Get a textblock value in a listbox using GestureServices - c#

Sorry guys, I had asked this question earlier but could not figure out the answer. Made an edit to see if that bumps it, but that did not seem to work. So here is the last try to the question
I can't seem to figure out how one can get the value of a specific textblock in a listbox. To start things off, here is the code:
<ListBox HorizontalAlignment="Left" Name="listItems" VerticalAlignment="Top" >
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" Height="210" >
<Grid Height="210" Background="#75FFF8DC">
<toolkit:GestureService.GestureListener>
<toolkit:GestureListener Tap="GestureListener_Tap"
DoubleTap="GestureListener_DoubleTap"
Hold="GestureListener_Hold"
Flick="GestureListener_Flick"/>
</toolkit:GestureService.GestureListener>
...CODE...
</></></>...
The code area contains a bunch of other grids, partitions (columns and rows) and textblocks. Here is an example:
<Image Name="XXX" Source="{Binding XXXPath}" Stretch="Fill"
Grid.Column="0"/>
<TextBlock Name="YYY" Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="0"
Text="{Binding YYYPath}" Foreground="Black"/>
<TextBlock Name="ZZZ" Grid.Column="2" Grid.Row="0"
Text="{Binding ZZZPath}" Foreground="Black"/>
So what I want, is if someone taps the grid (that means anything in the grid, including these textblocks and images), I want to first get the text of the textblock "YYY."
I could have inserted that code into a textblock and used sender as textblock, but I do not want to limit my gestures to one textblock, nor do I want to repeat that for each element in the grid (lots of issues and seems unnecessary).
Edit: If this does not work, I can also implement just one tap gesture (but again, for the whole grid) and use that to get the value of the textblock. Is there no way? Otherwise I will have to do this: Add tap for the textblock and use sender as a textblock, then get the value of the text. But I really do not want to use this approach.

I see you use bindings for your textblocks and image. So why don't you use ( if you haven't already done it) an IList instance of class which hold an information about them? Then set this instance as an ItemSource for your listbox. That way when user taps somewhere on listbox you can catch the SelectedIndex or SelectedItem of a listbox item. And this will help you to figure out which element of IList collection to extract so you could get your text or image or whatever you need.
And you don't need to use GestureServices from external Silverlight Toolkit with Mango. Tap, DoubleTap etc. are built-in.

Related

XAML SampleData Binding to Values of a List of Strings

OK, so I've searched and searched and searched, and I can't find an answer to this specific angle of my question. I know how to bind to a List, and how to make it auto-updating by making it an ObservableCollection instead of a List. However, with just a list of Strings, how the heck to I bind to the value of each List element?
<DataTemplate x:Key="PageTiles">
<Grid Background="{StaticResource PhoneAccentBrush}"
Margin="6,0,6,12">
<StackPanel VerticalAlignment="Bottom">
<TextBlock Text="{Binding}"
Margin="6,0,0,6" />
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
</DataTemplate>
Here's the LongListSelector that pulls from the list:
<Grid x:Name="ContentPanel" Grid.Row="1" Margin="12,0,12,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Height="60">
<phone:LongListSelector Margin="0,0,-12,0"
ItemsSource="{Binding PageTitles}"
LayoutMode="Grid"
GridCellSize="150,150"
ItemTemplate="{StaticResource PageTiles}"
SelectionChanged="LongListSelector_SelectionChanged">
</phone:LongListSelector>
</Grid>
Now, I've used a similar layout before to do tiles based off a List of classes that have string properties, but never with a List of strings, and I can't find anything to guide me in the right direction.
So it turns out #har07 was right. The Text="{Binding}" I'd put in the text value was valid, my cell size was just too large for it to show in the 60 high grid that I'd made. Reduced the height of it to less than the stack panel's height and bam, there it was. I didn't even do that on purpose, that's just how I'd left it while I didn't know what to put in there, and because I hadn't recompiled to get the associations fixed, it wasn't finding anything to put in as elements.
So, to recap, to get the values of a List directly instead of something that's part of that value, a simple "{Binding}" does the trick. Lesson learned: double check your size values before running for help XD.

