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RadWindow as MainWindow

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Window

This is a migrated thread and some comments may be shown as answers.

Narendra asked on 16 Nov 2011, 06:03 AM

After reading numerous solutions on this forum and the inability to use RadWindow as a regular window, I started experimenting with RadWindow and was able to consolidate some of the solutions in this forum and create a simple example which will enable RadWindow to be used as any other window. Following code example is self explanatory and should give you a starting point.

public partial class MainWindow : RadWindow

{

public MainWindow()

{

InitializeComponent();

RadWindowHelper windowHelper = new RadWindowHelper();

windowHelper.TaskBarDisplayed += new EventHandler(windowHelper_TaskBarDisplayed);

windowHelper.ShowWindowInTaskBar();

}

void windowHelper_TaskBarDisplayed(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

this.Show();

this.WindowState = WindowState.Maximized;

this.BringToFront();

var window = this.ParentOfType<Window>();

window.ShowInTaskbar = true;

window.Title = "My RadWindow";

}

public class RadWindowHelper

{

public event EventHandler TaskBarDisplayed;

public void ShowWindowInTaskBar()

{

if (this.TaskBarDisplayed != null)

this.TaskBarDisplayed(this, new EventArgs());

}

36 Answers, 1 is accepted

answered on 24 Mar 2012, 01:15 PM

Hi!

I'm getting the same error as mangesh.
I followed by KB's article, but can't make my RadWindow to work. I rewrite MainWindow to be RadWindow and I'm getting an error.

====== EDIT ======
I found the problem - I had specify StartupUri in App.xaml. After delete it, everything works fine.

My question is - I have welcome window (simple window.xaml). After few seconds of show it, I have:

void FadeOutAnim_Completed(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

MainWindow main = new MainWindow();

main.Show();

this.Close();

}

So I don't have "base.OnStartup(e);" - it's OK? I won't have any problems in future?

answered on 27 Jul 2012, 11:06 PM

HI,

I've used a much smaller competitor's controls happily for a number of years until I recently had a need they couldn't fill. I now use Telerik's controls alongside these other controls and have been very pleased with the Telerik's offerings...with one important exception, as highlighted in this thread.

Like most developers, I desire to be able to style all my windows similarly. This includes the Main Window. As stated by Mike in his post "why should someone use a RadWindow when he can't use the same style on the MainWindow". This is basic stuff. The competitor offers a RibbonWindow that can easily be used outside of the ribbon as a direct replacement for the WPF Window. I can indicate a particular style/theme for my MainWindow, as well as other child windows as a simple drop-in for the WPF Window control.

In this thread, Narendra offers some solid code for overcoming Jean Ressouche's objection about not being able to view the window in the taskbar. My need for a Closing event was simply solved by grabbing RabWindow's parent Window control. After all of this, however, when the user hovers over the taskbar icon, instead of the window temporarily displaying, a small minimized nib shows in place of the RadWindow. This was the (last) show-stopper.

In one of my current projects, I have to and am glad to use *only* Telerik controls, but on this issue, I am out of solutions and workarounds and am taking an additional 30 minutes (in addition to the three hours I've wasted trying to come up with a workable solution) to ask you guys to seriously re-consider a real alternative to this issue. You have smart people and lead the market. Please provide a solid solution to developers who desire a WPF Window replacement that is theme-aware (like RadWindow) that can be used for the Main Window of a WPF application, display in the taskbar, have a Closing event and display the actual window when the user hovers over the taskbar popup for this application.

Thanks very much,

Chris A

answered on 01 Aug 2012, 01:07 PM

Hello Chris,

Actually there is already a way to show RadWindow in the TaskBar - just set RadWindowInteropHelper.ShowInTaskbar property:

<telerik:RadWindow x:Class="RadWindowAsMainWindow.MainWindow"

xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"

xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"

xmlns:telerik="http://schemas.telerik.com/2008/xaml/presentation"

xmlns:navigation="clr-namespace:Telerik.Windows.Controls.Navigation;assembly=Telerik.Windows.Controls.Navigation"

navigation:RadWindowInteropHelper.ShowInTaskbar="True"

Header="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525">

<Grid>

...

