WPF Control Manipulation

I need to dynamically add the controls to a window. For example for a comboBox, I need to map with the Custom Framework which will map the Lookup to that comboBox...

So whenever the combobox is mapped with lookup, I need to Add a (+) Button to the right side of the comboBox.. This (+) button is used to open a respective lookup form to add an item to the comboBox.

For that I need to do the following..

1. In Mapper I need to create instance for Button Label with (+),
2. I need to create a Panel., ie., Container for holding both the Controls (ComboBox,Button)
3. For replacing Combobox with that created panel, I need to remove the Combobox from the Paren开发者_如何学Pythont of Combobox and add panel to that control.

How can we do this in WPF? ie. dynamically replacing controls in Code behind.

Thanks in advance, Dinesh

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I would suggest using MVVM pattern with separation of View and ViewModel. To solve your issue you can use DataTemplates along with a DataTemplateSelector. Basically you should prepare different Data templates and depends on internal state of applicaiton / a particular ViewModel switch Views (XAML layouts).

1) Define all templates in resources:

   <!-- namespace where GridView .xaml and ChartView .xaml are -->           
   xmlns:views="clr-namespace:Gui.Views"
   ...

   <DataTemplate x:Key="GridDataTemplate">
        <views:GridView />
    </DataTemplate>
    <DataTemplate x:Key="ChartDataTemplate">
        <views:ChartView />
    </DataTemplate>

2) Specify selector in Control's presenter:

<Control....
    <ContentPresenter 
       ContentTemplateSelector="{StaticResource YourDataTemplateSelector}" />

3) Define selector in View's code behind:

 private sealed class YourDataTemplateSelector: DataTemplateSelector
 {            
      public override DataTemplate SelectTemplate(
                                      object item, 
                                      DependencyObject container)
        {
            DataTemplate dataTemplate = null;
            IViewModel viewModel = item as IViewModel;
            if (viewModel.ViewType == Grid)
            {
               dataTemplate = this.Resources["GridDataTemplate"];
            }

            // ...
            return dataTemplate;                
        }
 }

EDIT: Dynamically build controls

• You can use VisualTreeHelper.GetChild() to traverse controls tree, find children controls, check whether they are of specific type and then remove/update
• You can reffer parent control by control.Parent property
• You can remove any child control using (parent as Panel).Children.Remove()
• You can add control using (parent as Panel).Children.Add()

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You could use ContentControls? They give you ability to dynamically host any control based on user actions. ContentControls are like visual placeholders.

http://www.japf.fr/2009/03/thinking-with-mvvm-data-templates-contentcontrol/

You can always use Triggers to replace content os a content control dynamcially...

    <StackPanel>
        <TextBlock Text="{Binding Name}" />
        <ContentControl Content="{Binding}">
           <ContentControl.Style>
             <Style>
               <Setter ContentTemplate="{StaticResource EmployeeTemplate}" />
               <Style.Triggers>
                  <DataTrigger Binding="{Binding IsManager}"
                               Value="True">
                       <Setter ContentTemplate="{StaticResource ManagerTemplate}" />
                   </DataTrigger>
                </Style.Triggers>
            </Style>
          </ContentControl.Style>
        </ContentControl>
   </StackPanel>

So based on if the bound Employee object has IsManager=true a new template is dipslayed under the stack panel for the manager employee..