Empty LongListSelector causes infinite ScrollViewer

This is the situation:
I have a datasource that gets filtered by certain attribute (lets call it Checked), into two lists on the viewmodel. Call it New and Old.
New one needs to be displayed into one list, Old one needs to be displayed into the list right under it.
Oh and they need to scroll in unison. So if Old is currently out of screen, it will swim into visibility as the list is swiped up.
I've currently solved this with LongListSelectors like this:
<ScrollViewer VerticalAlignment="Top" VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Auto">
<StackPanel>
<phone:LongListSelector x:Name="NewList" Margin="0,0,0,0" ItemsSource="{Binding New}" SelectionChanged="NewList_SelectionChanged">
<phone:LongListSelector.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<StackPanel Margin="0,0,0,17">
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Name}" TextWrapping="Wrap" Style="{StaticResource PhoneTextExtraLargeStyle}" Foreground="{Binding Color}" />
</StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>
</phone:LongListSelector.ItemTemplate>
</phone:LongListSelector>
<phone:LongListSelector x:Name="OldList" Margin="0,0,0,0" ItemsSource="{Binding Path=Old}" Padding="0,20,0,0">
<phone:LongListSelector.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<StackPanel Margin="0,0,0,17">
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Name}" TextWrapping="Wrap" Style="{StaticResource PhoneTextExtraLargeStyle}" FontStyle="Italic" Foreground="{Binding Color}"/>
</StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>
</phone:LongListSelector.ItemTemplate>
</phone:LongListSelector>
</StackPanel>
</ScrollViewer>
Two longlistselectors inside a stackpanel inside a scrollviewer. Now it all works absolutely fab while there's something in both of those lists.
However, when one of them has no content whatsoever, it immediately expands to fill the entire height of its parent. In this case... the infinite scrollviewer. Which means that if there's nothing in the New list, there will be absolutely nothing visible on the screen whatsoever and if there's nothing on the New list... I can pretty much scroll infinitely after getting past the New list items.
Do I have any options here? Without programmatically creating a ton of Text fields and then trying to attach events to it, or worse, write my own list control? Standard listboxes don't work because they both scroll separately.
Any ideas?
Having two list controls under each other is a genrally a bad idea, because of ScrollViewers inside ScrolViewers.
I would advise you to use a single LongListSelector without any ScrollViewer around it.
Then create a single collection with old an new items and use an ItemTemplateSelector to style them differently.
The problem you are facing is that by the default when emty LLS is measured it's height as you see is 'infinite'. You are using StacPanel which means that second LLS is under infinite LLS.
The simples solution is to set the Height of LLS:
<phone:LongListSelector x:Name="NewList" Height="300" Margin="0,0,0,0" ItemsSource="{Binding New}" SelectionChanged="NewList_SelectionChanged">
If you can - use a Grid with defined rows instead of StacPanel. If you still want to use StackPanel, you can override the method MeasureOverride() in LLS and make extension.
It should work if you do it like this:
namespace Extensions
{
public class LongListSelectorEx : LongListSelector
{
protected override System.Windows.Size MeasureOverride(System.Windows.Size availableSize)
{
if (this.ItemsSource == null)
return new System.Windows.Size(this.Width, 0);
if (this.ItemsSource.Count <= 0)
return new System.Windows.Size(this.Width, 0);
return base.MeasureOverride(availableSize);
}
}
}
Watch out also if you haven't got width defined (the return value cannot be NaN - in that situation put 0 instead this.Width). Of course you will also need to check Height of LLS, bacause if you don't your controls can be pushed off the screen, when there are many items in LLS.
You can also read about this here

