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WPF Control Factory

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20 Apr 2010CPOL6 min read 37.5K   418   16  
This article explains some advantages and disadvantages of factories, and shows one to use for generating WPF Controls.
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using Pfz.DataTypes;

namespace Pfz.WpfControls
{
	/// <summary>
	/// Control used to put a label on the top-left of another data-control.
	/// </summary>
	public class LabellerControl:
		UserControl,
		IValueControl,
		IHasDisplayName
	{
		internal IValueControl fControl;
		private Label fLabel;
		
		/// <summary>
		/// Creates a new instance of the labeller control using the given
		/// base control and the given displayName/label.
		/// </summary>
		public LabellerControl(UIElement controlToLabel, string displayName)
		{
			fControl = (IValueControl)controlToLabel;
			
			var panel = new StackPanel();
			var children = panel.Children;
		
			Label labelControl = new Label();
			labelControl.Content = displayName;
			children.Add(labelControl);
			children.Add(controlToLabel);
			fLabel = labelControl;
			
			Content = panel;
		}
	
		/// <summary>
		/// Gets the label of this labeller control.
		/// </summary>
		public string DisplayName
		{
			get
			{
				return (string)fLabel.Content;
			}
			set
			{
				fLabel.Content = value;
			}
		}

		#region IDataControl Members
			/// <summary>
			/// Clears the contents of the inner control.
			/// </summary>
			public void Clear()
			{
				fControl.Clear();
			}
			
			/// <summary>
			/// Gets or sets a value indicating if the inner control is/should be
			/// read-only.
			/// </summary>
			public bool IsReadOnly
			{
				get
				{
					return fControl.IsReadOnly;
				}
				set
				{
					fControl.IsReadOnly = value;
				}
			}
		#endregion
		#region IValueContainer Members
			/// <summary>
			/// Gets the untyped value of the inner control.
			/// </summary>
			public object Value
			{
				get
				{
					return fControl.Value;
				}
				set
				{
					fControl.Value = value;
				}
			}
		#endregion
	}
	
	/// <summary>
	/// This is a control that put's a label on top-left of another control and
	/// also supports the typed-version of the Value property.
	/// </summary>
	/// <typeparam name="T">The type of the Value property.</typeparam>
	public class LabellerControl<T>:
		LabellerControl,
		IValueContainer<T>
	{
		private IValueContainer<T> fTypedControl;
		
		/// <summary>
		/// Creates the control over another one.
		/// </summary>
		public LabellerControl(UIElement control, string displayName):
			base(control, displayName)
		{
			fTypedControl = (IValueContainer<T>)control;
		}
		
		/// <summary>
		/// Gets or sets the value with the right data-type.
		/// </summary>
		public new T Value
		{
			get
			{
				return fTypedControl.Value;
			}
			set
			{
				fTypedControl.Value = value;
			}
		}
	}
}

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License

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


Written By
Software Developer (Senior) Microsoft
United States United States
I started to program computers when I was 11 years old, as a hobbyist, programming in AMOS Basic and Blitz Basic for Amiga.
At 12 I had my first try with assembler, but it was too difficult at the time. Then, in the same year, I learned C and, after learning C, I was finally able to learn assembler (for Motorola 680x0).
Not sure, but probably between 12 and 13, I started to learn C++. I always programmed "in an object oriented way", but using function pointers instead of virtual methods.

At 15 I started to learn Pascal at school and to use Delphi. At 16 I started my first internship (using Delphi). At 18 I started to work professionally using C++ and since then I've developed my programming skills as a professional developer in C++ and C#, generally creating libraries that help other developers do their work easier, faster and with less errors.

Want more info or simply want to contact me?
Take a look at: http://paulozemek.azurewebsites.net/
Or e-mail me at: paulozemek@outlook.com

Codeproject MVP 2012, 2015 & 2016
Microsoft MVP 2013-2014 (in October 2014 I started working at Microsoft, so I can't be a Microsoft MVP anymore).

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