Hi all,

Starting to get into even messier questions now... Is it possible to
have multiple layers of layout going on in the application? Let's say
that I'm using a grid layout to neatly and symmetrically define a number
of controls and elements. On top of that, I wish to randomly scattered
some other overlayed things on top. That second layer really doesn't
fit into the idea of a grid layout as it is somewhat irregular, what I
really need is to manage the arrangement of those myself, which would
lend itself to an canvas.

So given that scenario, can you give a window both a grid layout and a
canvas layout, and put different controls/visuals into the different
layers? Or perhaps the answer is using the canvas for the base layout,
and then nesting a full window sized grid within that canvas. Any thoughts?



Thanks!
Jason

Jason Dolinger wrote:

> Starting to get into even messier questions now... Is it possible to
> have multiple layers of layout going on in the application? Let's say
> that I'm using a grid layout to neatly and symmetrically define a
> number of controls and elements. On top of that, I wish to randomly
> scattered some other overlayed things on top. That second layer
> really doesn't fit into the idea of a grid layout as it is somewhat
> irregular, what I really need is to manage the arrangement of those
> myself, which would lend itself to an canvas.
>
> So given that scenario, can you give a window both a grid layout and a
> canvas layout, and put different controls/visuals into the different
> layers? Or perhaps the answer is using the canvas for the base
> layout, and then nesting a full window sized grid within that canvas.
> Any thoughts?

A Grid supports multiple layers within the same cell, so what you would do
is something like this:

<Window>
<Grid>
<Grid><!-- this is the grid you talk about for structured layout --></Grid>
<Canvas><!-- this is the canvas you talk about for positioned layout
--></Canvas>
</Grid>
</Window>

HTH,
Drew
___________________________________
Drew Marsh
Chief Software Architect
Mimeo.com, Inc. - http://www.mimeo.com
Microsoft C# / WPF MVP
Weblog - http://blog.hackedbrain.com/

Drew Marsh wrote:
> Jason Dolinger wrote:
>
>> Starting to get into even messier questions now... Is it possible to
>> have multiple layers of layout going on in the application? Let's say
>> that I'm using a grid layout to neatly and symmetrically define a
>> number of controls and elements. On top of that, I wish to randomly
>> scattered some other overlayed things on top. That second layer
>> really doesn't fit into the idea of a grid layout as it is somewhat
>> irregular, what I really need is to manage the arrangement of those
>> myself, which would lend itself to an canvas.
>>
>> So given that scenario, can you give a window both a grid layout and a
>> canvas layout, and put different controls/visuals into the different
>> layers? Or perhaps the answer is using the canvas for the base
>> layout, and then nesting a full window sized grid within that canvas.
>> Any thoughts?
>
>
> A Grid supports multiple layers within the same cell, so what you would
> do is something like this:
>
> <Window>
> <Grid>
> <Grid><!-- this is the grid you talk about for structured layout
> --></Grid>
> <Canvas><!-- this is the canvas you talk about for positioned layout
> --></Canvas>
> </Grid>
> </Window>
>
> HTH,
> Drew
> ___________________________________
> Drew Marsh
> Chief Software Architect
> Mimeo.com, Inc. - http://www.mimeo.com
> Microsoft C# / WPF MVP
> Weblog - http://blog.hackedbrain.com/
>
>

Very cool, thanks Drew!