Populate WPF DataGrid dynamically

My program needs to take input from a fire alarm panel over a serial connection and populate a list based on it. When a new device is reported from the panel, the statement is parsed and the device is added to the device List.
That part of my program all works fine and dandy. The problem now is displaying the list of fire alarm devices to the user.
I am hoping to do this using a DataGrid (unless there's a better way?) but am not able to find a lot of helpful documentation on WPF DataGrids that is relevant to me. Most of what's out there seems to be displaying data from a database. Mine however, needs to update every time the panel spits out a new device description and the device List in my program is appended.
I see I can set AutoGenerateColumns to true and initially display my list just fine. BUT, I would like to customize the column headers. Also this doesn't update when the List is appended so I'm not sure how to "refresh" it.
When AutoGenerateColumns is false, I get no data displayed. When the program runs it shows me the correct number of rows corresponding to the number of items in my list, but no data. Wondering how/if I need to link each column with its corresponding device data member?
Lastly, how do you format a DataGrid to look pretty through re-sizes? I can set column width and all that, but what I want is a few of the columns to be fixed width, and the middle column to expand to fill remaining available area.
This is my first stab at WPF. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Personaly i dont like DataGrid much. Yes they are easier to bind and they offer built-in resize and sorting options but they are not as flexible as an ItemsControl with a good DataTemplating on your Objects. Let me explain myself.
I tend to populate my ItemsControl with an ObservableCollection. Then, i use a DataTemplate in order to tell my ItemsControl how to display my custom items.
Your CustomObjects can be Modeles objects if your doing MVVM.
If your list is binded to an ObservableCollection, the Added and Removed items will appear dynamicly into your list, which is what i belive your trying to do.
For the column size, you could put a Grid specifying GridColumns width to fixed Width for some columns and * for others so they fill the remaining space.
Here's an alternative to the GridView
I use a ScrollViewer around my ItemControl so if the ItemsControl get too big, you can scroll it.
The ItemsControl's ItemSource is binded to your FireAlarms's ObservableCollection.
The WrapPanel in the ItemsControl will contain each DataTemplate. It's Width is binded to his parent (or ancestor if you will) which is an ItemsControl
<ScrollViewer
Grid.Row="x"
Grid.Column="y"
VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Auto"
Margin="5">
<ItemsControl
BorderBrush="DarkBlue"
BorderThickness="2"
ItemsSource="{Binding Path=FireAlarms}"
ItemTemplate="{StaticResource FireAlarmsTemplate}"
>
<ItemsControl.ItemsPanel>
<ItemsPanelTemplate>
<WrapPanel
Orientation="Horizontal"
Width="{Binding RelativeSource=
{RelativeSource FindAncestor,
AncestorType={x:Type ItemsControl}},
Path=ActualWidth}"
>
</WrapPanel>
</ItemsPanelTemplate>
</ItemsControl.ItemsPanel>
</ItemsControl>
</ScrollViewer>
Ok then you need a DataTemplate. You can put the DataTemplate in your windows's ressource or in a DataDictionnary. Lets say you have a class :
FireAlarm
{
Public String AlarmInfo1;
Public String AlarmInfo2;
Public String AlarmInfo3;
}
Here could be a nice DataTemplate to start with :
<DataTemplate x:Key="FireAlarms">
<Border
BorderBrush="SteelBlue"
Background="LightBlue"
BorderThickness="2"
Margin="10"
Padding="10">
<StackPanel
Orientation="Vertical"
>
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition></RowDefinition>
<RowDefinition></RowDefinition>
<RowDefinition></RowDefinition>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition></ColumnDefinition>
<ColumnDefinition Width="5"></ColumnDefinition>
<ColumnDefinition></ColumnDefinition>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Label
Grid.ColumnSpan="3"
Grid.Row="0"
Content="{Binding Path=AlarmName}"
Margin="5,-5,5,10"
FontWeight="Bold"
FontSize="16"
HorizontalContentAlignment="Center"
HorizontalAlignment="Center">
</Label>
<TextBlock
Text="Alarm information 1" Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="0" />
<TextBox
Text="{Binding Path=AlarmInfo1}"
Grid.Column="2"
Grid.Row="1"
>
</TextBox>
<TextBlock
Text="Alarm information 2" Grid.Row="2" Grid.Column="0" />
<TextBox
Text="{Binding Path=AlarmInfo2}"
Grid.Column="2"
Grid.Row="2"
>
</TextBox>
<TextBlock
Text="Alarm information 3" Grid.Row="3" Grid.Column="0" />
<TextBox
Text="{Binding Path=AlarmInfo3}"
Grid.Column="2"
Grid.Row="3"
>
</TextBox>
</Grid>
</StackPanel>
</Border>
</DataTemplate>
Ok I hope this is usefull for you. My Template will generate 1 square per alarm. If you'd rather have it in a Table like a GridView, you could modify this using a verticaly oriented stack panel and use a grid with variable // invariable column width but since you asked for anything usefull, i tough i'd guive you something fun to work with!
Enjoy!
Some time back I wrote a post Create DataGrid in WPF using code take a look at it, it will help you in creating data grid in dynamic scenarios like yours
If you a dynamic grid (meaning the number and design of the columns are unknown at design time), I do it with code-behind with binding. I generally use the MVVM pattern (if you not familiar with this, I really recommend reading into it since it is THE pattern when working with WPF).
1) You have to set Auto-Generate columns to false of course and give grid a name (here myDataGrid)
GridViewDataColumn newColumn= new GridViewDataColumn();
myDataGrid.Columns.Add(newColumn)
This will add the column to your grid. Now the column will be empty. Now it depends on your data how to fill it with data. If you bind to a known property on the items, do:
newColumn.Binding = new Binding("knownPropertyName");
In most cases though, you do not know the propertyname and bind to an element in the collection.
Then it would like more:
myDoubleCollection.Add(someDoubleValue); //do this for each item in the itemssource of the grid
int index=myDoubleCollection.Count-1;
newColumn.Binding = new Binding(string.Format("myDoubleCollection[{0}]",index));
So this works also.
Another thing to keep in mind is the deletion of columns. This requires some extra work.
That's a lot of questions rolled into one! I suggest you do a bit more background research before asking questions. I would recommend that your read this codeproject article I wrote about the WPF DataGrid a while back:
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/WPF/WPFDataGridExamples.aspx
It will answer most of your questions for you!
Take a look at the MVVM pattern, it'll be a huge help as you create this application.
What you want is an ObservableCollection in the ViewModel. You'll bind the ItemsSource property of the datagrid to this collection. Then have your columns bind to various properties on to display them. Whenever this ObservableCollection has an item appended, your front end should update automatically.
To have a column autosize, set the Width="*".
Here's a sample of a datagrid with MVVM
<DataGrid ItemsSource="{Binding FireAlarmCollection}" SelectedItem="{Binding SelectedFireAlarm, Mode=TwoWay}" AutoGenerateColumns="True" CanUserSortColumns="True" HorizontalScrollBarVisibility="Visible" CanUserResizeColumns="True">
</DataGrid>
As you continue your effort, post separate questions for each issue.