</Grid>

</telerik:RadWindow>

Note that this will work in the latest versions of RadControls.

Regards,
Yana
the Telerik team

Explore the entire Telerik portfolio by downloading Telerik DevCraft Ultimate.

answered on 06 Aug 2012, 12:19 AM

RadWindow-AppFullSize.png

RadWindow-AppMinimized.png

Hi Yana,

Thanks for the response. While I successfully incorporated the RadWindowInteropHelper.ShowInTaskBar into my code, I'm afraid it left me in the same state as before. Recall that I mentioned that Narendra provided a solution to the "not able to show in the Task Bar" problem.

While your solution is easy and shorter, it didn't address the biggest issue. In my previous post, I said " After all of this, however, when the user hovers over the taskbar icon, instead of the window temporarily displaying, a small minimized nib shows in place of the RadWindow. This was the (last) show-stopper".

I've attached two screenshots that, hopefully, will make the problem more clear.

The first screenshot (radwindow_appfullsize.png) shows the use of a RadWindow as the MainWindow (per the code offered by others in this post), that employs the RadWindowInteropHelper.ShowInTaskBar code you mentioned. As you can see, the RadWindow indeed displays as the Main Window and shows up in the TaskBar.

The second screenshot (radwindow_appminimized.png) displays what happens when the app is minimized. It still shows up in the TaskBar. However, when you hover over the TaskBar, two problems occur:
    1) Instead of displaying a thumbnail view of the app in the small popup windows that appears when one hovers over a TaskBar item, the thumbnail displays only the upper left nib of the actual window.
    2) The problem in 1) above occurs because all that is displayed when one hovers over the thumbnail is the upper left of the app.

This problem highlights the fact that the basic behavior of a RadWindow when minimized is to reduce itself to a small nib.

And all of this goes back to the main point of my last post; that Telerik needs to provide a true replacement for the MainWindow that matches the RadWindow chrome. Again, as has been said by others, why would I want to use a RadWindow for every window in my app except the Main Window?

If you can provide a solution to this issue, I can get by with all of the other workarounds supplied in this post to achieve my objective of having the same window chrome for all my windows (especially MainWindow). Otherwise, I will have to forego the use of RadWindow anywhere in my app.

Thanks in advance for your response,

Chris A

answered on 08 Aug 2012, 05:28 AM

Hi, we recently bought telerik controls, and started replacing all third party ones with telerik ones. But we incorporated with the same problem, we cannot use radwindow if it causes issue as main window. And workarounds for using rad window have no sense. We won't spend time to create workarounds on working project now. We would like simply replace our window base class (used as custom window, with all theming and actions) with telerik window. But until this will be possible we cannot. I hope telerik will create solution quite soon.

answered on 09 Aug 2012, 10:41 AM

RadWindowTaskbar.png

Hello,

Actually we have tried to provide a simpler way to use RadWindow as MainWindow by creating RadWindowInteropHelper. If there are some issues with it or its properties (as ShowInTaskbar) we need to reproduce them at our side first and then provide a fix.

I've tested again the project, but wasn't able to reproduce the issue with the thumbnail view, please check the attached screenshot for a reference. I've noticed that you are using Windows 8 Release Preview, is it possible for you to check this in Windows 7 as well? We also tested Windows 8 Developer Preview. but still did not manage to observe the problem. Any additional information you could provide on this issue will be of great help.

Looking forward to your reply.

All the best,
Yana
the Telerik team

Explore the entire Telerik portfolio by downloading Telerik DevCraft Ultimate.

answered on 12 Aug 2012, 07:21 PM

Hi Yana,

Thanks for the response. I'm afraid I'm not easily able to test this on Windows 7. However, how about if you simply post the code (or the entire solution in a ZIP file) you used to display the screenshot you attached to your last email and let me try it? Also, you've mentioned the RadWindowInteropHelper a couple of times. Might you also be able to provide a link that describes what problems this helper is intended to overcome and how to use it? While I've used it to implement the TaskBar display, it seems like it would be helpful for me to know its full capability.

