Re: Debug woes

Hi Michael et al,

Did you ever get a resolution to your problem? I'm having the same
issue, where I'm trying to develop a DataGrid as a custom control, and I
end up with a blank window with nothing displayed. My control and it's
associated children are clearly getting instantiated as I've debugged
through all of this, yet they are never displayed. I've put in a
Themes\Generic.xaml file which is referenced in the .csproj as a Page
include. Still nothing. The only thing I haven't done regarding the
instructions in this thread is to add the attribute:

[assembly:ThemeInfoAttribute(ResourceDictionaryLocation.None,
ResourceDictionaryLocation.SourceAssembly)]

Exactly where am I supposed to place this attribute declaration?
Forgive me if that is a silly question, I've only been working with
C#/.NET/WPF for a few weeks now.

Any help is appreciated as always,
Jason


Michael Latta wrote:
> Thanks for the follow-up. This mostly answers my questions, with the
> addition of having to change the build task to Page from MarkupResource.
>
> If I want to provide different styles for my controls to be used in
> different themes how would I do that?
>
> If I have 10 XAML files all holding resource dictionaries it looks like I
> just create a <ResourceDictionary Source="foo.xaml"/> in the
> <MergedDictionaries> tag of the dictionary I want them to be added to. Is
> that correct? So both the reference and the definition have a
> ResourceDictionary element? Are the merged dictionaries loaded as loose
> XAML or compiled? Is there a performance hit for using merged dictionaries
> rather than one huge dictionary in compiled markup?
>
> Michael
>
>
> "Dennis Cheng [MSFT]" <dennis.cheng@online.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:%23q$irK39FHA.600@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
>
>>From Ben Carter and Varsha Mahadevan on the Avalon team:
>>
>>
>>1. No they aren't loaded until you navigate to a page or load it up
>>programmatically using InitializeComponent.
>>
>>2. You need to explicitly merge ResourceDictionaries using the
>>ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries collection or then refer to them
>>individually using the ResourceDictionary.Source property.
>>
>>3. Resource lookup searches in the following order and stops at the first
>>match,
>> - In the tree
>> - In the app
>> - In the theme
>>
>>StaticResource and DynamicResources are different in the sense that
>>StaticResources are lexically scoped and are valid only in markup and use
>>the xml hierarchy for resolution (no forward references are permitted).
>>DynamicResources on the other hand understand logical treeness and get
>>resolved based on the runtime scope as described above. Also
>>StaticResources have one-time resolution semantics whereas
>>DynamicResources as the name suggested get updated on any contextual
>>change such as tree change or ResourceDictionary change.
>>
>>4. You also need to add the assembly level ThemeInfoAttribute metadata to
>>indicate what and where the theme dictionaries are located.
>>
>>For instance, if you only had generic.xaml compiled into the same assembly
>>in which the controls are defined, you would use:
>>[assembly:ThemeInfoAttribute(ResourceDictionaryLocation.None,
>>ResourceDictionaryLocation.SourceAssembly)]
>>
>>
>>
>>"Michael Latta" <lattam@mac.com> wrote in message
>>news:u0GnVQG9FHA.2576@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
>>
>>>This may be the issue. The file does have the MarkupResource type
>>>currently. I will change it to page and see if that solves the issue.
>>>
>>>As a follow up:
>>>
>>>1) Are all page files loaded automatically?
>>>2) If I have 5 XAML files all with ResourceDictionary as the top element
>>>are they auto-merged into the assembly search path? Or do I need to
>>>explicitly merge the resource dictionaries in some way?
>>>3) Is there a definitive definition of how resources are located? When
>>>{StaticResource xxx} or {DynamicResource xxx} is used how is that
>>>resolved when there may be resources defined in the application, the
>>>window, and various control assemblies?
>>>4) It looks like in the old system the resources for the control library
>>>were included automatically. Do I need to do something to explicitly
>>>include those resources now?
>>>
>>>Michael
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>"Dennis Cheng [MSFT]" <dennis.cheng@online.microsoft.com> wrote in
>>>message news:u7WMqzE9FHA.3880@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
>>>
>>>>Michael, how is the external ResourceDictionary containing the control
>>>>style included in your project? I'm thinking you're running into a
>>>>change in that removed the MarkupResource build action and replaced it
>>>>with Page:
>>>>
>>>>September 2005 CTP:
>>>> <MarkupResource Include="themes\generic.xaml"/>
>>>>
>>>>November 2005 CTP:
>>>> <Page Include="themes\generic.xaml"/>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>"Michael Latta" <lattam@mac.com> wrote in message
>>>>news:uKrSc%23$7FHA.4012@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
>>>>
>>>>>It looks like my immediate issue is the control library assembly
>>>>>finding the resource dictionary. In the old template the file
>>>>>generic.xaml contained the resource dictionary for the assembly. In
>>>>>the Nov bits the assembly attributes for locating the resource
>>>>>dictionary have changed to using ResourceDictionaryLocation.
>>>>>Apparently the file name has changed or I am missing a piece to locate
>>>>>the file. I tried to create a new control library to see what the CTP
>>>>>creates, and this resolved the issue with the rename to
>>>>>ResourceDictionaryLocation, but the template for adding a new WinFX
>>>>>Custom Control is missing/broken so I can not get an example this way.
>>>>>Is there an overview on how resources are located, and in particular
>>>>>how custom control libraries locate the resources for the controls they
>>>>>define.
>>>>>
>>>>>Michael
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>"Michael Latta" <lattam@mac.com> wrote in message
>>>>>news:uB%23lQr%237FHA.1184@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
>>>>>
>>>>>>In converting from Sept to Nov all my custom controls have
>>>>>>disappeared. The window comes up without the custom controls. They
>>>>>>are not even in the tree since surrounding elements do not make room
>>>>>>for them. And no messages regarding any errors come out. My main
>>>>>>issue is that there are no clues as to what went wrong. This seems
>>>>>>like very poor behavior in a file loader "oh those parts do not look
>>>>>>good so I am going to omit them silently". I have yet to verify if
>>>>>>they are actually instantiated and just are having styling problems,
>>>>>>but if there is an element in the logical tree that can not be
>>>>>>rendered into the visual tree there should be some way to debug that.
>>>>>>Any debug flags I can turn on somewhere to get more information on
>>>>>>what is happening?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>This is my main problem with WPF. Declarative programming is only a
>>>>>>good idea when it all works. Declarative programming with a huge
>>>>>>black box can be very frustrating. I really like WPF, but I also
>>>>>>really need some tools to examine what is going on in there. It is
>>>>>>understandable that they are not all there out of the box, but what
>>>>>>have other groups done (Sparkle, etc), to be able to tell what is
>>>>>>going on when things do not come out as expected?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Michael
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>
>

