WPF UserControl Designer Problem with Strech

visual-studio-2008wpf

I have a WPF UserControl (Foo.xaml) that should be displayed streched (VerticalAlignment="Stretch" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch") on a window.

If I don't specify Width/Height on the UserControl it will be displayed as intended at runtime. Unfortunately the VS WPF designer will not show the control correctly if I open Foo.xaml (size may be 0x0 depending on the child controls).
If I specify a size on the UserControl the designer will work correctly with Foo.xaml but then it won't strech at runtime.

How can I fix this so that it works at design and runtime?

Best Answer

It sounds like your UserControl is only useful if it is a certain minimum size. If so, set the MinWidth and MinHeight properties.

Related Solutions

WPF UserControl Design Time Size

For Blend, a little known trick is to add these attributes to your usercontrol or window:

 xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008" 
      xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" 
mc:Ignorable="d"
       d:DesignHeight="500" d:DesignWidth="600"

This will set the design height and width to 500 and 600 respectively. However this will only work for the blend designer. Not the Visual Studio Designer.

As far as the Visual Studio Designer your technique is all that works. Which is why I don't use the Visual Studio Designer. ;)

Wpf – HorizontalAlignment=Stretch, MaxWidth, and Left aligned at the same time

You can set HorizontalAlignment to Left, set your MaxWidth and then bind Width to the ActualWidth of the parent element:

<Page
  xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
  xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
  <StackPanel Name="Container">   
    <TextBox Background="Azure" 
    Width="{Binding ElementName=Container,Path=ActualWidth}"
    Text="Hello" HorizontalAlignment="Left" MaxWidth="200" />
  </StackPanel>
</Page>

Best Answer

Related Solutions

WPF UserControl Design Time Size

Wpf – HorizontalAlignment=Stretch, MaxWidth, and Left aligned at the same time

Related Topic