Create custom Shape Control in UWP (Universal Windows Apps), Windows 10

Question

I want to create a custom Shape control, that paints different shapes like Polygon , Ellipse , Rectangle , etc, depending on some custom properties.

I was able to create a custom template control ColorShape like this:

<Style TargetType="local:CustomShape">
    <Setter Property="Template">
        <Setter.Value>
            <ControlTemplate TargetType="local:CustomShape">
                <ContentControl x:Name="shapeParent">
                </ContentControl>
            </ControlTemplate>
        </Setter.Value>
    </Setter>
</Style>

And then, override the OnTemplateChanged method, and insert a corresponding Shape control inside the shapeParent ContentControl

But what I'd like is to actually extend the Shape , so I can treat all the shapes, framewok and custom, in the same way.

In WPF we were able to extend the Shape and override the property DefiningGeometry . In UWP it doesn´t exist any DefiningGeometry property to override.

How is it possible to create a custom Shape control and define the corresponding Geometry?

Answer 1

The only way I found to create custom shapes in UWP is to extend the Path class and set its Data property.

Updating the Data property to account for changes in other dependency properties (like Width ) must not be done in layouting relevant sections, like the LayoutUpdated event or the ArrangeOverride method.

Setting Data leads to another layout run, so setting it in anything that is called during that would lead to an exception:

Layout cycle detected. Layout could not complete

The way I use is to register handler for property changed events and update Data in them.

I have written a blog post that explains it in a bit more detail.

This is the example I used:

public class CandlestickShape : Path
{
    public double StartValue
    {
        get { return Convert.ToDouble(GetValue(StartValueProperty)); }
        set { SetValue(StartValueProperty, value); }
    }
    public static readonly DependencyProperty StartValueProperty =
        DependencyProperty.Register("StartValue", typeof(double), typeof(CandlestickShape), new PropertyMetadata(0));

    public double EndValue
    {
        get { return Convert.ToDouble(GetValue(EndValueProperty)); }
        set { SetValue(EndValueProperty, value); }
    }
    public static readonly DependencyProperty EndValueProperty =
        DependencyProperty.Register("EndValue", typeof(double), typeof(CandlestickShape), new PropertyMetadata(0));

    public double MinValue
    {
        get { return Convert.ToDouble(GetValue(MinValueProperty)); }
        set { SetValue(MinValueProperty, value); }
    }
    public static readonly DependencyProperty MinValueProperty =
        DependencyProperty.Register("MinValue", typeof(double), typeof(CandlestickShape), new PropertyMetadata(0));

    public double MaxValue
    {
        get { return Convert.ToDouble(GetValue(MaxValueProperty)); }
        set { SetValue(MaxValueProperty, value); }
    }
    public static readonly DependencyProperty MaxValueProperty =
        DependencyProperty.Register("MaxValue", typeof(double), typeof(CandlestickShape), new PropertyMetadata(0));

    /// <summary>
    /// Defines how many Pixel should be drawn for one Point
    /// </summary>
    public double PixelPerPoint
    {
        get { return Convert.ToDouble(GetValue(PointsPerPixelProperty)); }
        set { SetValue(PointsPerPixelProperty, value); }
    }
    public static readonly DependencyProperty PointsPerPixelProperty =
        DependencyProperty.Register("PixelPerPoint", typeof(double), typeof(CandlestickShape), new PropertyMetadata(0));

    public CandlestickShape()
    {
        this.RegisterPropertyChangedCallback(CandlestickShape.WidthProperty, new DependencyPropertyChangedCallback(RenderAffectingPropertyChanged));
        this.RegisterPropertyChangedCallback(CandlestickShape.StartValueProperty, new DependencyPropertyChangedCallback(RenderAffectingPropertyChanged));
        this.RegisterPropertyChangedCallback(CandlestickShape.EndValueProperty, new DependencyPropertyChangedCallback(RenderAffectingPropertyChanged));
        this.RegisterPropertyChangedCallback(CandlestickShape.MinValueProperty, new DependencyPropertyChangedCallback(RenderAffectingPropertyChanged));
        this.RegisterPropertyChangedCallback(CandlestickShape.MaxValueProperty, new DependencyPropertyChangedCallback(RenderAffectingPropertyChanged));
        this.RegisterPropertyChangedCallback(CandlestickShape.PointsPerPixelProperty, new DependencyPropertyChangedCallback(RenderAffectingPropertyChanged));
    }

    private void RenderAffectingPropertyChanged(DependencyObject o, DependencyProperty e)
    {
        (o as CandlestickShape)?.SetRenderData();
    }

    private void SetRenderData()
    {
        var maxBorderValue = Math.Max(this.StartValue, this.EndValue);
        var minBorderValue = Math.Min(this.StartValue, this.EndValue);
        double topLineLength = (this.MaxValue - maxBorderValue) * this.PixelPerPoint;
        double bottomLineLength = (minBorderValue - this.MinValue) * this.PixelPerPoint;
        double bodyLength = (this.EndValue - this.StartValue) * this.PixelPerPoint;

        var fillColor = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Green);
        if (bodyLength < 0)
            fillColor = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Red);

        bodyLength = Math.Abs(bodyLength);

        var bodyGeometry = new RectangleGeometry
        {
            Rect = new Rect(new Point(0, topLineLength), new Point(this.Width, topLineLength + bodyLength)),
        };

        var topLineGeometry = new LineGeometry
        {
            StartPoint = new Point(this.Width / 2, 0),
            EndPoint = new Point(this.Width / 2, topLineLength)
        };

        var bottomLineGeometry = new LineGeometry
        {
            StartPoint = new Point(this.Width / 2, topLineLength + bodyLength),
            EndPoint = new Point(this.Width / 2, topLineLength + bodyLength + bottomLineLength)
        };

        this.Data = new GeometryGroup
        {
            Children = new GeometryCollection
            {
                bodyGeometry,
                topLineGeometry,
                bottomLineGeometry
            }
        };
        this.Fill = fillColor;
        this.Stroke = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Black);
    }

    protected override Size ArrangeOverride(Size finalSize)
    {
        double height = (MaxValue - MinValue) * PixelPerPoint;
        return new Size(this.Width, height);
    }

    protected override Size MeasureOverride(Size availableSize)
    {
        double height = (MaxValue - MinValue) * PixelPerPoint;
        return new Size(this.Width, height);
    }
}