ViewHandler 1.1.1

ViewHandler

ViewHandler is a .NET class library that provides a range of utility methods for working with user interface elements in desktop applications.

Documentation of Methods

ChangeElementForeground

ChangeElementForeground<T>(Color color,T element)

Changes the Foreground color of a single FrameworkElement object element to the specified color parameter, which is of type Color. If the element is of type Control, its Foreground property will be set to a new SolidColorBrush object with the specified color. This method has a generic type parameter T, which must be a subclass of FrameworkElement.

Parameters:

color: The Color object to be used as the new color.

element: The FrameworkElement that will have its Foreground set to the new Color.

To call this method, use the following syntax : ViewHandler.ChangeElementForeground<FrameworkElement>(colorObject, elementObject);

ChangeElementsForeground

ChangeElementsForeground<T>(Color color, params T[] elements)

Changes the Foreground color of multiple FrameworkElement objects passed as parameters, using a params array of type T[]. For each element in the array, the method checks if it is of type Control, and if so, sets its Foreground property to a new SolidColorBrush with the specified color. This method has a generic type parameter T, which must be a subclass of FrameworkElement.

Parameters:

color: The Color object to be used as the new color.

elements: The FrameworkElements that will have their Foregrounds set to the new Color.

To call this method, use the following syntax : ViewHandler.ChangeElementsForeground<FrameworkElement>(colorObject, elementObject1, elementObject2, elementObject3);

ChangeElementBackground

ChangeElementBackground<T>(T element, Color color)

Changes the background color of a single FrameworkElement object element to the specified color parameter, which is of type Color. If the element is of type Control, its Background property will be set to a new SolidColorBrush object with the specified color. This method has a generic type parameter T, which must be a subclass of FrameworkElement.

Parameters:

color: The Color object to be used as the new color.

element: The FrameworkElement that will have its Background set to the new Color.

To call this method, use the following syntax : ViewHandler.ChangeElementBackground<FrameworkElement>(colorObject, elementObject);

ChangeElementsBackground

ChangeElementsBackground<T>(Color color, params T[] elements)

Changes the Background color of multiple FrameworkElement objects passed as parameters, using a params array of type T[]. For each element in the array, the method checks if it is of type Control, and if so, sets its Background property to a new SolidColorBrush with the specified color. This method has a generic type parameter T, which must be a subclass of FrameworkElement.

Parameters:

color: The Color object to be used as the new color.

elements: The FrameworkElements that will have their Backgrounds set to the new Color.

To call this method, use the following syntax : ViewHandler.ChangeElementsBackground<FrameworkElement>(colorObject, elementObject1, elementObject2, elementObject3);

OpenNewWindow

OpenNewWindow(Type window)

Creates and shows a new Window object of the specified Type parameter, which must be a subclass of the Window class. The method checks if the Type parameter is a subclass of Window using the IsSubclassOf method. If not, an ArgumentException is thrown. The method uses reflection to create an instance of the specified Type parameter at runtime, and then shows the new window using its Show method.

Parameters:

window: The Type to open.

To call this method, use the following syntax : ViewHandler.OpenNewWindow(typeof(MyWindowClass));

CloseWindow

CloseWindow(Window window)

Closes the specified Window object by calling its Close method.

Parameters:

window: The Window object to close.

To call this method, use the following syntax : ViewHandler.CloseWindow(myWindowObject);

DisableElements

DisableElements<T>(params T[] elements)

Disables a set of UI elements passed as parameters. This method will set the IsEnabled property of each element to false.

Parameters:

elements: The FrameworkElements that will have their IsEnabled properties set to false.

To call this method, use the following syntax : ViewHandler.DisableElements<FrameworkElement>(myTextBox, myButton1, myButton2, myLabel, myLabel2);

EnableElements

EnableElements<T>(params T[] elements)

Enables a set of UI elements passed as parameters. This method will set the IsEnabled property of each element to true

Parameters:

elements: The FrameworkElements that will have their IsEnabled properties set to true.

To call this method, use the following syntax : ViewHandler.EnableElements<FrameworkElement>(myTextBox, myButton1, myButton2, myLabel, myLabel2);

CollapseElements

CollapseElements<T>(params T[] elements)

Collapses a set of UI elements passed as parameters. This method will set the Visibility property of each element to Visibility.Collapsed.

Parameters:

elements: The FrameworkElements that will have their Visibility properties set to Visibility.Collapsed.

To call this method, use the following syntax : ViewHandler.CollapseElements<FrameworkElement>(myTextBox, myButton1, myButton2, myLabel, myLabel2);

ShowElements

ShowElements<T>(params T[] elements)

Shows a set of UI elements passed as parameters. This method will set the Visibility property of each element to Visibility.Visible.

Parameters:

elements: The FrameworkElements that will have their Visibility properties set to Visibility.Visible.

To call this method, use the following syntax : ViewHandler.ShowElements<FrameworkElement>(myButton1, myButton2, myLabel, myLabel2);

SetElementsFontSize

SetElementsFontSize<T>(int newFontSize, params T[] elements)

Sets the font size of a set of UI elements passed as parameters. This method will set the FontSize property of each element to the specified size.

