered = orderDelivered * orderItem.Delivered;
}
return orderDelivered == 1 ? true : false;
}
}
}
Then I've created converter which just converts boolean to text which is why it exists and it's used the right way.
public class OrderStatusToImageConverter : IValueConverter
{
public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
{
return (bool)value == true ? #"Skins\approved.png" : #"Skins\denied.png";
}
public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
{
throw new NotImplementedException();
}
}
And created databinding on my new property in partial class together with converter.
<StackPanel Margin="0,7,0,6" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Orientation="Horizontal">
<Image Width="25" Height="25" Margin="5 2 0 0" Source="{Binding IsOrderDelivered, Converter={StaticResource OrderStatusToImageConverter}, Mode=OneWay}"/>
<TextBlock Margin="25,5,25,5" Text="{Binding Customer.CustomerName, FallbackValue=N/A, Mode=OneWay}" FontSize="20"/>
</StackPanel>
And finally the visual effect.

Datagrid ObservableCollection for one row wpf

I want to populate a datagrid with itemsource={Binding Model}.
This is not working out. It seems as the datagrid does not understand how to display these properties.
An easy but silly workaround works great:
In viewmodel:
Props= new ObservableCollection<MonitoringBinaryModel>();
_Model = new MonitoringBinaryModel(name);
Props.Add(_Model);
Then in xaml
itemsource={Binding Props}
Seems silly to create an observablecollection when its only suppose to hold one item. Is there a better way to make any type of instance observable?
DataGrid is designed to display a collection of objects of same type. Collection is a must. If you want DataGrid to show a content of your model, you need to obey former's design, by either using ObservableCollection or implementing a bunch of interfaces which would allow your viewmodel's properties to be retrieved in 'collection way'.
I used to have a bunch of models implementing ITypedList interface back in Windows Forms time - it wasn't a simple exercise to say the truth, so if I were you I'd rather go for either way:
Wrap model into any collection - exactly as you've stated
Replace data grid with container grid plus a number of direct bindings, like this:
<Grid>
<TextBlock Grid.Column="2" Grid.Row="0" Text="Prop1"/>
...
<TextBlock Grid.Column="2" Grid.Row="1" Text="{Binding Prop1}"/>
Well ItemsSource property is of type IEnumarable so until your MonitoringBinaryModel implement IEnumerable binding will not work.
Again because ItemsSource is IEnumerable you should provide IEnumerable as binding source. So there is no need to make yout Props as ObservableCollection. You can use ordinary List<>, or anything implementing IEnumerable with your single MonitoringBinaryModel:
_Model = new MonitoringBinaryModel(name);
Props = new List<MonitoringBinaryModel> { _Model };
Other option is to use CompositeCollection inside your XAML:
<DataGrid.ItemsSource>
<CompositeCollection>
<Binding Path="_Model"/>
</CompositeCollection>
</DataGrid.ItemsSource>
reusable wrapper via converter:
public class ItemsSourceConverter: IValueConverter
{
public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
{
// doesn't allow to add new rows in DataGrid
return Enumerable.Repeat(value, 1);
}
public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
{
throw new NotImplementedException();
}
}
usage in xaml
add converter to resourses:
<Window.Resources>
<wpfApplication1:ItemsSourceConverter x:Key="ItemWrapper"/>
</Window.Resources>
and use converter resourse with binding
<DataGrid ItemsSource="{Binding Path=Model, Converter={StaticResource ItemWrapper}}"
AutoGenerateColumns="False">
<DataGrid.Columns>
<DataGridTextColumn Binding="{Binding Path=Name}"/>
</DataGrid.Columns>
</DataGrid>
or
<ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding Path=Model, Converter={StaticResource ItemWrapper}}">
<ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<Label Content="{Binding Path=Name}"/>
</DataTemplate>
</ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
</ItemsControl>

How to show XAML as text in WPF application

We're in the process of updating our gallery WPF application which contains our custom styled controls. The design is to have a toggle to show the XAML behind those custom controls, for easy reference and a guide for new colleagues.
The way I've currently implemented this is by creating two .xaml files, one containing just the controls, one with the controls and a textblock with the XAML coded used to implement those controls.
This is not something that's easily maintainable, since the quotes, >,< and other characters are not escaped in XAML strings. For reference this is what I have now in one of the 'Show code' views:
<TextBlock Visibility="Collapsed" Margin="5" Text="<controls:AutoCompleteTagBox
Name="AutoCompleteTagBoxWithStrings"
Margin="5"
ItemsSource="{Binding Names}"
FilterMode="Contains" />
<ListBox
ItemsSource="{Binding ElementName=AutoCompleteTagBoxWithStrings, Path=SelectedItems}"
Grid.Column="1"
BorderBrush="{StaticResource Blue}" BorderThickness="1" />"/>
As you can see, it doesn't look nice and once you update one of the controls you now have three places you need to change the XAML.
The next step is just to bind the TextBlock visibility and toggle it from 'Collapsed' to 'Visible'. But I want to know if there is a way to show the XAML in a textblock without having to hand write the string.
Thanks in advance for your advice!
Following from XAMIMAX's comment you could use an easy converter to save the xaml to a string using XamlWriter and strip the xmlns namespaces for brevity.
public class XamlConverter : IValueConverter
{
public readonly Regex xmlnsRegex = new Regex("xmlns=\".+\"");
public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
{
var source = value as FrameworkElement;
if (source != null)
{
//Save xaml and strip xmlns namespaces
var xaml = xmlnsRegex.Replace(System.Windows.Markup.XamlWriter.Save(source), "");
return xaml;
}
return null;
}
public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
{
throw new NotImplementedException();
}
}
Example usage
<StackPanel>
<StackPanel.Resources>
<converters:XamlConverter x:Key="Converter_Xaml"/>
</StackPanel.Resources>
<Button x:Name="SourceButton" Content="Click Me" Margin="10"/>
<TextBlock Text="{Binding ElementName=SourceButton, Converter={StaticResource Converter_Xaml}}" TextWrapping="Wrap"/>
</StackPanel>

