Silverlight 5 Multi-Window Controls

Updated Wiki: Home

ptrelford — Tue, 14 May 2013 06:52:46 GMT

Project Description
Multi-window aware versions of key Silverlight toolkit controls including ChildWindow and ContextMenu for building desktop applications using Silverlight 5.
Available as a Nuget package.

Right click the sample application below to install it on your desktop and try the multi-window controls:

You need to install Microsoft Silverlight to view this content. Get Silverlight!

Showing a ChildWindow in a non-main/secondary window:

    var child = new ChildWindow { Title = "Child Window" };
    child.SetWindow(Window.GetWindow(this));
    child.Show();

Adding a web style (constrained to parent window) ContextMenu:

    <TextBlock Text="Right click on me to show the context menu">
            <multiwindow:ContextMenuService.ContextMenu>
                <multiwindow:ContextMenu>
                    <multiwindow:MenuItem Header="Menu Item"/>
                </multiwindow:ContextMenu>
            </multiwindow:ContextMenuService.ContextMenu>
    </TextBlock>

Adding a desktop style (can show outside of parent window) ContextMenuWindow:

    <TextBlock Text="Right click on me to show the context menu">
            <multiwindow:ContextMenuService.ContextMenu>
                <multiwindow:ContextMenuWindow>
                    <multiwindow:MenuItem Header="Menu Item"/>
                </multiwindow:ContextMenuWindow>
            </multiwindow:ContextMenuService.ContextMenu>
    </TextBlock>

In desktop mode the window can pop outside of the parent window.

Showing a native popup:

    new PopupWindow
    {
        Width = 160,
        Height = 160,
        HorizontalOffset = 0,
        VerticalOffset = 0,
        Child = new TextBlock { Text = "Hello world" },
        PlacementTarget = element,
        Placement = PlacementMode.Right,
        StaysOpen = false,
        IsOpen = true
    };

Showing a modal dialog:

    modalWindow.ShowDialog();

New Post: Does this work on a Mac?

ptrelford — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 19:10:21 GMT

I have not tested this project on Mac as I neither own a Mac or have access to one. If you find issues with Mac and are able to fix the source then feel free to contribute the fixes back to the project.

Thanks,
Phil

New Post: Does this work on a Mac?

ccbVT — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 17:13:22 GMT

I am using a new window as a modal window. It works as expected on Win7 -- main window is disabled, new window can be move separately from main window, etc.
When I ran the app on a Mac, the animation I use to display the new window was run (the main window's opacity is changed to make it appear disabled), but the child window did not appear, and the main window was not actually disabled.

If this package does not work on Mac, does anyone have an idea for what might?
Thanks --

New Post: Controlling modal window's background / opacity?

ptrelford — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 07:07:36 GMT

P/Invoke will only work on Windows in an Out-of-Browser (OOB) application with Elevated Trust. You can however detect the runtime environment before calling.

P.S. There is a known issue in WPF (and Silverlight) related to "the containing window appears as solid white as soon as ShowDialog() is called":

WPF Window with black background flashes white when first shown

One way to work around this is to load the content of the window before you show it.

New Post: Controlling modal window's background / opacity?

ccbVT — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 22:28:56 GMT

ptrelford wrote:

It is possible to set a window's background color and/or opacity using P/Invoke, see Silverlight 5 Native Windows P/Invoke for more details.

Very helpful, thanks.
My app has to run on the Mac, as well; will this technique work on the Mac?

New Post: How to make Modal Windows borderless?

ptrelford — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 21:12:18 GMT

3) How does the modal child window communicate with its parent (reporting a user's selection, for example)?

The child window's DataContex can be used to communicate values with the parent.

New Post: Controlling modal window's background / opacity?

ptrelford — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 21:00:22 GMT

It is possible to set a window's background color and/or opacity using P/Invoke, see Silverlight 5 Native Windows P/Invoke for more details.

New Post: Controlling modal window's background / opacity?

ccbVT — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 19:28:09 GMT

Is it possible to control a modal window's background color or opacity?
I can animate the content's appearance and disappearance, but the containing window appears as solid white as soon as ShowDialog() is called.