WPF ListBox Databinding & Events

My problem is rather simple.
I have a ListBox, containing Thumnails (Image)
<ListBox Name="ListBox_Thumbnails" ItemsSource="{Binding}" DataContext="{Binding Source= {StaticResource ThumbnailListSource}}" Width="120" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="-1,26,0,54">
<ListBox.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<StackPanel>
<Image Source="{Binding Path=absolutePath}" MouseLeftButtonDown=<!--?????-->/>
</StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>
</ListBox.ItemTemplate>
I wanted to show an image, but as a new StackOverFlow user, I can't. You can find the image here:
http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/61aa983cad.jpg
(For those who don't trust me, I explain here the content of the image:
On the left, there is a list of thumbnails (displayed vertically) and on the right there is a bigger image, corresponding per default to a large image of the first thumbnail).
When I click on a thumbnail (on the left), the large image on the right should be updated by the one that I clicked on.
As I am new with WPF, my approach is perhaps totally wrong with the ListBox.
Please, WPF Gurus, show me the light!
I guess, you can use events on ListBox, smth like SelectionChanged... but that's totally not the TRUE WPF-Jedi way -- remember, code-behind is the dark side! =)
Think data binding, that's the Force. Bind your large Image element's source to the SelectedItem property of the ListBox. It should look like
<Image Source="{Binding SelectedItem.absolutePath, ElementName=ListBox_Thumbnails}">
P.S. Every WPF-databinding-jedi should have this cheat sheet nearby.
P.P.S. Actually, as you're using ItemTemplate this might not work, you'll have your StackPanel as the selected item... in this case you can try the SelectedValuePath trick, set it to "absolutePath" and bind the large image to the SelectedValue property.
So your ListBox opening tag becomes:
<ListBox Name="ListBox_Thumbnails" ItemsSource="{Binding}" DataContext="{Binding Source= {StaticResource ThumbnailListSource}}" Width="120" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="-1,26,0,54" SelectedValuePath="absolutePath">
And your large image tag becomes:
<Image Source="{Binding SelectedValue, ElementName=ListBox_Thumbnails}">

