: Avalon Controls Library :
AvalonControlsLibrary has now been uploaded on CodePlex ….. Click here to visit CodePlex page
What is this?
AvalonControlsLibrary is a set of WPF controls that I have decided to develop to help out the WPF community.
What controls can I find in this Library?
DateTimePicker is DatePicker and TimePicker combined together in one control. For more info visit here
Docky is a control that lets you Dock panels just like a normal dock panel. The difference with Docky is that you can undock and drag around the controls that you docke. For more info visit here
RatingSelector
RatingSelector is a very simple control that lets the user select a rating. The rating that the user can select can be within a specified range. This control also lets you change the way it looks by supporting control templates. For more info have a look at this blog post
This control allows you to set a mask for a textbox to validate the user entry. For more info visit the blog post.
DataGridView is a maybe a misleading name for this control. This control is far from being the same as the WinForms DataGridView (maybe someday it will J). Basically this control is a WPF ListView control but it is capable of auto generate the GridViewColumns for you. It generates the columns by looking at the objects’ properties. You can also specify how you generate the columns by decorating your properties with a custom attribute. For more information have a look at this post.
TimePicker
Time Picker is a very basic control that lets the user selects a specific time. The user can enter the time in 3 textboxes supplied. he can also increase/decrease the time by using the 2 buttons supplied in the control. The increase/decrease time commands are also linked to the Key up / key down so that the user can use the key up and key down to increase/decrease the time.
I guess that this is the most popular control (at least that’s what my BlogStats say!). As the name suggests, DatePicker is used to pick a specific date. This control supports ControlTemplates to change the way it looks. It was a very nice control to develop, in fact this was my first ‘lookless’ control J. You can find a blog post for this control here.
The RangeSlider is a control that lets the user select a range. Again this control supports ControlTemplates to change how it looks. You can find a blog post for this control here.
This is my favourite control. This is basically a WPF ListBox yet it looks and behaves like a WPF TreeView. The question is why do you want a ListBox to look like a TreeView? The answer is very simple ‘Virtualization’. The WPF TreeView does not use the VirtualizingStackPanel (not even if you explicitly specify this in the ItemsPanel property) because VistualizingStackPanel does not understand hierarchies yet luckily the ListBox does. So basically this control takes care of placing the children of the root nodes in the proper index and indent the children by the level in the hierarchy. You can also use this control to support multi select, since the TreeView does not support this feature. When you have a lot of items for the TreeView I would suggest using this control since this will for sure benefit your application in terms of memory and also performance at start-up, since it only populates the items that can fit on screen. For more details on this control visit my blog post here.
This is a very unusual control. Basically it is a slider that notifies listeners if the thumb is being dragged to one of the sides. It raises an event at specified intervals. I personal used this control to create a zoom in/out effect. I think that you can fairly say that the Magnifier is the brother of RangeSlider. Why? Imagine you have a specific date range and you want to decrease or increase the range. You can do this by using the RangeSlider but the RangeSlider has one limitation the user can increase the range from one side at a time. Yet by using the Magnifier increase/decrease the range selected from both ends (from and to at the same time). You can have a look at this blog post for more information.
What does the download include?
The download includes
- - The AvalonControlsLibrary VS Project
- - A test application for all controls
- - All unit tests for controls
- - The AvalonUnitTesting VS Project (for more info click here)
Do you update this library?
Of course I do (when I have enough spare time and my wife leaves me aloneJ). If you want I can even send you an email whenever I update the library. Just send me an email at marlongrech@gmail.com with your email address and I will make sure to send you a mail to notify you whnever I make an update (don’t worry your email address will be kept private).
How do I submit a bug?
To submit a bug you can just send me an email at marlongrech@gmail.com. You can also submit bugs in codeplex issue tracker for the AvalonControlsLibrary project
What should I do if I have any problems using this library?
Unfortunately I did not create a manual. In the near future I will open a FAQ and some more documentation but for now since the library is very small all the documentation is inside the comments of the code and my blog. Worst case just contact me by sending me an email at marlongrech@gmail.com and I would be more than happy to help you out with your problems.
Finally, I hope that you find this library useful and have loads of fun playing around and maybe even learn something with my beloved AvalonControlsLibrary. If you have any ideas of controls that I should include in this library send me a mail at marlongrech@gmail.com
AvalonControlsLibrary is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights.
DOWNLOAD AvalonControlsLibrary
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[...] Avalon Controls Library : [...]
Pingback by New Page dedicated for AvalonControlsLibrary « C# Disciples | October 21, 2007 |
Hello!
I was looking for a way to smoothen the fonts on my C# Windows Form project and came across your article. Thanks for the introduction!
Thanks for your library, it’s very good!
I’m currently starting a WPF application for work and the lack of a DatePicker / TimePicker / MaskedTextBox control were killing me. I just didn’t have the time to develop these things myself while learning WPF and trying to meet the deadlines.
