Create WPF forms dynamically using XAML files - wpf-controls

I am trying to write a program to dynamically create WPF forms. Is it possible to create XAML file and make .NET framework load them automatically?
I don't know if this is a really dumb question, but I was wondering that it might save me the burden of writing code to create them automatically.

XamlReader can do this very easily.
var stream = File.OpenRead(xamlFileName);
//cast to whatever is the toplevel element in XAML
var loadedElement = (Window)XamlReader.Load(stream);
There is also a lot of resources on this subject on the web.

Related

Unable to find the WPF custom control using coded ui

I am trying to automate WPF application (WPF with 3rd party devexpress) using coded UI (VS 2012) in my local machine (Windows server 2008 R2).
I am facing issues while identifying controls under dynamically generated content of the window. I've Tried different hierarchical levels to hit the control,But i am
still not able to hit the control.
Till some level I am getting the handle, but after I am not getting the handle.
My application is complex hierarchically structured with combining winforms and WPF.
I've Tried to use coded UI record and play feature to generate the UI Map and used the same structure to identify the controls. It worked while debugging line by line but it's failing while running.
e.g. Below is one hierarchy,
List item
Dashboard
Dash_Grid
LayoutManager
LayoutGroup
LayoutPanel -->Till this level I am able to get the handle and lower I am not able to hit the control
Container
Navtop
Nav_Grid
TileLayoutControl
........(all tiles)
This issue is not only with one page. I am having the same problem with all the pages.So this is blocking our automation.
Please can any one help me on this?
Try this two possible solutions:
Use the devexpress extension for codedui to identify and locate dexExpress controls:
https://www.devexpress.com/products/net/controls/winforms/coded-ui/
Dont replicate the elaborate hierarchy of your app when identifying controls but instead select the main controls in the hierarchy and use them to set your search properties. this is especially important for dynamically created content where the hierarchy is constantly changing.
in your example:
var List_item = new WpfListItem(parent);
List_item.SearchProperties.. = some search properties
and than set your control's parent to that top list item and ignore the midlle men:
var Container = new UITestControl(List_item);
where UITestControl should be replaced with the controls actuall type.

developing library controls for xpages

I' working on a library control for Xpages and need some help in creating.
I would create a control which reads a configuration file and creates controls in a table, controls like Editboxes, checkboxgroups and so on.
so and now to my questions:
could I initiate controls from the Exlib or must I implement them all by my self?
if I could use them from the Exlib could anyone explain me how?
I hope its clear what i mean if not please ask me for further informations.
When creating your own components, if you're closely replicating some behavior that is already in an extension library component, I highly recommend you extend that component and just add what's needed to accommodate your different functionality. This makes things much easier and you don't have to code around every little scenario that the component might be placed in.
But, if you are developing a component that is nothing like any of the extension library or core components then just ensure your component extends UIComponent or UIComponentBase. If going this route, you'll also need to create your own renderer which extends Renderer. This is what will build the on-screen representation of your component. Again, if there's already something in the core components or extension library components that closely mimics what you need then make your renderer extend that renderer. Also, don't forget to include the renderer definition in the faces-config file and the component definition in the xsp-config file or your component won't work.
As for initiating controls from the extlib.... I assume you mean can you inject them onto the page at runtime. If so the answer is absolutely yes. To add an input text field to the page where there is a container (i.e. panel, div, span, whatever) with an ID of "someContainer"
XspInputText input = new XspInputText();
input.setValue("someValue");
input.setId("someID");
UIComponent container = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance().getViewRoot().findComponent("someContainer");
container.getChildren().add(input);
To see the api for all of the core and extension library components take a look at the XPages Controls Documentation. For a more complete tutorial on creating your own components take a look at my blog for creating a custom component inside an nsf, the steps are pretty much the same for putting them into a library:
Part 1,
Part 2 and there is an example database in the Part 2 post.

What is the best way to design the GUI in javafx 2.0?

In javafx 2.0 it is possible to create the layout by using FXML approach or by using normal java code.
What is the best way with respect to a well designed set of UIs. In my application there is about 100 sub UIs.
Thanks
FXML looks more logical for that purpose. By using FXML
you split business logic from view
you get option to edit design without recompiling project.
you get design as structured xml tree which is much easier to edit comparing to potentially randomly ordered java code
with SceneBuider tool you get an option to use visual editor for your fxml files
Get JavaFX Scenebuilder here.
FXForm2 is a library providing automatic JavaFX 2.0 form generation.
however FXForm2 is not full WYSIWYG GUI design tool.
http://dooapp.github.io/FXForm2/
Scene builder should be a good starting point to create unique UIs of your application. Considering you have 100s of UIs, I assume that some of their "appearances" should be identical with slightly different functions. You can load the FXML dynamically and assign controller at run time. Which means 1 FXML file can be used with multiple controllers. Which can save you some time while keeping the code dynamic for easier maintenance.
FXMLLoader loader = new FXMLLoader(getClass().getResource("DBedit.fxml"));
loader.setController(new DBeditEntityUser());
So, to make use of the same FXML with a different controller.
FXMLLoader loader = new FXMLLoader(getClass().getResource("DBedit.fxml"));
loader.setController(new DBeditEntityUserLevel());
Hope this helps.
fyi,
road map for Java fx http://javafx.com/roadmap/ shows that the scene builder will be released around middle of the year. From the above web page:
"JavaFX Scene Builder is a WYSIWYG GUI design tool for the
JavaFX platform. It enables designing user interface screens by simply
dragging and positioning GUI components from a palette onto a scene.
The tool generates files in FXML format2 that can be used within a project
in any IDE such as NetBeans or Eclipse. The JavaFX Scene Builder can be
used to create GUI for desktop applications and applets that run in a browser."