Sincerely,

Chris A

answered on 14 Aug 2012, 09:02 AM

RadWindowAsMainWindow.zip

Hello Chris,

I have attached the test project, please download it and give it a try.

As to the RadWindowInteropHelper - we haven't prepared a more detailed documentation yet, but you can check its properties in the API Reference:
http://www.telerik.com/help/wpf/t_telerik_windows_controls_navigation_radwindowinterophelper.html
http://www.telerik.com/help/wpf/allmembers_t_telerik_windows_controls_navigation_radwindowinterophelper.html

Regards,
Yana
the Telerik team

Explore the entire Telerik portfolio by downloading Telerik DevCraft Ultimate.

answered on 14 Aug 2012, 11:24 PM

RadWindowAsMainWindowMinimized.png

Hi Yana,

I tried it and, sorry, no go. It seems that the screenshot you sent me was one where you had not minimized the RadWindow (the main point of my posts). Your sample exhibits the exact problems I described and showed in the images I attached to my prior post. I have attached a screenshot of your app (with no code modification whatsoever) in its minimzed state, hovering over its TaskBar thumbnail). Therefore, it appears that the RadWindow indeed *cannot* be used as the MainWindow. Please refer again to the images I attached to my prior post.

When you minimize the MainWindow of the sample you sent (where it only is shown in the TaskBar) and then hover over the TaskBar icon, you will see a minimized picture in the thumbnail (which is unacceptable). If you then hover over the thumbnail itself, you will only see a nib on the screen (which is doubly unacceptable). At this point, I've described the problem in detail, sent before and after screenshots, run the code you've sent and confirmed that your app has the same issue as my app. I don't know what else I can do but forego the use of the RadWindow because (for anyone else that reads this post) when you minimize the RadWindow used as the MainWindow, hovering over its thumbnail from the TaskBar will display NOT the screen you expect, but a small nib (as shown in my attached images).

I truly appreciate your time spent thus far but, at this point, I would ask that you go back to my very first post, which is addressed to the higher-ups at Telerik asking them to please provide a theme-aware window that can be used as a MainWindow (as do a number of your smaller competitors). This is a gapping hole in an otherwise excellent set of tools/controls.

Sincerely,

Chris A

answered on 04 Oct 2012, 07:36 AM

Complete reference in order to get the icon showing in the taskbar:

1) add the project a reference to:
Telerik.Windows.Controls.Navigation.dll

2) add the icon file (eg: iconFileName.ico) to the VisualStudio project, in the main folder
I have also actually set it as the assembly icon in the Application tab in the VisualStudio property window.

3) insert in the RadWindow the following:

xmlns:navigation="clr-namespace:Telerik.Windows.Controls.Navigation;assembly=Telerik.Windows.Controls.Navigation"
navigation:RadWindowInteropHelper.ShowInTaskbar="True"
navigation:RadWindowInteropHelper.Icon="/assemblyName;component/iconFileName.ico"

so the RadWindowInteropHelper.Icon syntax shoud be: "/XXX;component/YYY"
where XXX is the assembly name and YYY is the iconFileName with extension.

Hope this might help
cheers ya'all

answered on 11 Oct 2012, 03:14 PM

Elysium.png

RadWindow.png

I've attached 2 files:
1. RadWindow
2. Elysium theme one

Elysium is working in the same way as Visual Studio 2012 and making window visible for othe appliations - in this case Display Fusion (mutimonitor application)

But Rad Window is working in "normal" way with None window style, which is usualy enough, but not when you want normal window behavior with just different view.

answered on 21 Oct 2012, 10:57 AM

Hello,
I'm trying to use a RadWindow as a main window, using RadControls Q3 2012 and I found a big problem: if I minimize the window, then click on the taskbar icon, I only see the window header.I had to manually increase the size of the window to have its content visible.

EDIT:
This behavior is if we leave the WindowStartUpLocation property to its default value: Manual, without setting a size.
If the property has another value, it works correctly.

