How to Create a WPF User Control & Use It in a WPF Application ( C# )

• Download demo - 8.66 KB
• Download demo's source - 37.57 KB
• Download custom ToolTip (User Control Project) - 49.7 KB

Introduction

This article shows you how we can create a User Control in WPF and how we can use it in our WPF applications. In this article, I'll show you how we can create a custom ToolTip in WPF with VS2008 SP1 & C#.

Background

There are similar articles like this, for example, see this article that was written by Sacha Barber.

Using the Code

There we go. First we should create a User Control. Thus we have to select WPF User Control Library Project.

Now, we can create or edit the XAML code for creating a custom user control. I've used this XAML code for a custom tooltip. It's up to you what you want.

<UserControl 
    Name="UserControlToolTip"
    x:Class="CustomToolTip.UserControl1"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008" 
    xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" 
    mc:Ignorable="d" RenderTransformOrigin="0,0" HorizontalAlignment="Left" 
	VerticalAlignment="Top" >
    
    <UserControl.RenderTransform>
        <TransformGroup>
            <ScaleTransform ScaleX="1" ScaleY="1"/>
            <SkewTransform AngleX="0" AngleY="0"/>
            <RotateTransform Angle="0"/>
            <TranslateTransform x:Name="UserControlToolTipXY" X="0" Y="0"/>
        </TransformGroup>
    </UserControl.RenderTransform>
    
    <Grid HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center" 
	MinWidth="200" MinHeight="120">
    	<Grid.RowDefinitions>
    		<RowDefinition Height="0.333*"/>
    		<RowDefinition Height="0.667*"/>
    	</Grid.RowDefinitions>
        <Rectangle Fill="#FFFBFBFB" Stroke="#FF000000" RadiusX="10" RadiusY="10"
        	 RenderTransformOrigin="0.139,0.012" StrokeThickness="1" Grid.RowSpan="2">
            <Rectangle.BitmapEffect>
                <DropShadowBitmapEffect Opacity="0.8"/>
            </Rectangle.BitmapEffect>
        </Rectangle>
        <Rectangle RadiusX="10" RadiusY="10" RenderTransformOrigin="0.139,0.012" 
        	StrokeThickness="10" Stroke="{x:Null}" 
	Margin="1,1,1,1" Grid.Row="0" Grid.RowSpan="2">
        	<Rectangle.Fill>
        		<LinearGradientBrush EndPoint="0.5,1" StartPoint="0.5,0.725">
        			<GradientStop Color="#00E6D9AA" Offset="0.487"/>
        			<GradientStop Color="#FFE6D9AA" Offset="0.996"/>
        		</LinearGradientBrush>
        	</Rectangle.Fill>
        </Rectangle>
        <Rectangle RadiusX="10" RadiusY="10" RenderTransformOrigin="0.493,0.485" 
        	StrokeThickness="10" Stroke="{x:Null}" Grid.RowSpan="2" Margin="1,1,1,1">
        	<Rectangle.Fill>
        		<LinearGradientBrush EndPoint="0.014,0.5" StartPoint="0.211,0.5">
        			<GradientStop Color="#00E6D9AA" Offset="0.513"/>
        			<GradientStop Color="#FFE6D9AA" Offset="0.996"/>
        		</LinearGradientBrush>
        	</Rectangle.Fill>
        </Rectangle>
        <Rectangle RadiusX="10" RadiusY="10" RenderTransformOrigin="0.493,0.485" 
        	StrokeThickness="10" Stroke="{x:Null}" Grid.RowSpan="2" Margin="1,1,1,1">
        	<Rectangle.Fill>
        		<LinearGradientBrush EndPoint="0.493,0.002" StartPoint="0.493,0.33">
        			<GradientStop Color="#00E6D9AA" Offset="0.513"/>
        			<GradientStop Color="#FFE6D9AA" Offset="0.996"/>
        		</LinearGradientBrush>
        	</Rectangle.Fill>
        </Rectangle>
        <Rectangle RadiusX="10" RadiusY="10" RenderTransformOrigin="0.493,0.485" 
        	StrokeThickness="10" Stroke="{x:Null}" Grid.RowSpan="2" Margin="1,1,1,1">
        	<Rectangle.Fill>
        		<LinearGradientBrush EndPoint="0.99,0.441" StartPoint="0.794,0.441">
        			<GradientStop Color="#00E6D9AA" Offset="0.513"/>
        			<GradientStop Color="#FFE6D9AA" Offset="0.996"/>
        		</LinearGradientBrush>
        	</Rectangle.Fill>
        </Rectangle>
        <TextBlock Text="TextBlock" TextWrapping="Wrap" x:Name="TextBlockToolTip" 
        	RenderTransformOrigin="0.5,0.5" Grid.Row="1" HorizontalAlignment="Left" 
            	VerticalAlignment="Center" Margin="20,0,0,20" />
        <TextBlock Name="ToolTipTitle" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" Margin="15,16,15,6.1" 
        	FontSize="14" Text="title" d:LayoutOverrides="Height" />
    </Grid>
</UserControl>

