Where do I find System.Windows.Forms.Integration ?
The System.Windows.Forms.Integration namespace is defined in ‘WindowsFormsIntegration.dll’ which currently ships in the WinFX SDK, not in the standard redist. Therefore, the file will be found in ‘\Program Files\Reference Assemblies\Microsoft\Framework\v3.0’.
What about hosting user controls and third-party controls including ActiveX controls in a WPF Form?
Windows Forms user controls will work the same as the standard Windows Forms controls, which means you can certainly use them in WPF applications. As far as third-party controls go, it depends on how these controls are built. If they are built as managed Windows Forms custom controls, they will also work fine in this scenario. If they are built as ActiveX controls, they can also be used in a WPF application as long as they are contained within a WindowsFormsHost control. Since Windows Forms already has support for hosting ActiveX controls, all you need to do is generate the managed wrappers for the ActiveX control and then use those wrappers to instantiate the control and host it within the WindowsFormsHost control on a WPF window or page. One handy way to do this is to simply create a Windows Forms UserControl that contains the ActiveX control and then simply host the UserControl in the WindowsFormsHost control.
Will you provide a tool to convert Windows Forms applications to WPF applications ?
At this time, we do not have any plans to release such a tool. We feel that it is more important for us to offer a solution that allows for co-existence of Windows Forms and WPF controls rather than attempt a migration tool that would be difficult to get right.
How do I host a WPF control in a Windows Forms application?
First add references to the WPF namespaces (PresentationCore, PresentationFramework, UIAutomationProvider, UIAutomationTypes, and WindowsBase). Next create an instance of the ’ElementHost’ control and the control you wish to embed in the Windows Forms application and then hook that control up to the ElementHost control. Then simply add the ElementHost control to your Forms control collection : [C#] ElementHost host = new ElementHost(); System.Windows.Controls.ListBox wpfListBox = new System.Windows.Controls.ListBox(); for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) { wpfListBox.Items.Add(‘Item ‘ + i.ToString()); } host.Dock = DockStyle.Fill; host.Controls.Add(wpfListBox); this.panel1.Controls.Add(host); However, if you want to use XAML to describe the WPF control that you want to use in the Windows Forms application, you need to add an ’Avalon’ UserControl item to your project. This will create a UserControl1.xaml file and a UserControl1.xaml.cs file. You can then modify the UserControl1.xaml file to contain whatever XAML you wish to have to describe your control. Then you could simply create an instance of this control and add it to the ElementHost control as in the above example : [C#] ElementHost host = new ElementHost(); UserControl1 uc1 = new UserControl1(); host.Controls.Add(uc1); host.Dock = DockStyle.Fill; this.panel1.Controls.Add(host); In addition, you will have to modify the project file because the Windows Application will not know what to do with the XAML file. You will have to open the project file (.csproj, .vbproj, etc.) in an editor like Notepad and then scroll to the bottom. You will see the following line: [XAML] <Import Project=’$(MSBuildBinPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets’ /> You will need to copy this line and paste it just below the above line and then change ‘CSharp’ to ‘WinFX’ so that the two lines look like: <Import Project=’$(MSBuildBinPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets’ /> <Import Project=’$(MSBuildBinPath)\Microsoft.WinFx.targets’ /> Now save this file and reload the project using VS and run the application.
How can I HwndSource Treats ComponentDispatcher Events ?
If the HwndSource is a top-level window (no parent HWND), it will register with ComponentDispatcher. If ThreadPreprocessMessage is raised and if the message is intended for the HwndSource or child windows, HwndSource calls its IkeyboardInputSink, TranslateAccelerator, TranslateChar, OnMnemonic keyboard sink sequence. If the HwndSource is not a top-level window (has a parent HWND), there will be no handling. Only the top-level window is expected to do the handling and there is expected to be a top-level window with keyboard sink support as part of any interoperation scenario. If WndProc on an HwndSource is called without an appropriate keyboard sink method being called first, your application will receive the higher level keyboard events such as ‘KeyDown’. However, no keyboard sink methods will be called which circumvents desirable keyboard input model features such as access key support. This might happen because the message loop did not properly notify the relevant thread on the ComponentDispatcher or because the parent HWND did not invoke the proper keyboard sink responses. A message that goes to the keyboard sink might not be sent to the HWND if you add hooks for that message by using the ‘AddHook()’ method. The message might have been handled at the message pump level directly and not submitted to the DispatchMessage function.