Change the foreground color of a TextBlock in the LongListSelector

I have a longlistselector for my windows phone 8 app:
<phone:LongListSelector x:Name="AppMenuList" Background="Transparent"
ItemTemplate="{StaticResource AppMenuListTemplate}"
IsGroupingEnabled="true" HideEmptyGroups="true"
LayoutMode="List" SelectionChanged="OnMenuItemTapped"
Margin="5,50,0,0"/>
With the following DataTemplate:
<phone:PhoneApplicationPage.Resources>
<DataTemplate x:Key="AppMenuListTemplate">
<Grid>
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" Margin="0,5,0,0" Height="80" Width="800" Tap="vTapFeedback">
<TextBlock HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="0,20,0,20" Height="50"
Width="800" TextWrapping="NoWrap"
Text="{Binding MenuItemName}" VerticalAlignment="Center"
FontSize="32" Foreground="#115445" />
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
</DataTemplate>
</phone:PhoneApplicationPage.Resources>
From my C# code, I am setting the ItemsSource property for the longlistselector to display the list of items to the user. However all the items are of same color as specified in the TextBlock property Foreground.
I have a requirement in which I want the user to be able to tap every item of the list and perform some operation except the one. I want that it should be shown as disabled to the user by using a Gray color for it.
I am not able to accomplish this. Can anyone suggest how I can do this ?
There are three solutions that come to my mind:
you can use VisualTreeHelper to find your textbox and then change its Foreground Color
I've bound Foreground color to a property of Item Class, then when I change this property, Foreground changes automatically. I assume than you were able to bind your Text, then there should be no problem with binding Foreground. One thing you will probably need is a Converter.
you can define VisualStates in Style of your TextBlock.
EDIT - code sample after request
I've definded my Converter like this:
namespace myApp.Converters
{
public class BoolToBrush : IValueConverter
{
private Brush FalseValue = (Application.Current.Resources["TransparentBrush"] as Brush);
private Brush TrueValue = (Application.Current.Resources["PhoneAccentBrush"] as Brush);
public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
{
if (value == null)
return FalseValue;
else
return (bool)value ? TrueValue : FalseValue;
}
public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
{
return value != null ? value.Equals(TrueValue) : false;
}
}
In my Item class I've a property Selected (bool in this case) to which Foreground (or Background) is bound. I use it in XAML (item or control) like this:
<UserControl.Resources xmlns:local="clr-namespace:myApp.Converters">
<local:BoolToBrush x:Key="boolToBrush"/>
</UserControl.Resources>
<Grid Name="myElement" Background="{Binding Path=Selected, Converter={StaticResource boolToBrush}}">
Of course you can define more coplex convertes - if you need more Brushes and so on.
On the other hand I would also consider using VisualStates.
Hope this helps a little.

Binding to instance of ItemsSource

I have a ListBox on a WPF User Control that is defined as
<ListBox Grid.Row="1" ScrollViewer.CanContentScroll="False" Background="#00000000" BorderThickness="0" ItemsSource="{Binding BuyItNowOptions}"
ItemTemplate="{DynamicResource BuyItNowDataTemplate}" IsSynchronizedWithCurrentItem="True"
Style="{DynamicResource InheritEmptyListStyle}" SelectedItem="{Binding SelectedResearch}" ItemContainerStyle="{DynamicResource ListBoxItemStyle}"/>
BuyItNowOptions is a public property on the ViewModel that is of type ObservableCollection
In the BuyItNowDataTemplate I have a label that needs to have some logic performed before displaying a price.
<Label Padding="1" HorizontalContentAlignment="Stretch" Grid.Column="2" Grid.Row="2" Margin="1">
<TextBlock Text="{Binding ExchangePrice, StringFormat=C}"
Visibility="{Binding ReturnRequired, Converter={StaticResource BooleanToVisibilityConverter}}"/>
</Label>
The binding here indicates that it will use the ExchangePrice property of the instance of AutoResearchProxy that it is on like BuyItNowOptions[CurrentIndex].ExchangePrice.
What I would like to know is it possible to create the binding in such a way that it references the whole instance of the AutoResearchProxy so that I can pass it to a converter and manipulate several properties of the AutoResearchProxy and return a calculated price?
I would envision my converter looking like this.
public class PriceConverter : IValueConverter
{
public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
{
if (value is AutoResearchProxy)
{
var research = value as AutoResearchProxy;
//Some logic to figure out actual price
}
else
return String.Empty;
}
Hopefully this makes sense.
You can pass the whole datacontext-object to a Binding by not specifying a Path or by setting it to ., that however will result in the binding not updating if any of the relevant properties of that object change.
I would recommend you use a MultiBinding instead, that way you can target the necessary properties and the binding will update if any of those change. (For usage examples see the respective section on MSDN)
MyProperty="{Binding Converter={StaticResource ObjectToDerivedValueConverter}
That should do it.

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