Also, I've added these methods and properties for controlling the elements:

namespace CustomToolTip
{
    public partial class UserControl1 : UserControl
    {
        public UserControl1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        public double UserControlToolTipX
        {
            get { return this.UserControlToolTipXY.X; }
            set { this.UserControlToolTipXY.X = value; }
        }

        public double UserControlToolTipY
        {
            get { return this.UserControlToolTipXY.Y; }
            set { this.UserControlToolTipXY.Y = value; }
        }

        public string UserControlTextBlockToolTip
        {
            get { return TextBlockToolTip.Text; }
            set { TextBlockToolTip.Text = value; }
        }

        public string UserControlToolTipTitle
        {
            get { return ToolTipTitle.Text; }
            set { ToolTipTitle.Text = value; }
        }
    }
}

After that, press Shift + F6 for building the DLL file. Now we can create a WPF application and use our custom user control in it. Thus, we should choose a WPF Application Project.

Then, we have to add our User Control DLL file in the references.

We are going to use the custom User Control within a XAML window. So we have to add an extra XAML code. We have to add the following line within Window element:

At last, we must have a Window tag in our XAML code like this:

<Window x:Class="WpfApplication1.Window1"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    xmlns:myToolTip="clr-namespace:CustomToolTip;assembly=CustomToolTip"
    Title="Window1" Height="600" Width="800">
</Window>

OK, now we can use the User Control in the XAML code with XAML code like this:

At last, I've created this XAML code:

<Window x:Class="WpfApplication1.Window1"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    xmlns:myToolTip="clr-namespace:CustomToolTip;assembly=CustomToolTip"
    Title="Window1" Height="600" Width="800">
    <Grid x:Name="rootGrid" RenderTransformOrigin="0.5,0.5">
    	<Grid.RenderTransform>
    		<TransformGroup>
    			<ScaleTransform ScaleX="1" ScaleY="1"/>
    			<SkewTransform AngleX="0" AngleY="0"/>
    			<RotateTransform Angle="0"/>
    			<TranslateTransform x:Name="rootGridXY" X="0" Y="0"/>
    		</TransformGroup>
    	</Grid.RenderTransform>
        <Rectangle Margin="26,34,496,374" Name="rectangle1" Stroke="Black" 
                   Fill="Coral" MouseLeave="rectangle_MouseLeave" 
		MouseMove="rectangle_MouseMove" />
        <Rectangle Fill="Lavender" Margin="537,29,53,376" Name="rectangle2" 
                   Stroke="Black" MouseMove="rectangle_MouseMove" 
		MouseLeave="rectangle_MouseLeave" />
        <Rectangle Fill="Peru" Margin="192,391,186,37.995" Name="rectangle3" 
                   Stroke="Black" MouseMove="rectangle_MouseMove" 
		MouseLeave="rectangle_MouseLeave" />
        <myToolTip:UserControl1 UserControlTextBlockToolTip="Some texts" 
                                UserControlToolTipTitle="Title" 
                                Visibility="Hidden" 
                                x:Name="customToolTip" />
    </Grid>
</Window>

And these are the methods for showing or hiding our custom ToolTip:

namespace WpfApplication1
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Interaction logic for Window1.xaml
    /// </summary>
    public partial class Window1 : Window
    {
        public Window1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        private void rectangle_MouseLeave(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
        {
            state = true;
            customToolTip.Visibility = Visibility.Hidden;
        }

        bool state = true;
        Random rand = new Random(DateTime.Now.Millisecond);

        private void rectangle_MouseMove(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
        {
            if (state)
            {
                customToolTip.Visibility = Visibility.Visible;
                customToolTip.UserControlToolTipTitle = 
			(sender as Rectangle).Name.ToUpperInvariant();
                customToolTip.UserControlTextBlockToolTip = "";
                for (int i = 0; i < rand.Next(1, 30); i++)
                    customToolTip.UserControlTextBlockToolTip += (sender as Rectangle).Name 
                    	+ "\t" + i.ToString() + "\n";
            }
            customToolTip.UserControlToolTipX = Mouse.GetPosition(this).X + 10;
            customToolTip.UserControlToolTipY = Mouse.GetPosition(this).Y + 10;
            state = false;
        }
    }
}

That's all.

History

• First post: 24^th of January, 2009

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)