Happy stress free coding

WPF–forcing all pending updates

2012-02-19T08:20:00.001-08:00

Sometimes the delayed update of bindings in WPF gets in your way. This is how you can force all pending Dispatcher things to run NOW:

public static void DoEvents()
{
  DispatcherFrame frame = new DispatcherFrame();
  Dispatcher.CurrentDispatcher.BeginInvoke(DispatcherPriority.Background,
     new DispatcherOperationCallback(ExitFrame), frame);
  Dispatcher.PushFrame(frame);
}

public static object ExitFrame(object f)
{
  ((DispatcherFrame)f).Continue = false;
  return null;
}

MKLink

2010-02-13T06:28:00.001-08:00

A year ago I bought a solid state drive and that was a brilliant move! My stress factor went from 10000 to 5 so it was worth every penny.

The only problem is that my 80GB SSD is full…

Trying to find out where my drive space went I quickly found that bloated user profile in c:\users\user.domain

So I decided to move that to a slower standard drive d: . I did with mklink

mklink /d c:\users\someuser.somedomain D:\users\someuser.somedomain

To actually move the files I had to do this:

1. Start computer in safe mode (tap f8 while booting)

2. Log on with another, non domain, account with full admin rights

3. move the files (including hidden sys files etc)

4. mklink /d c:\users\someuser.somedomain D:\users\someuser.somedomain

5. done.

I got infected!

2010-01-04T01:56:00.001-08:00

I do not use any anti virus software; have not done so for the last 5 years. All the antivirus tools I have used takes 10-25% of the overall pc performance (at least for the work I do, development and compiling a lot).

Anyway I have not had a virus in any of my 10 computers – I have firewalls etc, but no antivirus.

Yesterday I tested an avi I had found, it opened up in Windows media player, it automatically detected a missing codec, it downloaded it, installed it, and BAM. Infected!

The shit I got struck with is called “Malware Defense”, and it is NOT a malware defense I tell you. It is Malware period. Screens popping up everywhere telling me that I was in big trouble (the Malware defense crap did this).

Anyway, it turned out that the Malware defense had installed itself as a well behaving program and I could uninstall it with “remove program”. Fine.

I then wanted to run a Antivir 30 day trial on the machine to scan thru it so there was not anymore residues. But both E-Set and AVG complained that it already had an Antivirus called “Malware protection” installed and prompted me to remove that first. But to my knowledge it was already removed! Scary!

Anyway it seems that the instructions found here helped me to clean away the rest of it: http://www.pchell.com/support/multiple_antivirus_in_security_center.shtml

In case the link goes away, this is what it says:

Step by Step Procedure for Fixing Problem

1) Right-click on My Computer
2) Click on Manage
3) Click on the plus sign(+) next to Services and Applications in the left-hand column
4) Click on Services
5) Find the service called Windows Management Instrumentation, right-click on it, and choose Stop.
6) Open My Computer
7) Double-click on Drive C (or whatever drive windows is installed on)
8) Double-click on the Windows folder
9) Double-click on System32
10) Double-click on WBEM
11) Right-click on the Repository folder and click Delete and remove it
12) Close the My Computer windows and return to the Windows services screen using steps 1 - 4 shown above
13) Find the service called Windows Management Instrumentation, right-click on it, and choose Start. Restarting this service will rebuild the repository folder information.
14) Restart your computer

Once the computer has restarted, open Windows Security Center or run Belarc Advisor. Only your currently installed antivirus and firewall programs should be listed.

Duh!

Not clean! IE starts without a window and points to addresses like :

www.topportion.com/ac.php?aid=216&sid=new
www.networkreferences.cn
www.licensingweb.cn/ac.php?aid=216&sid=new

Fishy indeed!

This is apparently the signs of Rootkit.Win32.TDSS

Removed with:

http://support.kaspersky.com/viruses/solutions?qid=208280684

Now it is clean! (I Hope)

A new article

2009-09-30T08:53:00.001-07:00

Showing of the ease of posting…

        1:  

       2:         /// <summary>

       3:         /// If there is a resource with type Style named as the Style attribute this will be applied to the spawned artifacts control and label

       4:         /// If there is no resource this event will be called

       5:         /// And, third, if the event is not assigned we will do basic h1,h2 and h3 styling

       6:         /// </summary>

       7:         public event EventHandler<OnColumnUIApplyStyleArgs> OnColumnUIApplyStyle;

       8:         public event EventHandler<OnColumnUIOverrideArgs> OnColumnUIOverride;

       9:  

      10:     }

GTP.NET.SL on Channel9

2009-09-26T01:18:00.001-07:00

Take a look at this video where Dan Hickman from Promodel shows off their Army-planning-application in silverlight:

http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/AdamKinney/US-Army-using-Silverlight-for-Resourcing-Troops/

Look at the Gantts, both in winforms and Silverlight – yep PlexityHide.com components. Thanks Dan!

