How do I host a Windows Forms control in a WPF application ?
First make sure to add references to ‘System.Windows.Forms’ and ‘System.Windows.Forms.Integration’. Then you need to decide if you will use code, XAML or a combination of both to work with the Windows Forms controls. If you are strictly using code, you would write code similar to the following : [C#] //Instantiate the hosting control WindowsFormsHost host = new WindowsFormsHost(); //Instantiate the Windows Forms control, in this case a button System.Windows.Forms.Button wfButton = new System.Windows.Forms.Button(); wfButton.Text = ‘Windows Forms Button’; // Add the Windows Forms button to the host control host.Children.Add(wfButton); // Add the host control to the WPF element that // you want to parent the control, // in this case it’s a Grid this.grid1.Children.Add(host); If you are using XAML, you still need to add the references to ‘System.Windows.Forms’ and ‘System.Windows.Forms.Integration’, but you will also need to add mapping statements to your XAML that will allow you to refer to the objects that live in these namespaces via XAML: [XAML] <?Mapping XmlNamespace=’wfi’ ClrNamespace=’System.Windows.Forms.Integration’ Assembly=’WindowsFormsIntegration’?> <?Mapping XmlNamespace=’wf’ ClrNamespace=’System.Windows.Forms’ Assembly=’System.Windows.Forms’?> The ‘XMLNamespace’ property provides a way to create a tag that you can use as a namespace prefix in the XAML to refer to the controls within the ‘System.Windows.Forms’ and ‘System.Windows.Forms.Integration’ namespaces. To enable this, you must also create ‘xmlns’ properties in the XAML that maps back to these prefixes as given below : [XAML] <Window x:Class=’AvalonApplication17.Window1′ xmlns=’http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/avalon/2005′ xmlns:x=’http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/xaml/2005′ xmlns:wfi=’wfi’ xmlns:wf=’wf’ Title=’AvalonApplication17′ Loaded=’WindowLoaded’ > Then you can use XAML to instantiate the WindowsFormsHost control and its subsequent child controls: <Grid x:Name=’grid1′> <wfi:WindowsFormsHost> <wf:Button Text=’Windows Forms Button’/> </wfi:WindowsFormsHost> </Grid>
How can I write Message Loops ?
Message Loops can be written with the following properties. IsThreadModal – returns whether the application has gone modal (e.g., a modal message loop has been pushed). ComponentDispatcher can track this state because the class maintains a count of ‘PushModal’ and ‘PopModal’ calls from the message loop. ThreadFilterMessage and ThreadPreprocessMessage events follow the standard rules for delegate invocations. Delegates are invoked in an unspecified order and all delegates are invoked even if the first one marks the message as handled. ThreadIdle – indicates an appropriate and efficient time to do idle processing (there are no other pending messages for the thread). ThreadIdle will not be raised if the thread is modal. ThreadFilterMessage – raised for all messages that the message pump processes. ThreadPreprocessMessage – raised for all messages that were not handled during ThreadFilterMessage.
How can I set the Owner property of the WPF window to the handle of our main form?
We can do this by using WindowInteropHelper. This can be done with the following code snippets. [C#] var wpfWindow = new MainWindow(); WindowInteropHelper windowInteropHelper = new WindowInteropHelper(wpfWindow); windowInteropHelper.Owner = this.Handle; wpfWindow.Show(); Note: While using the previous code in the form, add the following WPF assemblies to show the WPF window. PresentationCore PresentationFramework WindowsBase Reference link: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/32701680/setting-a-form-as-owner-for-a-window
How does TwoWay BindingMode work in an XMLDataProvider?
When TwoWay BindingMode is used, the XMLDataProvider writes the data to the ‘in – memory’ XML file and it does not write to the file in your hard disk. You have to perform your own serialization to write the data updated to the XML file in the hard disk.
What is the use of the RelativeSource property ?
The ‘RelativeSource’ property of the Binding class is used to bind the data from an element by it’s relationship to the source element. RelativeSource is also a markup extension of type RelativeSource. The following are some of the ways that RelativeSource can be used. 1. When the source element is equal to the target element, [C#] {Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource Self}} 2. When the source element is equal to the target element’s TemplatedParent, [C#] {Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource TemplatedParent}} 3. When the source element is equal to the closest parent of a given type, [C#] {Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource FindAncestor, AncestorType={x:Type StackPanel}}, Path=Orientation} 4. When the source element is equal to the nth closest parent of a given type, [C#] {Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource FindAncestor,AncestorLevel=1, AncestorType={x:Type Window}}, Path=Title} 5. When the source element is equal to the previous data item in a data – bound collection. [C#] {Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource PreviousData}}