Control which field is displayed in the textbox part of a databound WPF ComboBox

I have a ComboBox in WPF which is databound, and has data template which controls how each of the items is displayed. I have made it so that each item is displayed with two bits of text (for the Name and Path properties) and one image (for the Icon property).
At the moment when I select an item from the ComboBox the textbox bit of the ComboBox just changes to say "TestWPF.Result" which is the name of the class which I have populated the ComboBox with.
I'm interested in one (or both) of two things:
How do I change it so that it displays the value of one of the fields there (eg. so it shows the value of the Name field rather than the name of the class)?
Is it possible get it to use the same DataTemplate there as in the list of items, so that once I have selected an item it displays in the closed ComboBox the same way as it looks in the list of items. Basically I've got a DataTemplate called ShowResults and a ComboBox which uses that template. I've also added in a separate ContentControl which I've got to show the details of the selected item in the ComboBox, but I want to get that to replace the textbox in the ComboBox.
Update:
Thanks for the first answer. I've tried using a separate ContentControl, as you've described, and it works fine. The question now is how to replace the textbox part of the ComboBox with this ContentControl. Any hints on that would be most welcome.
Also, is it possible to replace the textbox bit of the ComboBox control with a mixture of the ContentControl and a textbox, so that I can still type in the textbox to help select items from the ComboBox, but then when I close the dropdown the rest ContentControl bit will be populated with the rest of the text and the icon. Hope that makes sense - ask questions if it doesn't!
Code:
I've been asked to post my code - so here it is. I've tried to remove things that I know are definitely not relevant, but I'm not sure exactly what is relevant so when in doubt I've left things in.
<Window x:Class="TestWPF.Window1"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:custom="clr-namespace:TestWPF"
Title="Window1" Height="300" Width="843" Loaded="Window_Loaded">
<Window.Resources>
<DataTemplate x:Key="ShowResult" DataType="TestWPF.Result">
<StackPanel Margin="5" Orientation="Horizontal">
<Image Width="32" Height="32" Source="{Binding Path=Image}"/>
<StackPanel Margin="5">
<TextBlock FontWeight="Bold" Text="{Binding Path=Name}"/>
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=Path}"/>
</StackPanel>
</StackPanel>
</DataTemplate>
</Window.Resources>
<Grid Width="786">
<Button Height="23" HorizontalAlignment="Right" Margin="0,24,166,0" Name="btnTest" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="75" Click="btnTest_Click">Add</Button>
<ComboBox StaysOpenOnEdit="True" DropDownClosed="comboBox1_DropDownClosed" PreviewTextInput="comboBox1_PreviewTextInput" SelectionChanged="comboBox1_SelectionChanged" ItemTemplate="{StaticResource ShowResult}" Margin="259,109,22,89" Name="comboBox1" IsEditable="True" />
<ContentControl Height="50" Margin="268,0,22,21" Name="contentControl1" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" Content="{Binding ElementName=comboBox1,Path=SelectedValue}" ContentTemplate="{StaticResource ShowResult}"/>
</Grid>
You got the binding part right - binding to the data and using a DataTemplate to display the source the way you want to.
As to your second question, a way to do it would be to use a ComboBox with IsEditable="True" as you have, and withing the TextChanged event handler check if the comboBox.Items contains the new value, if not check use Linq to seach for a match:
if (comboBox.Items.Contains(e.NewValue))
return;
var matches =
with comboBox.Items
select item
where item.BeginsWith(e.NewValue);
if (matches.Count > 0)
comboBox.SelectedItem = matches.First();
Just place the Property Binding expression to the textBox,You dont need to apply template.
Another way to get exact Data template, Place a ContentControl in the place of textBox and assign the same DataTemplate (say x:Name="robinTemplate")
<ContentControl Content="{Binding ElementName=cmbBox,Path=SelectedValue}" ContentTemplate="{StaticResource robinTemplate}"/>
For making the Selected content display in the same way :
Create a copy of the combobox control template and you will find a ContentPresenter there. Replace that with the ContentControl.. This is not the right solution though.

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