Modlr overview for a real project

2009-09-20T04:18:00.001-07:00

Modlr, Gaffr and ECO5

2009-09-20T02:43:00.001-07:00

I added a diagram overview to Modlr today:

I did this with ECO and WPF using a ListView like so:

   1: _rhRoot = new ReferenceHandle();

   2: _rhRoot.EcoSpace = es;

   3: _ehDiagrams = new ExpressionHandle();

   4: _ehDiagrams.RootHandle = _rhRoot;

   5: _ehDiagrams.Expression = "AbstractDiagram.allinstances->orderby(presentationName)";

   6: _edp = new EcoObjectDataProvider(_ehDiagrams);

7:

   8: ListView.SetBinding(ListView.ItemsSourceProperty, new Binding() { Source = _edp});

In XAML the ListView is defined like this:

   1: <UserControl.Resources>

   2:     <DataTemplate x:Key="OneDiagram">

   3:         <StackPanel>

   4:             <local:ModlrOverviewDiagram></local:ModlrOverviewDiagram>

   5:             <TextBlock Text="{Binding Path=PresentationName}"></TextBlock>

   6:         </StackPanel>

   7:     </DataTemplate>

   8: </UserControl.Resources>

   9: <Grid x:Name="RootGrid" >

  10:     <DockPanel Background="#FFFAFAFA">

  11:         <ListView DockPanel.Dock="Top"  Background="Transparent" x:Name="ListView"  ScrollViewer.HorizontalScrollBarVisibility="Disabled" ItemTemplate="{StaticResource OneDiagram}" MouseDoubleClick="ListView_MouseDoubleClick" PreviewKeyDown="ListView_PreviewKeyDown" SelectionMode="Single" BorderThickness="0">

  12:             <ListView.ItemsPanel>

  13:                 <ItemsPanelTemplate>

  14:                     <WrapPanel  Margin="10,10,10,10" ItemWidth="200" ItemHeight="150" />

  15:                 </ItemsPanelTemplate>

  16:             </ListView.ItemsPanel>

  17:         </ListView>

  18:         <Image  DockPanel.Dock="Bottom"  Source="/Eco.Modlr.ModelEditor;component/Diagrams/logo.png" HorizontalAlignment="Right" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" Stretch="None"></Image>

  19:     </DockPanel>

  20: </Grid>

And as you can see the actual diagram rendering is done by the ModlrOverviewDiagram. And that class looks like this:

       1: public class ModlrOverviewDiagram : Grid

       2: {

       3:     public ModlrOverviewDiagram()

       4:     {

       5:         DataContextChanged += new DependencyPropertyChangedEventHandler(ModlrOverviewDiagram_DataContextChanged);

       6:     }

       7:  

       8:     void ModlrOverviewDiagram_DataContextChanged(object sender, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)

       9:     {

        if (DataContext is IElementProvider)

        {

            AbstractDiagram diag=(DataContext as IElementProvider).Element.GetValue<AbstractDiagram>();

            if (diag != null)

            {

                ModlrDiagramWPF modlrDiagramWPF = new ModlrDiagramWPF();

                modlrDiagramWPF.InitForDiagram(diag, GA.Singleton.GetCurrentEcoSpace() as EcoModelLayerSpace_WithDiagrams);

                modlrDiagramWPF.FixUpForOverviewDisplay(190,120);

                Border b = new Border();

                b.BorderThickness = new Thickness(1);

                b.BorderBrush = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Gray);

                b.CornerRadius = new CornerRadius(15);

                b.Background = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.White);

                b.Child = modlrDiagramWPF;

                b.Width = 190;

                b.Height = 120;

                Children.Add(b);

            }

        }

    }

}

The real diagram rendering is done in the modlrDiagramWPF.InitForDiagram and this is the exact same method that usually renders a Diagram for Modlr:

I love working with ECO! I love working with WPF! There are no limitations at all…

BTW; I am really happy with the blog tools I use now: Windows Live Writer and the Code Snippet plugin from here (At first I thought that there was something wrong the plugin, but the problem was a setting in blogger that Turned all linefeeds into two br’s !)

Windows Live Writer

2009-09-20T02:35:00.001-07:00

Is this the tool for me I wonder? I am testing…

Images:

Debugging plugins

2009-09-13T06:57:00.001-07:00

To debug a plugin in VisualStudio start VisualStudio in your debug:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe

Command line args: /ranu /rootsuffix Exp

All you need to run WPF and ECO

2009-09-07T12:24:00.001-07:00

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Data;
using System.Windows.Documents;
using System.Windows.Input;
using System.Windows.Media;
using System.Windows.Media.Imaging;
using System.Windows.Navigation;
using System.Windows.Shapes;

using Eco.Handles;
using Eco.WPF;
using Eco.ViewModel.Runtime;

namespace wpf1
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Interaction logic for Window1.xaml
    /// </summary>
    public partial class Window1 : Window
    {
        EcoSpace _ecoSpace;
        public Window1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
            _ecoSpace=new EcoProject1.EcoProject1EcoSpace();
            _ecoSpace.Active=true;
            WPFDequeuer.Active = true;
            ViewDefinitionsInApplication.Init(_ecoSpace);
        }
    }
}

and the xaml

    </Window.Resources>
    <Grid ShowGridLines="True">
        <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
            <ColumnDefinition></ColumnDefinition>
            <ColumnDefinition></ColumnDefinition>
        </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
        <Grid.RowDefinitions>
            <RowDefinition></RowDefinition>
            <RowDefinition></RowDefinition>
        </Grid.RowDefinitions>

        </StackPanel>
        <TextBlock Text="Hello World 2" Style="{StaticResource MyStyle}" Height="20" VerticalAlignment="Bottom">
            <Grid.Column>1</Grid.Column>
            <Grid.Row>0</Grid.Row>
        </TextBlock>

<c:ViewModelWPFUserControl Grid.Column="0" Grid.Row="1" x:Name="MyViewModel" EcoSpaceTypeName="EcoProject1.EcoProject1EcoSpace" ViewModelName="Forest"></c:ViewModelWPFUserControl>