I suspect this is a limitation of the Window class...

New Post: How to make Modal Windows borderless?

ccbVT — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 18:31:16 GMT

Hello,
This looks very useful -- having a model window that is not constrained to the parent's border.
I get an 'OutOfRange' exception when trying to set the window style.
win = new Window();
win.Content = c;
win.WindowStyle = WindowStyle.BorderlessRoundCornersWindow;
Three questions:
1) How to change the style of the Window to borderless?
2) How would the content tell the modal parent to close itself?
3) How does the modal child window communicate with its parent (reporting a user's selection, for example)?

Thanks for any help with this....

Updated Wiki: Home

ptrelford — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 07:10:31 GMT

Project Description
Multi-window aware versions of key Silverlight toolkit controls including ChildWindow and ContextMenu. Also available via Nuget.

Right click the sample application below to install it on your desktop and try the multi-window controls:

You need to install Microsoft Silverlight to view this content. Get Silverlight!

Showing a ChildWindow in a non-main/secondary window:

    var child = new ChildWindow { Title = "Child Window" };
    child.SetWindow(Window.GetWindow(this));
    child.Show();

Adding a web style (constrained to parent window) ContextMenu:

    <TextBlock Text="Right click on me to show the context menu">
            <multiwindow:ContextMenuService.ContextMenu>
                <multiwindow:ContextMenu>
                    <multiwindow:MenuItem Header="Menu Item"/>
                </multiwindow:ContextMenu>
            </multiwindow:ContextMenuService.ContextMenu>
    </TextBlock>

Adding a desktop style (can show outside of parent window) ContextMenuWindow:

    <TextBlock Text="Right click on me to show the context menu">
            <multiwindow:ContextMenuService.ContextMenu>
                <multiwindow:ContextMenuWindow>
                    <multiwindow:MenuItem Header="Menu Item"/>
                </multiwindow:ContextMenuWindow>
            </multiwindow:ContextMenuService.ContextMenu>
    </TextBlock>

In desktop mode the window can pop outside of the parent window.

Showing a native popup:

    new PopupWindow
    {
        Width = 160,
        Height = 160,
        HorizontalOffset = 0,
        VerticalOffset = 0,
        Child = new TextBlock { Text = "Hello world" },
        PlacementTarget = element,
        Placement = PlacementMode.Right,
        StaysOpen = false,
        IsOpen = true
    };

Showing a modal dialog:

    modalWindow.ShowDialog();

Updated Wiki: Documentation

ptrelford — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 07:03:29 GMT

The current implementations of the ChildWindow control in the Silverlight 5 runtime and the ContextMenu control in the Silverlight 5 Toolkit do not work on external windows.
This project provides multi-window capable versions of the ChildWindow and ContextMenu controls based on the Silverlight Toolkit implementations.

Articles:

Silverlight Toolkit issues:

MSConnect issues:

Silverlight Forums issues:

ChildWindow customization:

General Silverlight 5 Multi-Window support:

Misc:

Created Release: August 2012 (Aug 28, 2012)

ptrelford — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 06:42:44 GMT

New ShowDialog extension method on Window.
New PopupWindow class native popup window functionality.

Released: August 2012 (Aug 28, 2012)

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 06:42:43 GMT

New ShowDialog extension method on Window.
New PopupWindow class native popup window functionality.

Source code checked in, #2b9afdef6b3e

ptrelford — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 06:29:02 GMT

Updated Nuget version & release notes

Source code checked in, #0ad90a054ada

ptrelford — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 06:17:57 GMT

Commented ShowDialog method & deprecated experimental ShowModal method

Source code checked in, #a4f4d49b96ef

ptrelford — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 06:15:47 GMT

Popup placement now checks top & left of display

Source code checked in, #b016674f2989

ptrelford — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 21:25:46 GMT

Merge

Source code checked in, #07d89952a270

ptrelford — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 21:23:46 GMT

Added ShowModal extension method for Window class that disables owner Window

Source code checked in, #edd25f834508

phillipt — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 10:33:54 GMT

Merge

Source code checked in, #4816f00391e0

phillipt — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 10:32:13 GMT

Handle context menu size change while visible