I have it basically working now. The main thing was making the build task
Page.

The assembly attributes are in AssemblyInfo.cs under properties in my
project. I do not know if it has to be that exactly. It is marked as
Compile build task. So it appears to just be yet another C# source file.

Michael



"Jason Dolinger" <jdolinger@lab49.com> wrote in message
news:439DB50A.9020000@lab49.com...
> Hi Michael et al,
>
> Did you ever get a resolution to your problem? I'm having the same issue,
> where I'm trying to develop a DataGrid as a custom control, and I end up
> with a blank window with nothing displayed. My control and it's
> associated children are clearly getting instantiated as I've debugged
> through all of this, yet they are never displayed. I've put in a
> Themes\Generic.xaml file which is referenced in the .csproj as a Page
> include. Still nothing. The only thing I haven't done regarding the
> instructions in this thread is to add the attribute:
>
> [assembly:ThemeInfoAttribute(ResourceDictionaryLocation.None,
> ResourceDictionaryLocation.SourceAssembly)]
>
> Exactly where am I supposed to place this attribute declaration? Forgive
> me if that is a silly question, I've only been working with C#/.NET/WPF
> for a few weeks now.
>
> Any help is appreciated as always,
> Jason
>
>
> Michael Latta wrote:
>> Thanks for the follow-up. This mostly answers my questions, with the
>> addition of having to change the build task to Page from MarkupResource.
>>
>> If I want to provide different styles for my controls to be used in
>> different themes how would I do that?
>>
>> If I have 10 XAML files all holding resource dictionaries it looks like I
>> just create a <ResourceDictionary Source="foo.xaml"/> in the
>> <MergedDictionaries> tag of the dictionary I want them to be added to.
>> Is that correct? So both the reference and the definition have a
>> ResourceDictionary element? Are the merged dictionaries loaded as loose
>> XAML or compiled? Is there a performance hit for using merged
>> dictionaries rather than one huge dictionary in compiled markup?
>>
>> Michael
>>
>>
>> "Dennis Cheng [MSFT]" <dennis.cheng@online.microsoft.com> wrote in
>> message news:%23q$irK39FHA.600@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
>>
>>>From Ben Carter and Varsha Mahadevan on the Avalon team:
>>>
>>>
>>>1. No they aren't loaded until you navigate to a page or load it up
>>>programmatically using InitializeComponent.
>>>
>>>2. You need to explicitly merge ResourceDictionaries using the
>>>ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries collection or then refer to them
>>>individually using the ResourceDictionary.Source property.
>>>
>>>3. Resource lookup searches in the following order and stops at the first
>>>match,
>>> - In the tree
>>> - In the app
>>> - In the theme
>>>
>>>StaticResource and DynamicResources are different in the sense that
>>>StaticResources are lexically scoped and are valid only in markup and use
>>>the xml hierarchy for resolution (no forward references are permitted).
>>>DynamicResources on the other hand understand logical treeness and get
>>>resolved based on the runtime scope as described above. Also
>>>StaticResources have one-time resolution semantics whereas
>>>DynamicResources as the name suggested get updated on any contextual
>>>change such as tree change or ResourceDictionary change.
>>>
>>>4. You also need to add the assembly level ThemeInfoAttribute metadata to
>>>indicate what and where the theme dictionaries are located.
>>>
>>>For instance, if you only had generic.xaml compiled into the same
>>>assembly in which the controls are defined, you would use:
>>>[assembly:ThemeInfoAttribute(ResourceDictionaryLocation.None,
>>>ResourceDictionaryLocation.SourceAssembly)]
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>"Michael Latta" <lattam@mac.com> wrote in message
>>>news:u0GnVQG9FHA.2576@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
>>>
>>>>This may be the issue. The file does have the MarkupResource type
>>>>currently. I will change it to page and see if that solves the issue.
>>>>
>>>>As a follow up:
>>>>