</Grid>
</Window>

Remember to register the assemblies to ASP.NET pages

2009-06-09T11:14:00.001-07:00

<%@ Register Assembly="Eco.Web" Namespace="Eco.Web.UI.WebControls" TagPrefix="eco" %>

<eco:EcoDataSource ID="EcoDataSource1" runat="server" EcoSpaceManagerID="ESM"

Expression="self->first" ManualUpdate="False"

PsExpression="Class1.allInstances">

<eco:OclColumn expression="self.Attribute1"

name="Attribute1" typename="n/a"></eco:OclColumn>

</Columns>

</eco:EcoDataSource>

Praise to process monitor

2009-05-30T09:57:00.001-07:00

Process monitor can be found here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx

I had an IIS issue like so many times before. IIS just said stuff like "CS0016 directory name is invalid" on perfectly legitimate directories.

This of course has to do with access rights – IIS needs access to the directory it is writing to (the one called ASP.NET temporary files).

It also needs access to where it reads the files (under c:\inetpub).

AND the temp directory also, the one identified by the variable %temp%...

Having set all these to FULL for the account running my AppPool I still got the error. Needless to say I felt frustrated.

But then I started up Process Monitor, filtered away all activity but "File system activity", Filtered away all processes but W3Wp.exe and csc.exe. Then I tried to reach the page once more and checked the logs and saw where it failed with a "ACCESS DENIED" result.

So I clicked up the failing row in process explorer and saw that csc.exe was not allowed to write files to here: C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\Temp

But why had I not checked that before? Well my not so fast brain did not think of the fact that %temp% is different for the account running IIS than what it is for me, the logged in user. So I had set the access rights on MY %temp% folder and NOT for the folder used by IIS. Easy peasy – thank you process explorer. I sure hope I remember to check my blog for hints next time I get these issues.

Binding eco handles to a WPF combobox

2009-04-15T05:27:00.001-07:00

Take a deep breath; comboboxes are tricky bastards.

The combobox is set up like this:

The ItemSource of the combo is set in code to this:

_classeseh=new ExpressionHandle();

_classeseh.RootHandle=rhSpan;

_classeseh.AddSelfColumn=true;

_classeseh.Expression="Class.allinstances->orderby(x|x.Name)";

The itemsource will be a list of renederedtuples.

The ComboBox context will also be a renderedtuple.

The gotcha is that the renderedtuple from one handle is not equal to a renderedtuple from another handle, so the comparison that will be done when the combo tries to find the current value in the possible values (ItemSource values) must be treated as the objects they are.

SelectedValuePath = The path expression used on each item in the itemSource in order to be a pickable value -> a model object; most likely "self". Make sure you have AddSelfColumn==true in your expressionhandle . Leaving the SelectedValuePath empty will make the binding try to match a renderedtuple from the ItemsSource with the result from SelectedValue and that will NEVER work.

SelectedValue = The property that contains the current value set in the datacontext; this is most likely a singlelink member; you will need to add this to the ExpressionHandle as Column (not nested), give it a name like SelectedXXX or something to distinguish it from the default nesting of XXX if you have it.

WPF Binding

2009-04-15T01:21:00.001-07:00

It seems that I keep forgetting the reasons for why I created the EcoBinding as I did so I better write it down:

The issues with providing an alternative Binding class is mainly:

The ProvideValue method is sealed in BindingBase so you cannot override it
This forces you back to subclass MarkupExtension instead
Stuff like templates and HierarchicalDataTemplate.ItemsSource requires a "BindingBase" and not a MarkupExtension, so you are smoked on those.

What if you created a MarkupExtension that provides the source to the existing binding then? Like this:

The problem with this approach is that the Binding class does not reveal its target (it holds it as a private weak reference), so the OCL-markupextension cannot get to the targets datacontext – and we really need that to create relative expressions.

What about a Converter then?

This way we can let the OCL-markupextension return an IValueConverter. The problem here is that IValueConversion is totally linear; the result of the conversion should change if the result of the subscribed expression changes, but we have no way to make this happen since the binding only listens to the Source.

What about the Path then?

Path wants a PropertyPath class that is sealed.

Master detail and currency handling in wpf

2008-10-09T06:10:00.001-07:00

In wpf there is no CurrencyManager for each binding context like in windows forms. Instead everything you bind is wrapped in a CollectionView and the CollectionView keeps the notion of currency; which item that is currently the current item.

Fine. No problem. BUT in order for your gui controls to actually honor the CollectionView's notion of currency you MUST explicitly tell it to. How? Set IsSynchronizedWithCurrentItem="True"

Like this:

Ok. The other thing that drove me mad was how to, via the Path expression, navigate over a list, getting the current item…

<TextBlock Name="tb22" Text="{Binding Source={StaticResource referenceHandle1},Path=List/Attribute1}"></TextBlock>
…and the trick is the "/" between the collection (List in the example) and the property of the current object (Attribute1 in the sample)

Printing wpf with xps

2008-09-27T14:05:00.001-07:00

I needed to print a Canvas. This is the easiest possible solution (I think?!)

public void Print()

{

// Create the print dialog object and set options

System.Windows.Controls.PrintDialog pDialog = new System.Windows.Controls.PrintDialog();

pDialog.PageRangeSelection = PageRangeSelection.AllPages;

pDialog.UserPageRangeEnabled = true;

// Display the dialog. This returns true if the user presses the Print button.

