TL;DR; Overview of using Infragistics WPF controls, focusing on dynamic menu generation with data binding and templates, and challenges with documentation and template selection.
I am currently getting to grips with the Infragistics WPF controls that they call NetAdvantage for WPF . So far I have found them easy to use, but the documentation of examples is very lax. Do not mistake me, these components are fantastic and do way more work for me than I would care to do myself, but if you Google a particular piece of their API invariable you will get pure documentation and no samples. If you are lucky someone has asked a specific question about it and you can skim their answers, but the likely hood of finding an answer to your question is negligible in my experience.
I still love the components, it just makes it a little more difficult to develop with them…
An example would maybe get us all on the same page:
I am using their Ribbon components in one of my applications and wanted to dynamically generate (using a binding) the menu options.
1 1: <igRibbon:XamRibbon.ApplicationMenu>
1 2:
1 3: <igRibbon:ApplicationMenu>
1 4: <igRibbon:MenuTool x:Name="uxTeamServerMenuTool" Caption="Team Server" ItemsSource="{Binding AvailableServers}" ItemTemplate="{DynamicResource tAvailableServers}" ButtonType="DropDown" LargeImage="ResourcesImagesTeamServerSelectIcon.png">
1 5: </igRibbon:MenuTool>
1 6: <igRibbon:MenuTool x:Name="uxTeamProjectMenuTool" Caption="Team Project" ItemsSource="{Binding AvailableProjects}" ButtonType="DropDown" SmallImage="ResourcesImagesTeamProjectSelectIcon.png">
1 7: </igRibbon:MenuTool>
1 8: <igRibbon:MenuTool x:Name="uxHeatConnectionMenuTool" Caption="Heat Server" ButtonType="DropDown">
1 9: </igRibbon:MenuTool>
1 10: <igRibbon:MenuTool x:Name="uxHeatApplicationMenuTool" Caption="Heat App" ButtonType="DropDown" >
1 11: </igRibbon:MenuTool>
1 12: <!-- Place a button in the footer of the ApplicationMenu that allows the user to quit the application. -->
1 13: <igRibbon:ApplicationMenu.FooterToolbar>
1 14: <igRibbon:ApplicationMenuFooterToolbar>
1 15: <igRibbon:ButtonTool Caption="Settings" Command="local:Commands.ClearSettingsCommand" />
1 16: <igRibbon:ButtonTool Caption="Exit" />
1 17: </igRibbon:ApplicationMenuFooterToolbar>
1 18: </igRibbon:ApplicationMenu.FooterToolbar>
1 19: </igRibbon:ApplicationMenu>
1 20: </igRibbon:XamRibbon.ApplicationMenu>
As you can see in line 4 there is a binding that does indeed populate the list. But I am having trouble getting the template to take. I want the Items listed as a set of radio buttons (kinda) and so I added a Template:
1 1: <DataTemplate x:Key="tAvailableServers" DataType="{x:Type tfs:TeamFoundationServer}">
1 2: <igRibbon:RadioButtonTool
1 3: Caption="{Binding Name}"
1 4: Tag="{Binding}"
1 5: LargeImage="ResourcesImagesTeamServerSelectIcon.png"
1 6: igRibbon:MenuToolBase.MenuItemDescription="{Binding Url.ToString}"/>
1 7: </DataTemplate>
This should have displayed what I wanted, but it seams to be ignored.
To allow this to work, all I needed to do was remove the x:Key from the template. But why can’t I specify a template by name. What if I wanted to have two templates and choose which one was displayed…
If you've made it this far, it's worth connecting with our principal consultant and coach, Martin Hinshelwood, for a 30-minute 'ask me anything' call.
We partner with businesses across diverse industries, including finance, insurance, healthcare, pharmaceuticals, technology, engineering, transportation, hospitality, entertainment, legal, government, and military sectors.
Bistech
Microsoft
Graham & Brown
Workday
Philips
Higher Education Statistics Agency
Lean SA
Schlumberger
Brandes Investment Partners L.P.
DFDS
Big Data for Humans
Xceptor - Process and Data Automation
Trayport
Kongsberg Maritime
Healthgrades
Jack Links
ProgramUtvikling
CR2
Ghana Police Service
Royal Air Force
Nottingham County Council
Department of Work and Pensions (UK)
New Hampshire Supreme Court
Washington Department of Transport
Epic Games
Hubtel Ghana
Illumina
Jack Links
ProgramUtvikling
DFDS