Parameters:

newFontSize : An Integer that sets the new FontSize.

elements: The FrameworkElements that will have their FontSize set to the new size.

To call this method, use the following syntax : ViewHandler.SetElementsFontSize<FrameworkElement>(44, myLabel1, myLabel2, myButton);

AreTextBoxesEmptyOrNull

AreTextBoxesEmptyOrNull(params TextBox[] textBoxes)

Checks whether a set of TextBox controls passed as parameters are empty or null. This method returns a Boolean value indicating whether all TextBox controls are either empty or null.

Parameters: textBoxes: The TextBoxes that will be checked if they are empty or null.

To call this method, use the following syntax : if (ViewHandler.AreTextBoxesEmptyOrNull(myTextBox1, myTextBox2, myTextBox3))

LoadObjectsToComboBox

LoadObjectsToComboBox<T>(ComboBox cbo, List<T> list)

This method loads a List of objects into a ComboBox control. Each object in the list is converted to a string using its ToString() method and added to the ComboBox's Items collection.

Parameters:

cbo: The ComboBox control to load the objects into.

list: The List of objects to load into the ComboBox.

To call this method, use the following syntax : ViewHandler.LoadObjectsToComboBox(myComboBox, myList);

SetComboBoxPreviewItem

SetComboBoxPreviewItem(ComboBox cbo, string textItem)

This method sets an initial preview item to be displayed in a ComboBox control. The preview item is a non-selectable item that is displayed in the ComboBox when it is empty.

Parameters:

cbo: The ComboBox control to set the preview item for.

textItem: The text to display in the preview item.

To call this method, use the following syntax : ViewHandler.SetComboboxPreviewItem(myComboBox, "--- Preview Item ---" );

UpdateListView

UpdateListView<T>(ListView lv, IEnumerable<T> collection)

This method clears a ListView control and then iterates over an IEnumerable collection of objects, converting each object to a string using its ToString() method and adding it to the ListView's Items collection.

Parameters:

lv: The ListView control to update.

collection: An IEnumerable collection of objects to add to the ListView.

To call this method, use the following syntax : ViewHandler.UpdateListView(myListView, myList);

ParseStringToEnum

ParseStringToEnum<T>(string stringToParse)

This method takes a string and tries to parse it into an enumeration value of a specific Enum type. If the parsing succeeds, the method returns the resulting Enum value. If the parsing fails, the method throws an ArgumentException.

Parameters:

stringToParse: The string to parse into an Enum value.

Returns:

The Enum value corresponding to the parsed string.

Exceptions:

ArgumentException: If the T type parameter is not an Enum type or if the parsing fails.

To call this method, use the following syntax : MyEnum myEnum = ViewHandler.ParseStringToEnum<MyEnum>(myComboBox.SelectedItem.ToString());

GetEnumList

GetEnumList<T>()

This method returns a List of all possible values for the specified enum type. If T is not an enum type, an ArgumentException is thrown.

This method converts the contents of an enumeration type T to a List of T values.

Type Parameters:

T: The Type of enum to convert to a list.

Returns:

A list of T values representing the contents of the enumeration type T.

To call this method, use the following syntax : List<MyEnum> myEnumList = ViewHandler.GetEnumList<MyEnum>();

CreateListViewItem

CreateListViewItem(Object obj, string objContent)

Takes an Object and a string and creates a ListViewItem with the Tag property set to the Object, and the Content property set to the string. This method is useful when creating ListViewitem that need to have an Object associated with them, such as when building a List of selectable items in a UI.

Parameters:

obj: The Object to set as the Tag property of the ListViewItem. This object can be any type of object.

objContent: The string to be set as the Content property of the ListViewItem.

To call this method, use the following syntax : ListViewItem myListViewItem = ViewHandler.CreateListViewItem(myObject, "This string will be displayed");

AddLvItemToListView

AddLvItemToListView(ListViewItem lvItem, ListView listView)

Takes a ListViewItem and adds it to a ListView. This method is useful when you need to programmatically add items to a ListView at runtime.

Parameters:

lvItem: The ListViewItem to add to the ListView.

listView: The ListView to which the ListViewItem will be added.

To call this method, use the following syntax : ViewHandler.AddLvItemToListView(myListViewItem, myListView);

To call this method with the CreateListViewItem method, use the following syntax : ViewHandler.AddLvItemToListView(ViewHandler.CreateListViewItem(myObject, "This string will be displayed"),myListView);

GetListFromListViewTags

GetListFromListViewTags<T>(ListView listView)

Takes a ListView and tries to convert all items with a Tag property that matches with the specified Type to a list. If the object is not of the specified Type it is not converted.

Parameters:

listView: The ListView to retrieve items from.

Type Parameters:

T: The type to search for in the ListView items.

Returns:

List<T>: containing all the ListViewItem.Tag values that match the specified Type.

To call this method, use the following syntax : List<MyObject> myList = ViewHandler.GetListFromListViewTags<MyObject>(myListView);