Nullable<Boolean> print = pDialog.ShowDialog();

if (print == true)

{

pDialog.PrintVisual(CurrentPrintingCanvas(),"Modlr Diagram");

}

WPF visuals on the clipboard

2008-09-27T02:57:00.001-07:00

I had an urgent need to copy diagrams from Modlr to word, or anything really. So I was half expecting to find some easy way to go from a visual to a emf-graphic that I could put on the clipboard.

I had to give up on that since the new idea of graphic vector language is XPS and even if the printing logic in vista easily converts between XPS and EMF it does not seem to be exposed in any ease way to us mortals.

The options was then to use a raster format, like bitmap; and this post describes how to do that:

System.Windows.Controls.Canvas vis = this.CurrentDiagramCanvas();

int Height = (int)vis.DesiredSize.Height;

int Width = (int)vis.DesiredSize.Width;

RenderTargetBitmap bmp = new RenderTargetBitmap(Width, Height, 96, 96, PixelFormats.Pbgra32);

System.Windows.Shapes.Rectangle vRect = new System.Windows.Shapes.Rectangle();

vRect.Width = Width;

vRect.Height = Height;

vRect.Fill = System.Windows.Media.Brushes.White; // Fill it with white; the new bitmap is black, and all your alpha channels will make the end image more or less black

vRect.Arrange(new Rect(0, 0, vRect.Width, vRect.Height));

bmp.Render(vRect);

bmp.Render(vis);

System.Windows.DataObject m_data = new System.Windows.DataObject();

m_data.SetData(System.Windows.DataFormats.Bitmap,bmp, true);

System.Windows.Clipboard.SetDataObject(m_data, true);

OCL if statements (object constraint language)

2008-09-19T14:39:00.001-07:00

For some reason I have a hard time to remember the syntax of ocl if statements.

Using ECO I frequently feel the need for setting up an expression handle to display stuff differently depending on type, like so:

_diagramsExpressionHandle.Columns[0].Name="Name";

_diagramsExpressionHandle.Columns[0].Expression="if self.ocltype=Diagram then self.oclastype(Diagram).Name else 'State:' endif";

Now, at least I will know where to go to find the syntax.

WFC is dirt simple

2008-09-17T11:46:00.001-07:00

I declare my interface:

[ServiceContract(Namespace = "DocumtrCommunication")]

public interface IDocumtrContract

{

[OperationContract]

List<string> ExecuteQueryReturnIDs(string optionalContextId, string query);

[OperationContract]

string IdAndAttributeToString(string id, string attribute);

[OperationContract]

Stream IdAndAttributeToImage(string id, string attribute);

}

And I implement the interface in the server:

namespace TestSysForDocumtr

{

public class Server : IDocumtrContract

{

public static Uri baseAddress = new Uri("net.pipe://localhost/MyPipe3");

#region IDocumtrContract Members

List<string> IDocumtrContract.ExecuteQueryReturnIDs(string optionalContextId, string query)

{

return Form1.ExecuteOCL(optionalContextId,query);

}

string IDocumtrContract.IdAndAttributeToString(string id, string attribute)

{

return Form1.IdToString(id, attribute);

}

Stream IDocumtrContract.IdAndAttributeToImage(string id, string attribute)

{

return null;

}

#endregion

}

I start the server (I commented out the meta data exposure part since I will write my client myself)

ServiceHost selfHost = new ServiceHost(typeof(Server), Server.baseAddress);

selfHost.AddServiceEndpoint(

typeof(IDocumtrContract),

new NetNamedPipeBinding(),

Server.baseAddress);

//ServiceMetadataBehavior smb = new ServiceMetadataBehavior();

//smb.HttpGetEnabled = true;

//smb.HttpGetUrl = new Uri("http://localhost:8001/DocumtrContract");

//selfHost.Description.Behaviors.Add(smb);

selfHost.Open();

And now the client:

public partial class WCFClientImpl : System.ServiceModel.ClientBase<DocumtrCommunication.IDocumtrContract>, DocumtrCommunication.IDocumtrContract

{

public WCFClientImpl(System.ServiceModel.Channels.Binding binding, System.ServiceModel.EndpointAddress remoteAddress) :

base(binding, remoteAddress)

{

}

#region IDocumtrContract Members

public List<string> ExecuteQueryReturnIDs(string optionalContextId,string query)

{

return base.Channel.ExecuteQueryReturnIDs(optionalContextId,query);

}

public string IdAndAttributeToString(string id, string attribute)

{

return base.Channel.IdAndAttributeToString(id, attribute);

}

public Stream IdAndAttributeToImage(string id, string attribute)

{

return base.Channel.IdAndAttributeToImage(id,attribute);

}

#endregion

}

And this is how I call the server from the client:

EndpointAddress endpointAddress = new EndpointAddress("net.pipe://localhost/MyPipe3");

NetNamedPipeBinding binding = new NetNamedPipeBinding();

WCFClientImpl x = new WCFClientImpl(binding,endpointAddress);

List<string> ss=x.ExecuteQueryReturnIDs("","Class1.allinstances");

Done.

Building databound components in wpf

2008-09-16T10:31:00.001-07:00

The concept of dependency properties

public static readonly DependencyProperty IsSpinningProperty =

DependencyProperty.Register(

"IsSpinning", typeof(Boolean),

...

);

public bool IsSpinning

{

get { return (bool)GetValue(IsSpinningProperty); }

set { SetValue(IsSpinningProperty, value); }

}

"The purpose of dependency properties is to provide a way to compute the value of a property based on the value of other inputs."

