CODEWITHSUNDEEP
wpfpaneluielement
grizzly
grizzly

Reputation: 1156

Adding UIElement with AddLogicalChild, AddVisualChild in WPF

I created a custom version of canvas by simply extending/inheriting from the Panel.

When I want to draw or render something on it, I simply create a DrawingVisual, draw the desired graphics and call the AddLogicalChild(Visual), AddVisualChild(Visual) and incrementing the count of the Visuals of the Panel.

This works great when I am adding DrawingVisual instances, but when I try to add a Button here and define the dimensions (MinHeight, MinWidth), it is not displayed.

Is it possible that UIElements need a different logic of handling to be displayed? Basically, how can I add a UIElement to that extended Panel that would be displayed and could be manipulated with?

Upvotes: 4

Views: 5533

Answers (3)

JanDotNet
JanDotNet

Reputation: 4016

If working only with UIElements, the prefered way is to add that items to the Children collection.

But if you have a mixture of UIElements and Visuals, I would suggest to use the methods AddLogicalChild / AddVisualChild instead of Children. However, that requires a little bit more work:

  1. Add the item (Visuals as well as UIElements) as logical and visual children, using AddLogicalChild and AddVisualChild.
  2. Store the items somewhere (the Panel wont do it for you)
  3. Overwrite GetVisualChild and VisualChildrenCount and return the number of items / the item on the passed index
  4. Overwrite MeasureOverride, call UIElement.Measure on each UIElement and do all the other measure stuff that is specific for your panel
  5. Overwrite ArrangeOverride, call UIElement.Arrange for each UIElement and do all the other arrange stuff that is specific for your panel

Note that Measure and Arrange have to be called after the UIElement has been added to the Panel.

Thats it. :)

Upvotes: 2

d7samurai
d7samurai

Reputation: 3216

That functionality is already included. If you want to add UIElements to your Panel, simply use .Children.Add() - just like you do with the regular Canvas, Grid etc.

Then in your implementation, override MeasureOverride and ArrangeOverride to iterate through the children and organize them on your Panel surface.

Example here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms754152(v=vs.110).aspx#Panels_custom_panel_elements

Upvotes: 1

fixagon
fixagon

Reputation: 5566

For UIElements, it's the Collection Children to use:

public void AddChild(UIElement newChild)
{
   this.Children.Add(newChild);
}

You should also look at the InternalChildren Collection which is recommanded to use in extensions of Panels.

Upvotes: 0

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