Vista - Reference a xaml window from a WinFX Custom Control Library ?

Hello all,

I wish to contain all the xaml/code for my project within a custom control
library (DLL). The exe project will contain only a MyApp.xaml that runs the
first window of the application from teh DLL.

How can I accomplish this?

Also, the eventual intention of this is testing via NUnit w/
System.Windows.Automation from another DLL that is the NUnit target library
(Test Runner). What is required in this scenario to setup the test target
(xaml window) for automation control and inspection?

Thank you all for your advice and support!

> Hello all,
>
> I wish to contain all the xaml/code for my project within a custom
> control library (DLL). The exe project will contain only a MyApp.xaml
> that runs the first window of the application from teh DLL.
>
> How can I accomplish this?

You need to just control the application initialization yourself.

1. Don't set StartupUri.
2. Override Application::OnStartup[1]
3. Instantiate the Window class from the control library and pass it to Application::Run[2].

> Also, the eventual intention of this is testing via NUnit w/
> System.Windows.Automation from another DLL that is the NUnit target
> library (Test Runner). What is required in this scenario to setup the
> test target (xaml window) for automation control and inspection?

I don't have an answer to this one since I haven't done enough with automation
yet. Basically though you'll need to make sure there's a Dispatcher running
for the thread (implies STA) that NUnit has created. Once there's a Dispatcher
I think you should just be able to create a window instance and go to town.

HTH,
Drew

[1] http://windowssdk.msdn.microsoft.com...asp?frame=true
[2] http://windowssdk.msdn.microsoft.com...1_ac53f552.asp
___________________________________
Drew Marsh
Chief Software Architect
Mimeo.com, Inc. - http://www.mimeo.com
Microsoft C# / WPF MVP
Weblog - http://blog.hackedbrain.com/

I wrote:

> 3. Instantiate the Window class from the control library and pass it
> to Application::Run[2].

Sorry, just thought about this some more and realized it's bad advice because
the application's already had its Run called by the Main method that's provided
by the MyApp.g.cs. Do this as the third step instead:


protected override OnStartup(StartingUpEventArgs args)
{
Window mainWindow = new YourWindowFromTheLibrary();

this.MainWindow = mainWindow;
mainWindow.Show();

base.OnStartup(e);
}

HTH,
Drew

HI Drew,

I got this working... that is, unit-test XAML windows with NUnit. The
result is an adventure into System.Threading and a firm grasp on the
requirements of Nunit (runs everything on an MTA thread) and WPF (Window runs
on STA thread).

Here's my post :
http://fitzgibbons.info/articles/200...dow-with-nunit



"Drew Marsh" wrote:

> > Hello all,
> >
> > I wish to contain all the xaml/code for my project within a custom
> > control library (DLL). The exe project will contain only a MyApp.xaml
> > that runs the first window of the application from teh DLL.
> >
> > How can I accomplish this?
>
> You need to just control the application initialization yourself.
>
> 1. Don't set StartupUri.
> 2. Override Application::OnStartup[1]
> 3. Instantiate the Window class from the control library and pass it to Application::Run[2].
>
> > Also, the eventual intention of this is testing via NUnit w/
> > System.Windows.Automation from another DLL that is the NUnit target
> > library (Test Runner). What is required in this scenario to setup the
> > test target (xaml window) for automation control and inspection?
>
> I don't have an answer to this one since I haven't done enough with automation
> yet. Basically though you'll need to make sure there's a Dispatcher running
> for the thread (implies STA) that NUnit has created. Once there's a Dispatcher
> I think you should just be able to create a window instance and go to town.
>
> HTH,
> Drew
>
> [1] http://windowssdk.msdn.microsoft.com...asp?frame=true
> [2] http://windowssdk.msdn.microsoft.com...1_ac53f552.asp
> ___________________________________
> Drew Marsh
> Chief Software Architect
> Mimeo.com, Inc. - http://www.mimeo.com
> Microsoft C# / WPF MVP
> Weblog - http://blog.hackedbrain.com/
>
>
>