How to subscribe to a IEnumerable datasource

ItemsSourceProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("ItemsSource", typeof(IEnumerable), typeof(ItemsControl), new PropertyChangedCallback(ItemsControl.ItemsSourceChanged));

Derive from ItemsControl and override the method below to react to changes in the list:

OnItemsChanged(NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs e)

The ItemsControl keep an ItemCollection that is aCollectionView (that can handle sorting and more importantly stays in sync with the ItemSource).

ItemsControl has an event OnItemsChanged that it fires when detecting changes in the datasource. Implement this to do additional stuff, but basically the widgets you keep per item (ie your rows or nodes) are created by the GetContainerForItemOverride method of ItemsControl.

protected override void OnItemsChanged(NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs e)

{

switch (e.Action)

{

case NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Add:

case NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Move:

break;

case NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Remove:

case NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Reset:

if ((this.SelectedItem == null) || this.IsSelectedContainerHookedUp)

{

break;

}

this.SelectFirstItem();

return;

case NotifyCollectionChangedAction.Replace:

{

object selectedItem = this.SelectedItem;

if ((selectedItem == null) || !selectedItem.Equals(e.OldItems[0]))

{

break;

}

this.ChangeSelection(selectedItem, this._selectedContainer, false);

return;

}

default:

throw new NotSupportedException(SR.Get(SRID.UnexpectedCollectionChangeAction, new object[] { e.Action }));

}

The concept of visual templates

[TemplatePart(Name="Normal State", Type=typeof(Storyboard)),

TemplatePart(Name="MouseOver State", Type=typeof(Storyboard)),

TemplatePart(Name="RootElement", Type=typeof(FrameworkElement)),

TemplatePart(Name="Pressed State", Type=typeof(Storyboard)),

TemplatePart(Name="FocusVisualElement", Type=typeof(UIElement)),

TemplatePart(Name="Disabled State", Type=typeof(Storyboard))]

public class Button : ButtonBase

{

// ...

protected override void OnApplyTemplate();

}

You choose yourself what to expose as configurable visual styles. The stuff that you expose is of a known type, like Storyboard. The implementation of this can be replaced by the user.

You follow the pattern of exposing TemplateParts and use them by asking GetTemplateChild.

protected override void OnApplyTemplate()

{

base.OnApplyTemplate();

object templateChild = base.GetTemplateChild("RootElement");

this._elementRoot = templateChild as FrameworkElement;

this._elementFocusVisual = base.GetTemplateChild("FocusVisualElement")as UIElement; if (this._elementRoot != null)

{

this._stateNormal = this._elementRoot.Resources["Normal State"]as Storyboard;

this._stateMouseOver = this._elementRoot.Resources["MouseOver State"]as Storyboard;

this._stateMouseOver = obj5 as Storyboard;

this._statePressed = this._elementRoot.Resources["Pressed State"]as Storyboard;

this._stateDisabled = this._elementRoot.Resources["Disabled State"]as Storyboard;

}

base.UpdateVisualState();

}

DataTemplates

Once you have a control with a widget that is supposed to display something, you do not simply render the data straight up, instead you fill it with a piece of xaml that the user has provided: a DataTemplate. This DataTemplate has most likely Bindings and Paths that should make sense to your widgets datacontext.

And in the case of being a hierarchy like HierarchicalDataTemplate it also has a binding for the sub items.

<Window x:Class="WpfApplication1.Window1"

xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"

xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"

Title="Window1" Height="702" Width="318"

xmlns:src="clr-namespace:WpfApplication1"

xmlns:plex="clr-namespace:PlexityHide.W;assembly=WGrid"

xmlns:system="clr-namespace:System;assembly=mscorlib"

<Window.Resources>

</StackPanel>

</HierarchicalDataTemplate>

</StackPanel>

</HierarchicalDataTemplate>

</StackPanel>

</HierarchicalDataTemplate>

<src:MyTemplateSelector x:Key="myDataTemplateSelector"/>

</Window.Resources>

Your DataTemplates can be chosen by name of the DataTemplate:

Or by type of the object that is in your ItemSource:

Or implement your own TemplateSelector

<src:MyTemplateSelector x:Key="myDataTemplateSelector"/>

public class MyTemplateSelector : DataTemplateSelector

{

public override DataTemplate SelectTemplate(object item, DependencyObject container)

{

/* if (item != null && item is MyData)

{

MyData data = item as MyData;

return MakeTemplate(data.MyName % 2);

}*/

return null;

}

DataTemplate MakeTemplate(int i)

{

XNamespace _xmlns = @"http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation";

XElement templ =

new XElement(_xmlns + "DataTemplate", new XAttribute("xmlns", _xmlns),

new XElement(_xmlns + "StackPanel", new XAttribute("Orientation", "Horizontal"),

new XElement(_xmlns + "TextBlock", new XAttribute("Text", "{Binding Path=MyName, Mode=OneWay}")),

new XElement(_xmlns + "TextBlock", new XAttribute("Text", "{Binding Path=[" + i.ToString() + @"], Mode=OneWay}"))));

DataTemplate dt = (DataTemplate)XamlReader.Load(templ.CreateReader());

return dt;

}

And make your component use it:

<plex:WGrid x:Name="wGrid4" ItemTemplateSelector="{StaticResource myDataTemplateSelector}">

When defining visual styles you do not need to re-invent the wheel; you can base styles on existing styles:

<Page xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
<Page.Resources>
<Style TargetType="{x:Type TextBlock}" x:Key="style">
<Setter Property="Foreground" Value="Red"/>
<Setter Property="FontSize" Value="72"/>
<Setter Property="FontWeight" Value="Bold"/>
</Style>
</Page.Resources>
<ContentPresenter Content="WPF">
<ContentPresenter.Resources>
<Style TargetType="{x:Type TextBlock}" BasedOn="{StaticResource style}"/>
</ContentPresenter.Resources>
</ContentPresenter>
</Page>

Found this good walk thru at msdn:

You use the ItemTemplate to specify the visualization of the data objects. If your ItemsControl is bound to a collection object and you do not provide specific display instructions using a DataTemplate, the resulting UI of each item is a string representation of each object in the underlying collection.

