Have tried searching google but I'm struggling to find an answer to this.
I have a basic WPF application with a few controls on. When I maximise the application the controls on the screen stay the same size and I get a lot of wasted space.
Is there a way to get the controls to grow and shrink dynamically with the size of the main window?
Kind Regards
Ash
Don't set a fixed Height and Width properties for your controls.
Instead set, horizontal and vertical alignment to stretch. And make sure your controls are contained inside an appropriate layout panel.
For example-
Fixed size grid:
<Grid Background="Red" Width="50" Height="50"/>
Dynamically expending grid:
<Grid Background="Red" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalAlignment="Stretch"/>
what you need is not resize, it's called scaling (or zooming) ;-)
Read this article; the task is very trivial with WPF.
(used to be much more complicated in Windows Forms...).
UI Scaling (UI Zooming) with WPF
basically all you need to add to the XAML is this:
<ScaleTransform
CenterX="0" CenterY="0"
ScaleX="{Binding ElementName=uiScaleSlider,Path=Value}"
ScaleY="{Binding ElementName=uiScaleSlider,Path=Value}"
/>
after that you can use mouse wheel or a slider or any other way (like in your case detect form maximized), to modify the Value of the ScaleTransform.
Where there's a will, there's a way. You will have to do some work yourself however, WPF can't automagically decide for you exactly how you want the resizing to be done.
Some relevant sources:
Layout containers
Data Binding
You can use content decorator that can stretch and scale a single child to fill the available space - Viewbox .
http://www.wpftutorials.com/2011/04/wpf-viewbox.html
this is no problem. The behavior of your controls depends on the container you use and the Horizontal and Vertical Alignment. For Example, if you use a Grid, a TextBox and a Button with Horizontal and Vertical Alignment: Stretch and width and height auto, the Textfield and Button will grow and shrink dynamically.
<Window
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
x:Class="WpfApplication.MainWindow"
x:Name="Window"
Title="MainWindow"
Width="640" Height="480">
<Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot">
<TextBox Margin="8,8,8,104.96" TextWrapping="Wrap" Text="TextBox" Height="auto" Width="auto" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalAlignment="Stretch"/>
<Button Content="Button" Margin="8,0,8,8" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" Height="92.96" Width="auto" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"/>
</Grid>
Use a resizable control like Grid and put all the controls in Rows/Columns. Also set HorizontalAlignment to stretch for each control.
Related
For reference, this is a chat application. This should give you some idea of a final goal.
Additionally, I am very new to WPF. This is one of my first applications and I am making this as a proof of concept. I've been using Windows Forms up until this point, so any comparison or reference to it would help me understand a bit better.
So, the issue at hand:
The chat box for my chat application is a StackPanel (should it be?) which is programmatically populated with TextBlock elements. I need to find a way to scroll down this StackPanel once the available space runs out. I also need it to automatically scroll to the bottom (like a chat would; you wouldn't be able to see the most recent message otherwise).
The question: How can I make a ScrollViewer properly size dynamically with a StackPanel?
Additionally, I also need this StackPanel to size dynamically as the window is sized. This, in turn, would affect the scroll bar.
My current "solution" is to use a ScrollViewer with the StackPanel nested. However, the ScrollViewer and StackPanel do not size properly with a change in window size, as shown in screenshot #2. The XAML code and a screenshot of the designer is shown below.
<Window x:Name="Main" x:Class="dprCxUiDemoWpf.MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
xmlns:local="clr-namespace:dprCxUiDemoWpf"
mc:Ignorable="d"
Title="MainWindow" Height="450" Width="800">
<Grid Background="#FF171717">
<TextBox x:Name="ChatBox" TextWrapping="Wrap" Background="#FF4F4F4F" Foreground="White" VerticalContentAlignment="Stretch" HorizontalContentAlignment="Stretch" RenderTransformOrigin="-0.118,12.093" Margin="146,0,0,1" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" Height="46" BorderBrush="#FFFF00F3" KeyDown="ChatBox_KeyDown"/>
<Image x:Name="DprLogo" Source="/dprCxUiDemoWpf;component/Images/logo1.png" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="60" Margin="10,0,0,10" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" Width="123"/>
<ScrollViewer Background="Red" Height="Auto" Width="Auto" ScrollViewer.CanContentScroll="True" Margin="146,0,0,0" HorizontalContentAlignment="Stretch" VerticalContentAlignment="Stretch" VerticalAlignment="Top" MinHeight="372">
<StackPanel x:Name="ChatPanel" Height="Auto" Width="Auto" Background="DimGray" ScrollViewer.CanContentScroll="True" />
</ScrollViewer>
</Grid>
</Window>
(source: gcurtiss.dev)
Please note the following regarding the first screenshot:
A. The black column (containing the logo) is simply the background color of the window; there is nothing there.
B. The gray portion is ChatBox (the StackPanel)
C. The pink highlighted box below is the text box where messages are entered.
I appreciate and accept any and all help!
You have to use the Grid panel properly. You layout its children by defining rows and columns. Grid is a column/row based layout container. Then configure row and column definitions to control the resize behavior of the cells and their content.
