I want to create a kiosk mode application using WPF. I want to use a single window because the user should not be able to exit this fullscreen application.
The application should guide the user trough a process. When the user proceeds trough the process, the screen should constantly change and show him the next step.
Usually I just create a single window and use a "state machine" to switch UserControls containing the information for the current step. Is there a better way to achieve this functionality? Maybe I would get a better result using multiple windows or Pages (never used them).
The reason why I am asking is that in future I want to have a simple, clean way of switching the content inside a single window. i.e. I am planning to implement some sort of animation when switching content (like sliding to the next / previous step). I don't want to put more effort into my current approach if it isn't the most flexible and clean one.
Any ideas?
PS: This is about desktop applications. Today I come from the Winforms environment and am experimenting with WPF.
There's a few ways you can achieve this.
First would be to use a Page based application, this will allow you to use a single window. Here is a pretty interesting tutorial
A bonus of using this approach is that navigation between pages is built in.
Your requirements are that you need to use animation for transitioning between pages, as far as I'm aware, using a Page based application cannot achieve this (I may be wrong). So your other option would be to use a UserControl MVVM approach.
This probably won't make a lot of sense now, but here goes:
You can use a single master view model which will hold multiple child view models, each of these could have a visibility property which dictates the visibility of the associated view. The master view model would simply be responsible for displaying the appropriate view model depending on where the user currently is in the application.
Using some clever XAML, you can create storyboards (animations) when the view becomes visible, which will allow you to achieve the crazy awesome animations that you require.
Anyway, that probably didn't make any sense, so here's a tutorial to get you started with MVVM.
Related
I would like to know the difference between page, frame, navigation windows in c# wpf
what is the best choice of them for wpf windows application?
in my application how to make fixed part (contain main buttons) and changeable part (show pages) after clicking buttons in fixed part
are there any good websites provides video tutorials for c# wpf from beginning to professional?
thank you
A Page is much like a user control, only that is is displayed within a Frame, which again is part of a NavigationWindow. A NavigationWindow is a special kind of window that allows for page navigation and can display the respective controls for navigating pages.
A paged application is a good choice if you want Wizard-like functionality, or if the user experience should be comparable to what you get when browsing the web. In many cases, using standard WPF windows is a better choice.
The NavigationWindow already contains a "fixed part" that can contain controls. You can also use a normal window, place a Frame in it and then - through proper layout - create your own "fixed parts". Navigation would then come down to calling the navigation methods the Frame provides.
From the answer to this question:
Pages are intended for use in navigation applications (usually with back and forward buttons, e.g. Internet Explorer). Pages must be hosted in a NavigationWindow or a Frame
The best choice depends on what kind of application you want to create. Is it a wizard or navigation type application or just a regular application with one window (maybe with tabs)?
I would definitely consider using a MVVM framework like Caliburn.Micro for making a WPF application. It has some really powerful mechanisms for dealing with Screens, Conductors and Composition, in addition to encouraging you to decouple your application by using the MVVM pattern. The author of Caliburn.Micro, Rob Eisenberg, has written some tutorials with extensive explanation about and how to use the framework under the project's documentation. There is also lots of resources around the interwebz, google it! :)
I can also recommend Pluralsight's WPF and XAML Fundamentals and WPF Advanced Topics, they should cover what whatever is worth knowing about WPF :)
First of all, I want to let everyone know that I'm very new to the MVVM concept, and have looked pretty extensively for some explanation of what I want to do, but to no avail.
In the program I'm working on, I have a UserControl with a few buttons on it, which need to control the navigation of the main window. I have 3 different "pages" I want to be able to switch between in my main window. Instead of pages, I decided (for whatever reason, correct me if this is not the best approach) to use a UserControl for each page, and switch the visibility to the correct one. I need the data to persist while switching, so I don't believe that creating new instances of the Usercontrols will work.
My question is: How can I bubble the events from my "NavBarView" to the main window in a way that will allow me to switch the visibility, but in a MVVM way? I know I may be completely going about this the wrong way, and I'm happy to take any suggestions on a better way of achieving this navigation.
I have to use WPF, so WinForms is not an option. Too much transparency and custom controls for WinForms.
I would make the "NavBar" part of the main window if possible and use that to control the sub controls in the forms. I would be careful nesting User Controls. If you can avoid it I would (key indication is are you going to reuse it somewhere else). I took over a project a while back that had a main window with 3 separate highly coupled user controls that had to all work together and it was a nightmare. The only way I could get it to work somewhat safely was to have them all set their data context to the same view model. If I had to do it from scratch - would have taken a completely different approach with a single view.