When you set an ItemTemplate on an ItemsControl, the UI is generated as follows (using the ListBox as an example):

During content generation, the ItemsPanel initiates a request for the ItemContainerGenerator to create a container for each data item. For ListBox, the container is a ListBoxItem. The generator calls back into the ItemsControl to prepare the container.

Part of the preparation involves the copying of the ItemTemplate of the ListBox to be the ContentTemplate of the ListBoxItem.

Similar to all ContentControl types, the ControlTemplate of a ListBoxItem contains a ContentPresenter. When the template is applied, it creates a ContentPresenter whose ContentTemplate is bound to the ContentTemplate of the ListBoxItem.

Finally, the ContentPresenter applies that ContentTemplate to itself, and that creates the UI.

If you have more than one DataTemplate defined and you want to supply logic to programmatically choose and apply a DataTemplate, use the ItemTemplateSelector property.

The ItemsControl provides great flexibility for visual customization and provides many styling and templating properties. Use the ItemContainerStyle property or the ItemContainerStyleSelector property to set a style to affect the appearance of the elements that contain the data items. For example, for ListBox, the generated containers are ListBoxItem controls; for ComboBox, they are ComboBoxItem controls. To affect the layout of the items, use the ItemsPanel property. If you are using grouping on your control, you can use the GroupStyle or GroupStyleSelector property.

And this was even better:

Styling and Templating an ItemsControl

Even though the ItemsControl is not the only control type that you can use a DataTemplate with, it is a very common scenario to bind an ItemsControl to a collection. In the What Belongs in a DataTemplate section we discussed that the definition of your DataTemplate should only be concerned with the presentation of data. In order to know when it is not suitable to use a DataTemplate it is important to understand the different style and template properties provided by the ItemsControl. The following example is designed to illustrate the function of each of these properties. The ItemsControl in this example is bound to the same Tasks collection as in the previous example. For demonstration purposes, the styles and templates in this example are all declared inline.

<ItemsControl Margin="10"

ItemsSource="{Binding Source={StaticResource myTodoList}}">

<!--The ItemsControl has no default visual appearance.

Use the Template property to specify a ControlTemplate to define

the appearance of an ItemsControl. The ItemsPresenter uses the specified

ItemsPanelTemplate (see below) to layout the items. If an

ItemsPanelTemplate is not specified, the default is used. (For ItemsControl,

the default is an ItemsPanelTemplate that specifies a StackPanel.-->

<ItemsControl.Template>

</Border>

</ControlTemplate>

</ItemsControl.Template>

<!--Use the ItemsPanel property to specify an ItemsPanelTemplate

that defines the panel that is used to hold the generated items.

In other words, use this property if you want to affect

how the items are laid out.-->

<ItemsControl.ItemsPanel>

</ItemsPanelTemplate>

</ItemsControl.ItemsPanel>

<!--Use the ItemTemplate to set a DataTemplate to define

the visualization of the data objects. This DataTemplate

specifies that each data object appears with the Proriity

and TaskName on top of a silver ellipse.-->

<ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>

<DataTemplate.Resources>

</Style>

</DataTemplate.Resources>

<Grid>

<TextBlock Margin="3,3,3,0"

Text="{Binding Path=Priority}"/>

<TextBlock Margin="3,0,3,7"

Text="{Binding Path=TaskName}"/>

</StackPanel>

</Grid>

</DataTemplate>

</ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>

<!--Use the ItemContainerStyle property to specify the appearance

of the element that contains the data. This ItemContainerStyle

gives each item container a margin and a width. There is also

a trigger that sets a tooltip that shows the description of

the data object when the mouse hovers over the item container.-->

<ItemsControl.ItemContainerStyle>

<Style>

<Style.Triggers>

<Setter Property="Control.ToolTip"

Value="{Binding RelativeSource={x:Static RelativeSource.Self},

Path=Content.Description}"/>

</Trigger>

</Style.Triggers>

</Style>

</ItemsControl.ItemContainerStyle>

</ItemsControl>

The following is a screenshot of the example when it is rendered:

Note that instead of using the

ItemTemplate, you can use the ItemTemplateSelector. Refer to the previous section for an example. Similarly, instead of using the ItemContainerStyle, you have the option to use the ItemContainerStyleSelector.

Two other style-related properties of the ItemsControl that are not shown here are GroupStyle and GroupStyleSelector.

Writing the blog with Word 2007

2008-09-14T11:30:00.001-07:00

Writing the blog in word posed some challenges. One I stumbled upon 2 minutes after I started was that code and xml I pasted in looked like shit.

Maybe there is an easily available workaround that I have not found, but then again, if I cannot find it you might not either.

I researched how to format code and xml in word to get it to look ok in blogger, more precise to keep the indentations in blogger in an earlier post.