EDIT 2:
Worse: even with setting WindowStartUpLocation to CenterScreen, I sometimes have the same behavior.

Patrick

answered on 21 Oct 2012, 11:01 AM

Screenshot.png

Hello,
another problem when using RadWindow as a main window: if I use implicit styles for the themes and change the theme, not all all the window border and title is changed.
For example, look at the screen shot, after starting the application with Expression_Dark theme and changing to Windows8 theme.

SOLUTION:
You must set the style of the window using a DynamicResource and not a StaticResource:

Style="{DynamicResource RadWindowStyle}"

Patrick

answered on 08 Nov 2012, 09:39 AM

Here is how i handle this feature:
1. remove the startup uri in the app.xaml file
2. changed the MainWindow.xaml in order to be a "telerik:RadWindow" instance (do not forget to remove the base class inheritence in the code behind, or ensure it inherit from RadWindow :

<telerik:RadWindow x:Class="MyApplicationNamespace.MainWindow"

Header="My application title"

Height="455" Width="920" ResizeMode="CanResizeWithGrip">

<telerik:RadWindow>

public partial class MainWindow : Telerik.Windows.Controls.RadWindow { ... }

3. added the code below in the app.xaml behind code (app.xaml.cs) :

protected override void OnStartup(StartupEventArgs e)

{

var wd = new MainWindow();

wd.WindowStartupLocation = WindowStartupLocation.CenterScreen;

wd.Loaded += wd_Loaded;

wd.Show();

base.OnStartup(e);

}

void wd_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)

{

    // get the custom application window (radwindow)

var wd = (MainWindow) sender;



    // get the main application window handle, this has been instanciated once the radwindow has been loaded

var rootWindow = Application.Current.MainWindow;

rootWindow.ShowInTaskbar = true

;



    // use the icon which is stored in my application resource file

rootWindow.Icon = Imaging.CreateBitmapSourceFromHIcon(

MyApplication.Properties.Resources.app_icon.Handle,

Int32Rect.Empty,

BitmapSizeOptions.FromEmptyOptions());

     // use the title of the radwindow

rootWindow.Title = wd.Header.ToString();

}

answered on 28 Nov 2012, 02:05 PM

This control still seems to have a lot of unsolved issues, at least if you use it to replace MainWindow.xaml.

Another problem we ran into:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi, In your tutorial...

http://www.telerik.com/support/kb/wpf/window/radwindow-as-main-window.aspx

...you have removed...

StartupUri="MainWindow.xaml from App.xaml (it's not mentioned in the tutorial, but the code is removed in the example provided)

The problem: after this step I've no longer access to the styles defined in App.xaml

For example, this does no longer work:

column.HeaderCellStyle = (Style)Application.Current.FindResource("GridViewHeaderCellStyleTradeClient");

What's the solution for this problem?
Thanks in advance.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Answer I got from Telerik:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Mike, Thank you for contacting us.

RadWindow is not designed to be used as main window and it hasn't been tested for issues concerning the Styling of the Window when it is used in that state.

The knowledge base post describes a possible workaround in order to use the Window control as a main window but in some scenarios there may be some unexpected behaviors that are not supported in the current version of the control. We tested the issue you experiencing and indeed removing the StartupUri="MainWindow.xaml" causes it but currently we cannot provide a workaround to this scenario.

If you have any other questions feel free to write to us again.
Greetings,
the Telerik team
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

answered on 29 Nov 2012, 02:15 PM

Hello Mike,

Thank you for your feedback.

As a workaround to this issue you can use the following approach:

Place the Styles/DataTemplates from the App.xaml in Resource Dictionaries and merge them in the RadWindow which you are using as a main window. If you want those Styles/DataTemplates to be used in all the other RadWindows in your application you should merge the Dictionaries in the App.xaml too.
After that set the Style/DataTemplate to the DynamicResource you have placed in the Resource Dictionaries.

Hope this is helpful.

Kind regards,
Vladi
the Telerik team

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RadWindow as MainWindow

36 Answers, 1 is accepted