I just came across this while processing submission on community credit and sounds very cool! I am actually a developer myself who is using WPF for a project right now and I am really looking forward to seeing the TreeView control because I have an immediate need for it, but all of the other controls sound really great as well. I will be sure to check them all out next week. Thanks for posting this!
[...] Avalon Controls Library : [...]
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The controls work great in a standard WPF executable, but I need to use them in an XBAP app. Everything in my app works fine, but when i add any avalon control, i get an XamlParseException. Then when I remove the control, it runs fine again. Have you tested with Xbap? any suggestions?
I did not test the controls with XBAPs
Which control are you using in the XBAP?
I tried both datepicker and timepicker. same results
Hi,
I tried DatePicker in XBAP (.Net 3.5) and it is working ok for me …. Can you send me a demo project or something….
P.S sorry for taking so long o respond but I did not see the comment …
regards
[...] update to TimePicker control in AvalonsControlLibrary 13 03 2008 I hope many use AvalonsControlLibrary in their WPF projects 8), if not, do have a look! It has got really very useful WPF Controls – [...]
Pingback by An update to TimePicker control in AvalonsControlLibrary « C h a k s’ C o r n e r | March 12, 2008 |
Great controls!
Just like to ask, do you have the plan to create PropertyGrid control for WPF?
Thanks
Hardy
This is a fantastic collection of controls. The DatePicker is invaluable. One question: is it possible to change the display format of the date without changing the source?
Okay, two questions.
Can you bind to a data source with the calendar control? I can’t find an attribute to which to bind to a data source. Thanks!
Nevermind on the second question… I found it in the CurrentlySelectedDate. Sorry for the deluge of comments!
hi, there is not a feature to change the date format in the current version but you can do a property that supports this very easily… I might add this in the near future…
Hi,
I’ve found two bugs in the DatePicker control (using .net 3.5):
1) If I set the Value property before the control is displayed for the first time, it displays the date in English format (7/3/2008) until the user selects another date (then it uses the correct locale).
2) If I open up the drop-down part for the first time, I can’t select any date from the current month (nothing happens on mouse-click). Only dates from other months are selectable.
Great control nevertheless!
Big sorry, I clicked the wrong link and meant another DatePicker control. Yours runs fine.
[...] is being addressed to a certain extent by the developer community, notably by Marlon Grech’s Avalon Controls Library and the WPF Toolkit. The former, design-time support, is something that is harder for the developer [...]
Pingback by Design time drag-and-drop binding is on its way « Colin Eberhardt’s Adventures in WPF | November 27, 2008 |
Very nice artice and library.
Thanks very much for that!
[...] is being addressed to a certain extent by the developer community, notably by Marlon Grech’s Avalon Controls Library and the WPF Toolkit. The former, design-time support, is something that is harder for the developer [...]
Pingback by Design time drag-and-drop binding is on its way - Colin Eberhardt’s Adventures in WPF | March 11, 2009 |
[...] : Avalon Controls Library : [...]
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Marlon you = new Marlon();
while( you.UseCSharp() ) { you == Infant.TELETUBBY; }
if ( you.moveToCPlusPlus() && forgetM$Crap() ) { you.becomeBigBoy(); }
Adrian,
You’re a troll and a moron. I not only know C++, but I’m the original author of the Boost.Threads library. I’m now a fellow Disciple with Marlon. So the language bigotry is nothing more than that. Then the fanboi Microsoft bashing just proves you can’t think for yourself. You may be a “big boy”, but Marlon’s more of a MAN than you’ll ever hope to be.
Thanks Bill
Gee…. you two seem to be close.
Is that why you know ‘Marlon’s more of a MAN than you’ll ever hope to be’???????!!!!!!!!!!!
Go spam somewhere else…. If you don’t like this blog just start writing one yourself and prove how much of a MAN you are…..
Hello
how can I bind Timepicker control in XMAL directly?
Hi,
can I use AvalonControlsLibrary to develop comercial software. I need some Controls from your library for the software. Is that allowed?
All code is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights.
so yea you can
nice
really thanks for that
The muscle-up is moving from a hanging position below the rings to a supported position, arms extended, above the rings. ,
AvalonControlsLibrary is very useful! Great job marlongrech!
Hey, I just used your datepicker control and I am facing an issue.
1.I clicked the dropdown button.
2.Calendar appears.
3.I didn’t select any date and I just want to skip the input.
The dropdown calendar still visible even if I am not in focus. Please send me the corrected impl. if you have already else please help me to fix this..
The DatePicker is great. I did notice that November was misspelled in Core\DateHelper.cs, which caused a bug in the app I was creating. Changing the spelling fixed the error for me. Thought this might be helpful (unless I’m actually using an old version).
How can I install you library so that the controls are available for any project without including the library project in my solution?
Great job and very usefull datetime picker.
It will be a full success if we can set the time which is not possible
Trying to set
dateTimePicker.DateTimeSelected = DateTime.Parse(“01/01/0001 00:00″);
give alway the correct date but not the correct time 00:00 (set to timeofday)
You produced some decent points there. I looked on the net for the issue and discovered most individuals will go together with along with your web page.