Change the content of window by menu item click WPF

Question

I have to do a WPF Application,which need to contain menu bar. When user click every menu item , window should be loaded with different contents. please any one suggest any ideas to accomplish this.

<Window  x:Class="win3.MainWindow"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
       xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"        
        Title="MainWindow" Height="700" Width="600" >
    <Grid>

        <DockPanel>
            <Menu DockPanel.Dock="Top">
                <MenuItem Header="Student" Click="StudentMenuItem_Click"/>
                <MenuItem Header="Academic" Click="AcademicMenuItem_Click"/>
            </Menu>
            <TextBox AcceptsReturn="True" />
        </DockPanel>
        <Grid x:Name="grdStudent"  Height="500" Width="550" Margin="22,56,22,115">
            <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                <ColumnDefinition Width="2*"/>
                <ColumnDefinition Width="3*"/>
            </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
            <Grid.RowDefinitions>
                <RowDefinition Height="6*"/>
                <RowDefinition Height="1*"/>
            </Grid.RowDefinitions>
            <Label Content="Student Id" HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Top" Margin="57,51,0,0"/>
            <Label Content="Student Name: " HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="57,110,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="84"/>
            <TextBox Grid.Column="1" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="23" Margin="46,51,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="175"/>
            <TextBox Grid.Column="1" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="23" Margin="46,110,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap"  VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="175"/>
        </Grid>

        <Grid x:Name="grdAcademic" Height="500" Width="550" Margin="22,56,22,115" >
            <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                <ColumnDefinition Width="2*"/>
                <ColumnDefinition Width="3*"/>
            </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
            <Grid.RowDefinitions>
                <RowDefinition Height="1*"/>
                <RowDefinition Height="5*"/>
            </Grid.RowDefinitions>
            <ComboBox x:Name="cmbFloor" HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="80" SelectionChanged="cmbFloor_SelectionChanged" Margin="130,29,0,0"/>
            <ComboBox x:Name="cmbDoor" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="130,10,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="80" SelectionChanged="cmbDoor_SelectionChanged" Grid.Row="1"/>
        </Grid>
    </Grid>
</Window >

.cs File

  private void StudentMenuItem_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            this.grdStudent.Visibility = Visibility.Visible;
            this.grdAcademic.Visibility = Visibility.Collapsed;
        }

      private void AcademicMenuItem_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            this.grdAcademic.Visibility = Visibility.Collapsed;
            this.grdStudent.Visibility = Visibility.Collapsed;
        }

Above code works as per expected.but .XMAL file looks clumsy.(Later we need to add more controllers)

Answer 1

You can use DataTemplate and ContentControl. Define your views 'grdAcademic' and 'grdStudent' in 2 user control and define DataTemplate for same.

<DataTemplate x:Key="grdAcademicView">
    <local:UserControlGrdAcademic />
</DataTemplate>

<DataTemplate x:Key="grdStudentView" >
    <local:UserControlGrdStudent />
</DataTemplate>

Assumption, here 'local' is your clr namespace (xmlns:local="clr-namespace:")

Menu button click can be associated with 2 variables in your view model say 'IsStudent' and 'IsAcademic' and use them as below:

<ContentControl Content="{Binding }">
    <ContentControl.Style>
        <Style>
            <Style.Triggers>
                <DataTrigger Binding="{Binding Path=IsStudent}" Value="True">
                    <Setter Property="ContentControl.ContentTemplate" Value="{StaticResource grdStudentView}" />
                </DataTrigger>
                <DataTrigger Binding="{Binding Path=IsAcademic}" Value="True">
                    <Setter Property="ContentControl.ContentTemplate" Value="{StaticResource grdAcademicView}" />
                </DataTrigger>
            </Style.Triggers>
        </Style>
    </ContentControl.Style>
</ContentControl>

Answer 2

you could put your different contents in separate files, for example:

StudentView.xaml

<UserControl
    <!-- Standard UC code here -->
    >
    <Grid x:Name="grdStudent"  Height="500" Width="550" Margin="22,56,22,115">
        <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
            <ColumnDefinition Width="2*"/>
            <ColumnDefinition Width="3*"/>
        </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
        <Grid.RowDefinitions>
            <RowDefinition Height="6*"/>
            <RowDefinition Height="1*"/>
        </Grid.RowDefinitions>
        <Label Content="Student Id" HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Top" Margin="57,51,0,0"/>
        <Label Content="Student Name: " HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="57,110,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="84"/>
        <TextBox Grid.Column="1" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="23" Margin="46,51,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="175"/>
        <TextBox Grid.Column="1" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="23" Margin="46,110,0,0" TextWrapping="Wrap"  VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="175"/>
    </Grid>
</UserControl>

Then you change your MainWindow.xaml to

<Grid>
    <DockPanel>
        <!-- Put your menu code here -->
    </DockPanel>
    <ContentControl x:Name="content" />
</Grid>

And in your code behind

private readonly FrameworkElement _academicView;
private readonly FrameworkElement _studentView;

public MainWindow()
{
    InitializeComponent();

    _academicView = new AcademicView();
    _studentView = new StudentView();

    content.Content = _academicView; // set the default view
}

private void StudentMenuItem_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
    content.Content = _studentView;
}

private void AcademicMenuItem_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
    content.Content = _academicView;
}

Aside from this, I would recommend you to look into the MVVM-Pattern.