Im currently trying to create an application that will require 10+ different "pages" with different content and controls, and i need to switch back and forth between them on particular events.
What ive been doing, is just creating all the different sections in grids, and setting their visibility to collapsed, and then when i need to show them, just switch out the visible grid to the new one.
This has several drawbacks, im assuming its very poor from a coding standpoint, and this pretty much dis-allows me from using the designer at all. (i have no idea what performance implications it has, either)
on top of that, every time i switch to the new page, i need to reset all the components (textbox's etc) to their default states, as they dont get reset by becoming invisible :P
on to my question: i need a way to map out all the different pages, provide visually attractive transitions between them, and be able to use a designer to create them (and i dont mean designing it somewhere and then just copying the xaml)
I had looked around, and ran into SketchFlow and it seemed like the perfect solution, i could fade between pages and map everything on a flow chart easily, and then i realized it was only for app prototypes and i couldnt actually compile it as a normal application... and i needed to inherit from a custom Window class aswell.
is there something out there that allows me to do this? or how can i code this to work properly?
note: this ABSOLUTELY needs to stay within one window. i cant venture out into having 10+ different windows that pop up every time i need to change to something. as this happens very frequently
Split the separate sections in individual user controls. This would allow you to design each of them easily. Then on your form use code to create and load a new instance of particular user control that represents the section you need to show, and when transitioning, load the new section and unload the current. this would allow your form to stay relatively lightweight.
An alternative is to create a navigation application and split your sections into separate XAML view and use the standard navigation service to switch between them.
WPF Navigation Overview
Creating Navigation Applications video tutorial
You might wanna convert your "Pages" to usercontrols and use some transitions like mentioned in the below link to switch between controls
http://www.tanguay.info/web/index.php?pg=codeExamples&id=280
for more on using transitions look here
http://www.japf.fr/2009/04/adding-transitions-to-a-mvvm-based-dialog/
or
http://www.japf.fr/2008/07/8/comment-page-1/
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 working on a WPF app and the UI is getting a bit complex to manage. I am looking for advice on how to maintain it as it grows.
The layout looks something like this
<Grid>
<List of Objects View/>
<Objects Relationship View/>
<Object Details View />
<Multiple Objects Details View/>
<View 5 />
<View 6 />
:
:
</Grid>
Each view gets created (visibility hidden) and bound to some complex data, when the window is constructed. I want only one view visible, to the user at a time. I do this by manipulating visibility.
But the problem is the transition between views doesn't involve just fliping Visibility. It involves rebinding with currentdata, stoping background threads/timers and starting new ones (and possibly some binding again) that support the newly selected view. So what's happening is with every new view I add, I am adding a whole bunch of code to take care of all the possible transitions.
Is there some pattern I can use to deal with this kind of scenario?
Also is there some way I can avoid creating and hiding everything at app load and using visibilty as a controller?
Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!
May I ask how you are allowing the user to switch back and forth between the views? Is it a key combo? Mouseclick?
Not that it's answering your question per se, but my suggestion is that this sounds like a perfect scenario for a tab control. And with WPF, it doesn't necessarily have to look anything like a tab control.
If you use a TabControl, it opens up the possibility of using the SelectionChanged event coming off of the TabControl to allow you to tell background threads to stop and you can unload anything that you need to unload.
Depending on how you use the TabControl, the UI can be somewhat virtualized. What that means is that whenever a tab is unselected all of the UI for that tab is destroyed and recreated the next time it's selected. It will behave this way if you use the MVVM or PresentationModel pattern and load ViewModels as the items for your TabControl and use DataTemplates for the views. If you just put TabItems into the TabControl with controls inside of them, it will not behave this way, however.
As far as patterns are concerned, I'd definitely recommend MVVM. It may take a bit of time to catch up to it and understand it, but I'd never do WPF without it. If you need anymore resources or examples, let me know.
edit:
I reread your question and noticed that you may be in need of another type of navigation. If you've got views that are needing to make transitions to other views based on user actions and you don't want all of the views to be presented to the user so that they can select which one they want to look at (like the TabControl will do), you may want to look at WPF Navigation. Navigation is basically something that MS added in with WPF to allow browser style navigation in a WPF app. This MSDN article should be a good resource on that kind of thing.
This sounds like a problem well suited to Composite WPF (Prism). You can define your main area as a region, and use a SingleActiveRegion to show one view at a time. If you create your own region adapter, you can do all the maintenance when the active view changes.
Also, adding a new view won't involve changing the hosting view's code. This will allow you to deploy additional views in the future in separate assemblies...