So I took on the task to write a plugin that lets you paste in code and xml, select it and then press a button to format it by enclosing it in a table, that in turns hold tables to get the indentations correct.

Of course this has proven to take more time that I would have guessed. Anyone using word as a host for anything will know why… You just cannot trust the application to behave logical. It's more like a crazy horse, you think your friends but then you get kicked in the butt…

Even now as I write this I trying to figure out how to keep this crazy animal sane long enough so that I can do my thing.

private Office.CommandBar AddToolBar()

{

// Create the toolbar

Office.CommandBar toolbar = this.Application.CommandBars.Add(TOOLBAR, MsoBarPosition.msoBarTop, missing, false);

// Add a button to it

Office.CommandBarButton button = (Office.CommandBarButton)

toolbar.Controls.Add(MsoControlType.msoControlButton, missing,

missing, missing, false);

// Set the button's style

button.Style = Office.MsoButtonStyle.msoButtonCaption;

// Set the button's caption

button.Caption = "Code and XML Format for web publish";

button.Click += new _CommandBarButtonEvents_ClickEventHandler(CodeAndXmlFormat);

// Ensure the toolbar is visible, by default it won't be

toolbar.Visible = true;

// Return the newly created toolbar

return toolbar;

}

The active part of the code comes here:

void CodeAndXmlFormat(CommandBarButton Ctrl, ref bool CancelDefault)

{

if (this.Application.Selection.Tables.Count != 0)

{

MessageBox.Show("There are a some tables in the selection, so I cannot do anything for you...");

return;

}

Application.ScreenUpdating=false;

Try

{

List<Paragraph> ps = new List<Paragraph>();

List<int> indents = new List<int>();

bool started=false;

int smallestwidth=int.MaxValue;

// Run thru the selection

foreach (Paragraph p in this.Application.Selection.Paragraphs)

{

if (started || p.Range.Text != "\r") // skip leading empties

{

started=true;

ps.Add(p);

int width = 0;

// count leading spaces and tabs

for (int i = 1; i < p.Range.Characters.Count + 1; i++)

{

string s = p.Range.Characters[i].Text;

if (s == " ")

width++;

else if (s == "\t")

width+=4;

else

break;

}

indents.Add(width);

if (width<smallestwidth)

smallestwidth=width;

}

// Now build the new table

Range r3=Application.Selection.Range.Duplicate;

r3.End++;

r3.Start=r3.End;

object paramMissing2 = Type.Missing;

Table t=r3.Tables.Add(r3,ps.Count+1,1,ref paramMissing2,ref paramMissing2);

for (int i=ps.Count-1;i>=0;i--)

{

Paragraph p=ps[i];

DoOneRowAsSubTable(t.Rows[i + 2], p, indents[i] - smallestwidth/*detuct initial space*/ );

}

// The oldest and best trick in the book when doing word developement; record a macro of what you need to do, then steal the code:

this.Application.Selection.SetRange(t.Range.Start,t.Range.End);

this.Application.Selection.Font.Size = 8;

// Delete old

for (int i = ps.Count - 1; i >= 0; i--)

{

Paragraph p = ps[i];

object numtodel = 1;

p.Range.Delete(ref paramMissing2, ref numtodel);

}

finally

{

Application.ScreenUpdating=true;

}

This code depends on this method that wraps one row in a sub table with two cells that fix up the indentation:

private void DoOneRowAsSubTable(Row row, Paragraph p, int width)

{

object paramMissing2 = Type.Missing;

Table t=row.Cells[1].Range.Tables.Add(row.Cells[1].Range,1,2,ref paramMissing2, ref paramMissing2);

Application.ActiveDocument.UndoClear();

//Application.ScreenRefresh();

float totwidth=t.Rows[1].Cells[1].Width+t.Rows[1].Cells[2].Width;

t.Rows[1].Cells[1].Width=Math.Max(15,width*7);

t.Rows[1].Cells[2].Width = Math.Min(row.Cells[1].Width, totwidth - t.Rows[1].Cells[1].Width);

Range r=p.Range.Duplicate;

// drop leading spaceses

while (r.Characters.Count > 1 && (r.Characters[1].Text == " " || r.Characters[1].Text == "\t"))

{

r.Start+=1;

}

while (r.End > r.Start && (r.Characters[r.Characters.Count].Text == "\r" || r.Characters[r.Characters.Count].Text == "\a"))

{

r.End-=1;

}

if (r.Start<r.End)

{

r.Copy();

t.Rows[1].Cells[2].Range.Paste();

//t.Rows[1].Cells[2].Range.InsertXML(r.WordOpenXML,ref paramMissing2);

}

And that's it. Now I can use Word2007 to post code and xaml. I still need to mark the snippets and push an add in button to wrap in a table. And Yes, the table thing is not optimal in anyway, but it is good enough for me.

To be honest I also made some small changes to the css part of the blogger style sheet. I made the main area wider and also added a style to make table rows 9 pixels high.

table {

line-height:9px;

background-color:#eeeeee;

}

#main-wrapper {

width: 660px;

float: $startSide;

word-wrap: break-word; /* fix for long text breaking sidebar float in IE */

overflow: hidden; /* fix for long non-text content breaking IE sidebar float */

}

Test from w2007

2008-09-13T10:06:00.001-07:00

I have tried to blog before but man I have a hard time with this crappy editors you are supposed to use. I always want to paste code, xaml, xml and images and stuff and let's face it – it takes some work.