>>>>1) Are all page files loaded automatically?
>>>>2) If I have 5 XAML files all with ResourceDictionary as the top element
>>>>are they auto-merged into the assembly search path? Or do I need to
>>>>explicitly merge the resource dictionaries in some way?
>>>>3) Is there a definitive definition of how resources are located? When
>>>>{StaticResource xxx} or {DynamicResource xxx} is used how is that
>>>>resolved when there may be resources defined in the application, the
>>>>window, and various control assemblies?
>>>>4) It looks like in the old system the resources for the control library
>>>>were included automatically. Do I need to do something to explicitly
>>>>include those resources now?
>>>>
>>>>Michael
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>"Dennis Cheng [MSFT]" <dennis.cheng@online.microsoft.com> wrote in
>>>>message news:u7WMqzE9FHA.3880@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
>>>>
>>>>>Michael, how is the external ResourceDictionary containing the control
>>>>>style included in your project? I'm thinking you're running into a
>>>>>change in that removed the MarkupResource build action and replaced it
>>>>>with Page:
>>>>>
>>>>>September 2005 CTP:
>>>>> <MarkupResource Include="themes\generic.xaml"/>
>>>>>
>>>>>November 2005 CTP:
>>>>> <Page Include="themes\generic.xaml"/>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>"Michael Latta" <lattam@mac.com> wrote in message
>>>>>news:uKrSc%23$7FHA.4012@TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
>>>>>
>>>>>>It looks like my immediate issue is the control library assembly
>>>>>>finding the resource dictionary. In the old template the file
>>>>>>generic.xaml contained the resource dictionary for the assembly. In
>>>>>>the Nov bits the assembly attributes for locating the resource
>>>>>>dictionary have changed to using ResourceDictionaryLocation.
>>>>>>Apparently the file name has changed or I am missing a piece to locate
>>>>>>the file. I tried to create a new control library to see what the CTP
>>>>>>creates, and this resolved the issue with the rename to
>>>>>>ResourceDictionaryLocation, but the template for adding a new WinFX
>>>>>>Custom Control is missing/broken so I can not get an example this way.
>>>>>>Is there an overview on how resources are located, and in particular
>>>>>>how custom control libraries locate the resources for the controls
>>>>>>they define.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Michael
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>"Michael Latta" <lattam@mac.com> wrote in message
>>>>>>news:uB%23lQr%237FHA.1184@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>In converting from Sept to Nov all my custom controls have
>>>>>>>disappeared. The window comes up without the custom controls. They
>>>>>>>are not even in the tree since surrounding elements do not make room
>>>>>>>for them. And no messages regarding any errors come out. My main
>>>>>>>issue is that there are no clues as to what went wrong. This seems
>>>>>>>like very poor behavior in a file loader "oh those parts do not look
>>>>>>>good so I am going to omit them silently". I have yet to verify if
>>>>>>>they are actually instantiated and just are having styling problems,
>>>>>>>but if there is an element in the logical tree that can not be
>>>>>>>rendered into the visual tree there should be some way to debug that.
>>>>>>>Any debug flags I can turn on somewhere to get more information on
>>>>>>>what is happening?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>This is my main problem with WPF. Declarative programming is only a
>>>>>>>good idea when it all works. Declarative programming with a huge
>>>>>>>black box can be very frustrating. I really like WPF, but I also
>>>>>>>really need some tools to examine what is going on in there. It is
>>>>>>>understandable that they are not all there out of the box, but what
>>>>>>>have other groups done (Sparkle, etc), to be able to tell what is
>>>>>>>going on when things do not come out as expected?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Michael
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>