Using absolute positioning and sizes will of course prevent controls from responding to their parent's size changes. Most control stretch to fit the available space. But this requires dimension properties being set to Auto.
You said you are "more of a hands-on learner", but you should still read some documentations. Otherwise you will significantly slow down your progress until stagnation.
There are tons of blogs waiting for you to read them. To poke around in the dark will get you nowhere. You need at least to know the basics. Instead of waiting 13+ hours for a copy & paste ready answer, you could have finished multiple tutorials already and solve this on your own. Success is a good feeling. This is a very trivial problem.
Find yourself a good tutorial that you find easy to understand and start to experiment with the Grid after reading it.
According to your posted code, you obviously have zero idea how this panel works and how you can use it to align your controls.
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="*" />
<RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="*" />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ScrollViewer Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="0" Grid.ColumnSpan="2">
<StackPanel />
</ScrollViewer>
<Image Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="0"
Height="60"
Width="123 />
<TextBox Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="1" />
</Grid>
I need to find a way to scroll down this StackPanel once the available space runs out. I also need it to automatically scroll to the bottom (like a chat would; you wouldn't be able to see the most recent message otherwise)
You should read about data-binding and MVVM first. Usually you hold an ObservableCollection of items on your VM and bind them to eg a ListBox on your View.
Then you can scroll-down the ListBox, each time a new item got added to your collection:
private void ScrollRecordsListToBottom()
{
if (RecordsList.Items.Count == 0)
return;
var lastItem = RecordsList.Items[RecordsList.Items.Count - 1];
RecordsList.ScrollIntoView(lastItem);
}
I need to create a simple user control which is used for displaying a descriptive message to the user. The XAML definition that I have for this control is as follows:
<UserControl x:Class="Console.WPF.DisplayMessageView"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
...
mc:Ignorable="d"
d:DesignWidth="550"
HorizontalAlignment="Stretch">
<UserControl.Resources>
<!--Converters-->
<BooleanToVisibilityConverter x:Key="BooleanToVisibility" />
</UserControl.Resources>
<Grid HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalAlignment="Top" Margin="10,5,0,0">
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="*" />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<TextBox
Grid.Column="0"
VerticalAlignment="Top"
FontWeight="Normal"
FontSize="10"
Padding="12,4,2,2"
Height="74"
Background="White"
BorderThickness="1"
HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"
HorizontalContentAlignment="Left"
TextWrapping="Wrap"
Text="{Binding DetailsText, Mode=OneWay}" />
<Image Source="..."
Stretch="None"
HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Top"
Margin="0,2,0,0"
Visibility="{Binding IsErrorMessage, Converter={StaticResource BooleanToVisibility}}"/>
</Grid>
</UserControl>
This UserControl is currently embedded within a sizable stack of containers (DockPanels, StackPanels, etc.) and user controls. However, it's first parent container is a DockPanel. It is the last control in the DockPanel and the LastChildFill property is set to true on the panel.
My problem is that when I use this user control, regardless of HorizontalAlignment settings, it alway sizes the user control to the size of the text field. This means that if the text field is short, the user control will be small and look odd since it's not filling it's respective content hole. If the text is a vary long block of descriptive text, it doesn't wrap and continues to expand and is hidden off the edge of the screen.
I can't figure out how to fix this. I also want to note that this application does not use scroll bars, which have been band from use, except on list boxes. I can't use scroll regions for this application, however, this message object absolutely must expand to fill the container but NOT expand any larger.
How can I accomplish this without constraining a fixed Width value on my user control instance? Instead, I need the user control to grow with the container, when the window grows as well.
NOTE
I'm adding the C# tag, just in case this has to involve a code-behind change. I really hope it's just a matter of setting the right set of magic-properties, which have eluded me, however, I'm not opposed to encoding a rock-solid code behind solution, so long as it specifically does what I need it to do.
I need to create a UserControl, which is hosted within a "parent" ContentControl who is set with "Center" Horizontal and Vertical alignment.
This control hosts another "child" UserControl, which I would like to be as big as it can get without stretching over the render-able size.
I noticed that if I set the child's size to be bigger than the render-able size, i get the size I want as a "DesiredSize" property on that control.
However I don't see how can I get that information without oversizing the control.
I've created this sample to illustrate the situation, I want "ChildControl"'s pink background to stretch over the entire window.
Just to clarify, I only have control on "ControlableElementA" and "ControlableElementB"
I cannot bind to the main window, in the actual application I use this as an embedded window with varying levels of hierarchy in between..
The "ChildControl" and "ParentControl" are beyond my reach due to constraints above me.
<Window x:Class="MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="MainWindow" Height="300" Width="300">
<Grid>
<ContentControl Name="ParentControl" HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center">
<Grid Name="ControlableElementA" Background="Black" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalAlignment="Stretch">
<ContentControl Name="ControlableElementB">
<Grid Name="ChildControl" Background="Pink" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalAlignment="Stretch">
<Button Width="30" Height="30"></Button>
</Grid>
</ContentControl>
</Grid>
</ContentControl>
</Grid>
</Window>
Thanks ahead, I apologize if the description is a little cryptic
HorizontalAlignment and VerticalAlignment as Stretch means "Stretch to the maximum size within the bounds of the parent container."
