DrawingVisual is not refreshed

I create my own FrameworkElement and override VisualChildrenCount{get;} and GetVisualChild(int index) by returning my own DrawingVisual instance.

If I modify the content of the visual after initial rendering (e.g. in timer handler) using DrawingVisual.RenderOpen() and drawing into the context, the element is not refreshed.

Here's the simplest sample:

using System;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Media;
using System.Windows.Threading;

namespace VisualTest
{
    public class TestControl : FrameworkElement
    {
        private readonly DrawingVisual _visual = new DrawingVisual();

        public TestControl()
        {
            Draw(false);

            var timer = new DispatcherTimer {Interval = new TimeSpan(0, 0, 2)};
            timer.Tick += (sender, args) =>
                              {
                                  Draw(true);
                                  InvalidateVisual();
                                  timer.Stop();
                              };
            timer.Start();
        }

        protected override Visual GetVisualChild(int index)
        {
            return _visual;
        }

        protected override int VisualChildrenCount
        {
            get { return 1; }
        }

        private void Draw(bool second)
        {
            DrawingContext ctx = _visual.RenderOpen();
            if (!second)
                ctx.DrawRoundedRectangle(Brushes.Green, null, new Rect(0, 0, 200, 200), 20, 20);
            else
                ctx.DrawEllipse(Brushes.Red, null, new Point(100, 100), 100, 100);
            ctx.Close();
        }
    }
}

InvalidateVisual() does nothing. Although if you resize the window containing the element, it gets updated.

Any ideas on how to properly refresh the content? Preferably with开发者_JAVA百科out introducing new dependency properties for my element.

---

Add

this.AddVisualChild(_visual);
this.AddLogicalChild(_visual);

to TestControl class constructor.

---

Based on SMART_n's answer, here is an improved solution that doesn't leak memory:

    public TestControl()
    {
        Loaded += AddVisualToTree;
        Unloaded += RemoveVisualFromTree;

        Draw(false);

        var timer = new DispatcherTimer {Interval = new TimeSpan(0, 0, 2)};
        timer.Tick += (sender, args) =>
                          {
                              Draw(true);
                              InvalidateVisual();
                              timer.Stop();
                          };
        timer.Start();

    }

    private void AddVisualToTree(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        AddVisualChild(_visual);
        AddLogicalChild(_visual);
    }

    private void RemoveVisualFromTree(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        RemoveLogicalChild(_visual);
        RemoveVisualChild(_visual);
    }

---

If you make _visual a DrawingGroup, you can re-open it later and change it's drawing commands, and they will be updated.