Sharepoint-customizing usercontrol property in smartpart

If anyone is having idea how to customize properties in a smartpart. I have created usercontrol and i m wrappin it in a smartpart.I want to upload my xml from Document library.
private string feedXML;
[Browsable(true),
Personalizable(true) ]
public string FeedXML
{
get
{ return feedXML; }
set
{ feedXML = value; }
}
and I am using this like
//
feedXML="\customxml.xml";
XPathDocument doc = new XPathDocument(Server.MapPath(feedXML));
but this thing is not working . When I am clicking on modify shared webpart of sharepoint page is not rendering. Any clue where I m getting wrong.
You might want to verify the result of your server.mappath statement. It will be something like C:\Inetpub...
So your code is trying to retrieve a file from the filesystem that really lives in SharePoint because you have uploaded it to a Document Library.
If you want that file you'll have to retrieve it using the SharePoint object model, have a look at the GetFileAsString method.
I agree with Denni..
Seems like Smartpart is only making it more difficult? What advantages does it have?
I make my own webpart containers for ascx controls.. very little work and all the control you need. No problems with trust settings either.
Are you sure this is correct?
feedXML="\customxml.xml";
Perhaps, what you want is:
feedXML="\\customxml.xml"; //escape the back-slash.
or
feedXML="/customxml.xml"; // use the forward-slash.
Anyway, if you just want to wrap your user control inside a Web part, you don't need the SmartPart. You can write your custom Web part yourself quite easily.

Caching and re-using tree of HtmlElement objects

I am using the WebBrowser control in my project to display complex HTML documents that are generated/manipulated at runtime.
I have noticed that constructing the DOM programmatically from C# by creating HtmlElement objects is about 3x slower than generating an HTML string and passing it to the WebBrowser, which in turn parses it to generate the DOM. Both ways create a noticeable delay when navigating between lengthy documents.
I am looking for the fastest way to switch between multiple documents in the same WebBrowser control, ideally without having to repeatedly generating the DOM tree for each document. Is it possible to cache a tree of HtmlElement objects somewhere in my program, and then re-insert them into the WebBrowser as needed?
I will describe the solution in terms of the native win32 COM APIs; it shouldn't be too difficult to write the interop to do it in C# (or find it at pinvoke.net). Alternatively, you may need to use the properites that the managed objects expose to get the native ones.
You're not likely to be able to build the DOM yourself faster than IE's parser, so create a blank HTMLDocument (which in native code would be CoCreateInstance(CLSID_HTMLDocument)) and QueryInterface() the HTMLDocument for its IMarkupServices implementation. Also create two IMarkupPointers using the IMarkupServices::CreateMarkupPointer() method.
Next call IMarkupServices::ParseString() to parse your HTML. This will give you a pointer to an IMarkupContainer that contains your DOM, as will as two IMarkupPointers that point to the beginning and end of you DOM. Now you can use IMarkupServices::Move() to move your data from one IMarkupContainer to another.
So the general scheme you would use is to have a single HTMLDocument which is your "display" document, and it's associated IMarkupContainer (which you can just QueryInterface() for). Then you have a vector or list or whatever of all the non-displaying markup containers. Then you just create a markup pointer for your display doc, call IMarkupPointer::MoveToContainer(displayDocumentContainer, true) and then use that to move stuff around from your display container to the not-displaying containers and vice-versa.
One thing to note: you must only access these objects on the thread you create them from, or acquire them on. All IE objects are STA objects. If you need multi-threaded access, you must marshal.
If you have specific follow up questions, let me know.
References:
IMarkupContainer
IMarkupServices
Introduction to Markup Services
This will do it
// On screen webbrowser control
webBrowserControl.Navigate("about:blank");
webBrowserControl.Document.Write("<div id=\"div1\">This will change</div>");
var elementToReplace = webBrowserControl.Document.GetElementById("div1");
var nodeToReplace = elementToReplace.DomElement as mshtml.IHTMLDOMNode;
// In memory webbrowser control to load fragement into
// It needs this base object as it is a COM control
var webBrowserFragement = new WebBrowser();
webBrowserFragement.Navigate("about:blank");
webBrowserFragement.Document.Write("<div id=\"div1\">Hello World!</div>");
var elementReplacement = webBrowserFragement.Document.GetElementById("div1");
var nodeReplacement = elementReplacement.DomElement as mshtml.IHTMLDOMNode;
// The magic happens here!
nodeToReplace.replaceNode(nodeReplacement);
I'd really need to know more about how you are generating these documents. It might be faster to get your data into a XML document and then use a XSL transform to convert the data to HTML and pass that to the WebBrowser control.
The nice thing about the XSLT implementation of .NET is that it takes the XSL source and compiles it to a temporary assembly to speed up the transforms.
If you decide to go that route look up the MVP.XML project which adds some nice exslt functionality to the stock XSLT implementation.
Maybe rather than caching the DOM you could just flip between several WebBrowser controls on the form - with only the active one being visible?
Could you do something like this?
Create the contents you want to display inside a DIV
Create secondary contents (in the background) inside non-visible DIVs
Swap the contents by playing with the visibility

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