Wpf Custom button icon and text change from code

Question

So I'm gonna be short. I would like to set the textBlock (x:Name="ButtonText") and Images (x:Name="LeftIcon" and x:Name="RightIcon") from code in another Project using the compiled .dll from this.

XAML:

<Button x:Class="myClass.actionButton"
   xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
   xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
   x:Name="ActionButton">
    <Button.Template>
        <ControlTemplate TargetType="{x:Type Button}">
            <Border x:Name="button" CornerRadius="10" BorderBrush="#F555" BorderThickness="1.5">
                <Border.Background>
                    <LinearGradientBrush EndPoint="0.5,1" StartPoint="0.5,0">
                        <GradientStop Color="#CC323232" Offset="0"/>
                        <GradientStop Color="#CC4B4B4B" Offset="1"/>
                    </LinearGradientBrush>
                </Border.Background>
            <Grid>
                <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                    <ColumnDefinition Width="24"/>
                    <ColumnDefinition Width="1*"/>
                    <ColumnDefinition Width="24"/>
                </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                <TextBlock x:Name="ButtonText" Grid.Column="1" HorizontalAlignment="Center" TextWrapping="Wrap" Margin="0,0,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Center" Width="auto"/>
                <Image x:Name="LeftIcon" Grid.Column="0" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Height="16" Margin="4,1,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Center" Width="16"/>
                <Image x:Name="RightIcon" Grid.Column="2" HorizontalAlignment="Right" Height="16" Margin="0,1,4,0" VerticalAlignment="Center" Width="16"/>
                <ContentPresenter HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center"/>
            </Grid>
            </Border>
        </ControlTemplate>
    </Button.Template>
</Button>

CS:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Data;
using System.Windows.Documents;
using System.Windows.Input;
using System.Windows.Media;
using System.Windows.Media.Imaging;
using System.Windows.Navigation;
using System.Windows.Shapes;
using System.Windows.Markup;

namespace myClass
{
    public partial class actionButton : Button
    {
        private TextBlock ButtonText;
        private Image LeftIcon;
        private Image RightIcon;

        public Image leftIcon
        {
            get { return LeftIcon; }
            set { LeftIcon = value; }
        }

        public Image rightIcon
        {
            get { return RightIcon; }
            set { RightIcon = value; }
        }

        public TextBlock buttonText
        {
            get { return ButtonText; }
            set { ButtonText = value; }
        }

        public actionButton()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }
    }

}

Currently if I append a new textBlock to my button instance from code, it doesn't show up... Same for the images. What am I missing?

Thank you for the help... :)

Answer 1

Your actionButton class should declare bindable dependency properties for the two images and the text.

An example for the left image is shown below. The property type is ImageSource , because that is the type of the Source property of the Image control. You would have to declare a second property for the right image, and a property of type string for the TextBlock text.

public static readonly DependencyProperty LeftImageProperty =
    DependencyProperty.Register(
        nameof(LeftImage), typeof(ImageSource), typeof(actionButton));

public ImageSource LeftImage
{
    get { return (ImageSource)GetValue(LeftImageProperty); }
    set { SetValue(LeftImageProperty, value); }
}

In the Button's XAML, you would use the properties with a RelativeSource Binding:

<TextBlock Text="{Binding Text,
                  RelativeSource={RelativeSource AncestorType=Button}}" ... />
<Image Source="{Binding LeftImage,
                RelativeSource={RelativeSource AncestorType=Button}}" ... />
<Image Source="{Binding RightImage,
                RelativeSource={RelativeSource AncestorType=Button}}" ... />

---

Since these Bindings are in the Button's Template, you may as well use a TemplateBinding. You would however have to set the appropriate TargetType:

<Button x:Class="MyNamespace.actionButton"
        ...
        xmlns:local="clr-namespace:MyNamespace">
    <Button.Template>
        <ControlTemplate TargetType="local:actionButton">
            ...
            <Image Source="{TemplateBinding LeftImage}" ... />
            ...
        </ControlTemplate>
    </Button.Template>
</Button>

---

Now when you use your Button, you can simply set (or also bind) these properties like this:

<local:ActionButton x:Name="ab" LeftImage="SomeImage.jpg"/>

or in code behind:

ab.LeftImage = new BitmapImage(new Uri("SomeImage.jpg", UriKind.RelativeOrAbsolute));

If the image file should be embedded as assembly resource, you should set its Build Action to Resource, and load it from a Resource File Pack URI :

ab.LeftImage = new BitmapImage(new Uri("pack://application:,,,/SomeImage.jpg"));

---

As a note, you should follow widely accepted naming conventions, and call it ActionButton .