However, your parent container is set to Center, which means your UserControl effectively has an Auto width and height.
To fix this, simply remove:
HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center"
From the ContentControl.
I am working on a WPF application and using a scrollViewer to view the content that is offlimit the screen area. Working fine, no issues.
But if my window contains a Listbox or Grid or anything like that and that control has many records then instead of adding a scrollbar to itself, it just increase the height of the control and window itself because scrollviewer believes it needs to extend.
I don't want to hardcode the listbox's height, because that make it same in different resolutions, i want to make it increase its height but not always as scrollviewer make it do so.
Thanks
You can't include a variable height/width object inside a ScrollViewer without setting the height/width of the viewer.
The scroll viewer effectively has infinite height so the grid expands to fill the "available" space - hence the effect you are seeing. As #JoeWhite says in his comments, the ScrollViewer is a container that can be as tall as it needs to be to hold all of its content. Anchoring wouldn't help - in effect, your ListBox already is anchored, it's just anchored to something that says "oh, I'll be whatever size you need me to be".
You'll need to either restrict the height, move the ListBox outside the ScrollViewer or use something other than a ScrollViewer.
Again quoting #Joe "These are the hazards of putting a scrolling area inside another scrolling area - it's poor usability and it's hard to define the behaviour."
You can wrap ScrollViewer into Grid, and bind scrollviewer's Width and Height properties to grid's ActualWidth and ActualHeight. So the scrollviewer will have fixed size equal to the size of the grid which will change when window resize.
Example:
<Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="White">
<Grid Background="#FFF1F1F1" Height="49" VerticalAlignment="Top">
<Button Content="Обзор" Margin="0,13,175.25,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" FontSize="14.667" HorizontalAlignment="Right" Width="95.147">
</Button>
<Label Content="{Binding DocPath, Converter={StaticResource FileNameConverter}, FallbackValue=Выберите файл, TargetNullValue=Выберите файл}" HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="342.603" Margin="10,10,0,0" Height="33"/>
<Button Content="Загрузить данные" HorizontalAlignment="Right" Margin="0,13,10,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="151.147" FontSize="14.667">
</Button>
</Grid>
<Grid x:Name="scrollBorder" Margin="10,54,10,10">
<ScrollViewer x:Name="LogScroller" VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Auto" HorizontalScrollBarVisibility="Auto"
HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Top"
Height="{Binding ActualHeight, ElementName=scrollBorder}" Width="{Binding ActualWidth, ElementName=scrollBorder}" >
<ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding Log}" />
</ScrollViewer>
</Grid>
</Grid>
I'm creating a modal dialog window which contains three essential parts: a TextBlock containing instructions, a ContentControl for the dialog panel, and a ContentControl for the dialog buttons. Each of these parts are contained in a separate Grid row.
I have some specific constraints when it comes to how the dialog should be sized. The issue I'm having is with the instructions TextBlock. I want the instructions to be as wide as the ContentControl for the dialog panel. The instructions should then wrap and grow vertically as needed. Should the instructions not be able to grow vertically, then it should begin to grow horizontally.
Getting the instructions to be the width of the ContentControl and grow vertically was simple. The part I can't seem to figure out is how to get it to grow horizontally when out of vertical space. My initial thought was to create a class that extends TextBlock and override MeasureOverride. However, that method is sealed. Currently, I'm playing with the idea of have the dialog Window override MeasureOverride to calculate the available size for the instructions block.
Am I missing a much simpler way of accomplishing this? Does anyone have any better ideas than this? Messing with MeasureOverride seems like it will be a lot of work.
Here is some sample code to give you a general idea of how the dialog is laid out:
<Window
x:Class="Dialogs.DialogWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
x:Name="dialogWindow"
ShowInTaskbar="False"
WindowStyle="None"
AllowsTransparency="True"
Background="Transparent"
ResizeMode="NoResize"
SizeToContent="WidthAndHeight"
WindowStartupLocation="CenterScreen">
<Border Style="{StaticResource WindowBorderStyle}" Margin="15">
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<TextBlock
Margin="25,5"
VerticalAlignment="Top"
HorizontalAlignment="Left"
Text="{Binding Instructions}"
TextWrapping="Wrap"
Width="{Binding ElementName=panelContentControl, Path=ActualWidth, Mode=OneWay}"/>
<ContentControl
x:Name="panelContentControl"
Grid.Row="1"
Margin="25,5"
Content="{Binding PanelContent}"/>
<ContentControl
x:Name="buttonsContentControl"
Grid.Row="2"
HorizontalAlignment="Right"
VerticalAlignment="Center"
Margin="25,5"
Content="{Binding ButtonsContent}"/>
</Grid>
</Border>
</Window>
It appears as if what you really want to create a new Panel or derive from an existing one which would take place of what is currently your Grid. Panel is responsible for laying out your content so you should go that way instead of messing with Window.MeasureOverride.
How exactly do you want your TextBlock to grow horizontally and why do you want this? By growing it horizontally do you want it to grow the Window too?