So now I am looking into if I can use word 2007 to reduce my stress…

So I wonder if I can post code:

public class EcoLocalTimes
{
- public static IList<EcoProject1.Model.EcoLocalTime> GetData(string s)
- {
  - if (Window1.ecoSpace==null)
    - return null;
  - return Window1.ecoSpace.Ocl.Evaluate(s).GetAsIList<EcoProject1.Model.EcoLocalTime>();
- }
}

And if I can post xml

<ObjectDataProvider x:Key="ecolocalTimes" ObjectType="{x:Type src:EcoLocalTimes}" MethodName="GetData">
- <ObjectDataProvider.MethodParameters>
  - <system:String>EcoLocalTime.allinstances</system:String>
- </ObjectDataProvider.MethodParameters>
</ObjectDataProvider>

Seriously I just want to be able post my stuff without spending time trying to make them look ok.

To get the code and xml to intend correctly I made them as bullet lists; hence all the leading bullets. But that was not enough, I also changed the paragraph format by setting the "Don't add space between paragraphs of the same style" option.

Googling lead me to this page http://www.blooberry.com/indexdot/html/topics/indent.htm with a good compilation of my options. The page explains about the <pre> tag that supposedly should instruct the browsers display the spaces I have instead of collapsing them to one.

Great! Now I need to get the word2007 blog post – poster to use the <pre> tag around my code and xml…

Googling gave me this hit : http://codebetter.com/blogs/peter.van.ooijen/archive/2007/03/02/Formatting-source-code-in-a-blog-post-.aspx Looks like I am not alone in this… Too bad the post did not offer any solution, just sympathy.

Lets try with non breaking spaces ($160, or ctrl-shift-space)

<ObjectDataProvider.MethodParameters>

<system:String>EcoLocalTime.allinstances</system:String>

</ObjectDataProvider.MethodParameters>

</ObjectDataProvider>

Man – crap…Lets follow up with the setting to not add space between paras:

        <ObjectDataProvider x:Key="ecolocalTimes" ObjectType="{x:Type src:EcoLocalTimes}"  MethodName="GetData">

                <ObjectDataProvider.MethodParameters>

                        <system:String>EcoLocalTime.allinstances</system:String>

                </ObjectDataProvider.MethodParameters>

        </ObjectDataProvider>

Oh crap this is getting worse…

Testing a new approach; creating a new style

Does it keep rows together?

And to indent I was thinking setting the indention level

Is this working; this line and the line before is 1 in

This is 2 in

CRAP CRAP CRAP. The rows are not held together at all… Is it only lists that will do this for me?

Test level1
1. Test level2
  1. Test level3

Looks like it. Then I have a plan; write a word plugin to convert marked intended text to list-levels, and remove the silly leading list symbol… I better try to make sure that the chosen list symbol really travels to html…

Test level1
1. Test level2
  1. Test level3

That didn't go well at all. The numbers are hidden in word, but I see them in html… What about tables? Have not tried that yet:

<ObjectDataProvider x:Key="ecolocalTimes" ObjectType="{x:Type src:EcoLocalTimes}" MethodName="GetData">
	<ObjectDataProvider.MethodParameters>
		<system:String>EcoLocalTime.allinstances</system:String>
		</ObjectDataProvider.MethodParameters>
</ObjectDataProvider>

Incredible – this is amazingly difficult.

What about a combination; non breaking spaces and table -> table to control row height and non breaking spaces to fix indentation.

<ObjectDataProvider.MethodParameters>

<system:String>EcoLocalTime.allinstances</system:String>

</ObjectDataProvider.MethodParameters>

</ObjectDataProvider>

Of course, we now have the problems of row breaks not getting the indentation. I still think that the tables might be our best bet, but the cell merging did not work out. Let's try tables inside each cell.

Here I tried with tables in tables, but when pressing Publish word crashes.

So trying ever so slowly:

1	2
3	4

1	2
3	4

If I leave out this line word crash on publish

1	2
3	4

1	2
3	4

1	2
3	4

1	2
3	4

I must have this dummy to avoid the crash?

<ObjectDataProvider.MethodParameters>

<system:String>EcoLocalTime.allinstances</system:String>

</ObjectDataProvider.MethodParameters>

</ObjectDataProvider>

Now we are getting somewhere!

<ObjectDataProvider.MethodParameters>

<system:String>EcoLocalTime.allinstances</system:String>

</ObjectDataProvider.MethodParameters>

</ObjectDataProvider>

So NOW at least I have a plan. Write a word plugin that takes the selected paragraphs; wrap each row in a table with two columns, where the first has the width of the indentation. Then wrap all those one line tables in a one column table and apply a style to it… Sounds doable…

Next post is about writing that plugin I guess…

WPF & ECO

2008-09-13T09:12:00.000-07:00

This was the post I tried to do when finding out that I could not do it from inside word 2007. So it was never finished. I'll be back on this topic soon though. The ObjectDataProvider lets you get any data. Try this: Testing how to write to blogger EcoLocalTime.allinstances And some code public class EcoLocalTimes { public static IList GetData(string s) { if (Window1.ecoSpace==null) return null; return Window1.ecoSpace.Ocl.Evaluate(s).GetAsIList(); //return null; } } EcoLocalTime.allinstances And the the implementation for the GetData method: public class EcoLocalTimes { public static IList GetData(string s) { if (Window1.ecoSpace==null) return null; return Window1.ecoSpace.Ocl.Evaluate(s).GetAsIList(); } } Then a ListBox to show the data in: And the DataTemplate for the items looks like this: This way I could define the ocl in xaml...