AppBar WP8.1中的自定义控件

Question

the appbar in WP8.1 is not very flexible and we are limited to some kind of fixed controls like the appbarbutton, appbarseparator... But I want to add a stackpanel to the AppBar. AppbarButton and AppBarSeparator both are implementing "ICommandBarElement". Easy I thought, lets create a custom control, inheriting from StackPanel and implementing the interface "ICommandBarElement" and done. But actually is not easy but impossible to make this work. I tried inheriting from a Button and implementing that interface, to make an exact replica of an AppBarButton, but even this isn't working.

 using Windows.Foundation;
using Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls;

internal class AppbarRectangle : Button, ICommandBarElement
{
    public AppbarRectangle()
    {
        Loaded += AppbarRectangle_Loaded;
    }

    private void AppbarRectangle_Loaded(object sender, Windows.UI.Xaml.RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
    }

    protected override Size ArrangeOverride(Size finalSize)
    {
        return base.ArrangeOverride(finalSize);
    }

    protected override Size MeasureOverride(Size availableSize)
    {
        return base.MeasureOverride(availableSize);
    }

    protected override void OnApplyTemplate()
    {
        base.OnApplyTemplate();
    }

    public bool IsCompact
    {
        get
        {
            return false;
        }
        set
        {
        }
    }
}

I don't have any clues of what I have to do to insert custom controls inside the AppBar because it's really limited. Any ideas?

Thanks.

Answer 1

The AppBar on Windows Phone is displayed as system UI, not as part of your app itself. Only the items the system understands (essentially the icon masks and text from AppBarButtons and the Foreground and Background colours from the CommandBar) can be used. This is why you cannot use arbitrary controls or coloured icons on the phone like you can on Windows.

If you want a more customized AppBar then you'll have to implement it yourself rather than using the in-box AppBar. So long as you follow the basic design concepts from the system AppBar it shouldn't confuse your users. You can take a look at what the Photos app and IE do as example extended designs.

Answer 2

This is not supported by Microsoft because they want a generic look and feel for the standard controls. so in the app bar you can only add these basic items.

the only solution you could think of is building your own app bar control although question would be if that is the solution your customers would want. because they are used to the standard app bar.