Thanks Michael,

Do you have something like this:

DefaultStyleKeyProperty.OverrideMetadata(typeof(MyCustomControl18),
new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(typeof(MyCustomControl18)));

in a static constructor for your custom control?

Thanks,
Jason

Michael Latta wrote:
> I have it basically working now. The main thing was making the build task
> Page.
>
> The assembly attributes are in AssemblyInfo.cs under properties in my
> project. I do not know if it has to be that exactly. It is marked as
> Compile build task. So it appears to just be yet another C# source file.
>
> Michael
>
>
>
> "Jason Dolinger" <jdolinger@lab49.com> wrote in message
> news:439DB50A.9020000@lab49.com...
>
>>Hi Michael et al,
>>
>>Did you ever get a resolution to your problem? I'm having the same issue,
>>where I'm trying to develop a DataGrid as a custom control, and I end up
>>with a blank window with nothing displayed. My control and it's
>>associated children are clearly getting instantiated as I've debugged
>>through all of this, yet they are never displayed. I've put in a
>>Themes\Generic.xaml file which is referenced in the .csproj as a Page
>>include. Still nothing. The only thing I haven't done regarding the
>>instructions in this thread is to add the attribute:
>>
>>[assembly:ThemeInfoAttribute(ResourceDictionaryLocation.None,
>>ResourceDictionaryLocation.SourceAssembly)]
>>
>>Exactly where am I supposed to place this attribute declaration? Forgive
>>me if that is a silly question, I've only been working with C#/.NET/WPF
>>for a few weeks now.
>>
>>Any help is appreciated as always,
>>Jason
>>
>>

Yes, from the item template of a prior CTP, as below:

static ColorSelector()

{

//This OverrideMetadata call tells the system that this element

//wants to provide a style that is different than its base class.

//This style is defined in themes\generic.xaml

DefaultStyleKeyProperty.OverrideMetadata(typeof(ColorSelector),

new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(typeof(ColorSelector)));

}

Michael

"Jason Dolinger" <jdolinger@lab49.com> wrote in message
news:439E07FC.9040406@lab49.com...
> Thanks Michael,
>
> Do you have something like this:
>
> DefaultStyleKeyProperty.OverrideMetadata(typeof(MyCustomControl18),
> new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(typeof(MyCustomControl18)));
>
> in a static constructor for your custom control?
>
> Thanks,
> Jason
>
> Michael Latta wrote:
>> I have it basically working now. The main thing was making the build
>> task Page.
>>
>> The assembly attributes are in AssemblyInfo.cs under properties in my
>> project. I do not know if it has to be that exactly. It is marked as
>> Compile build task. So it appears to just be yet another C# source file.
>>
>> Michael
>>
>>
>>
>> "Jason Dolinger" <jdolinger@lab49.com> wrote in message
>> news:439DB50A.9020000@lab49.com...
>>
>>>Hi Michael et al,
>>>
>>>Did you ever get a resolution to your problem? I'm having the same
>>>issue, where I'm trying to develop a DataGrid as a custom control, and I
>>>end up with a blank window with nothing displayed. My control and it's
>>>associated children are clearly getting instantiated as I've debugged
>>>through all of this, yet they are never displayed. I've put in a
>>>Themes\Generic.xaml file which is referenced in the .csproj as a Page
>>>include. Still nothing. The only thing I haven't done regarding the
>>>instructions in this thread is to add the attribute:
>>>
>>>[assembly:ThemeInfoAttribute(ResourceDictionaryLocation.None,
>>>ResourceDictionaryLocation.SourceAssembly)]
>>>
>>>Exactly where am I supposed to place this attribute declaration? Forgive
>>>me if that is a silly question, I've only been working with C#/.NET/WPF
>>>for a few weeks now.
>>>
>>>Any help is appreciated as always,
>>>Jason
>>>
>>>