I have a simple user control with a TextBox
. I want to change the color of user control when the TextBox
gets the focus. This is what I have:
<UserControl x:Class="OutLookContactList.ContactSearchControl"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
x:Name="root" MinHeight="30" Loaded="UserControl_Loaded">
<UserControl.Resources>
<Style x:Key="searchTextBoxStyle" TargetType="{x:Type TextBox}">
<Style.Triggers>
<Trigger Property="IsFocused" Value="true">
<Setter TargetName="root" Property="Background" Value="{StaticResource OnMouseOverColor}" />
</Trigger>
</Style.Triggers>
</Style>
</UserControl.Resources>
But I get the errot "TargetName property cannot be set on a style Setter". How can I Set the back ground color of user control when text box gets the focus?
Thanks a bunch
Will it work to wrap the contents of your UserControl
inside a Border
object? If so, you can simply style the Border
like so:
<UserControl x:Class="Sample2.ContactSearchControl"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Height="75" Width="300">
<Border>
<Border.Style>
<Style TargetType="Border">
<Setter Property="Background" Value="White" />
<Style.Triggers>
<DataTrigger Binding="{Binding IsFocused, ElementName=txtSearch}" Value="true">
<Setter Property="Background" Value="Black" />
</DataTrigger>
</Style.Triggers>
</Style>
</Border.Style>
<StackPanel>
<TextBox x:Name="txtSearch" Text="Search" />
<TextBox Text="Other" />
</StackPanel>
</Border>
</UserControl>
Update: (Answering Sheraz' Questions)
I'm not sure why ElementName
doesn't work for accessing children within a UserControl
. It might have something to do with the way the visual tree is constructed.
As for Trigger
vs DataTrigger
: Trigger is for dependency properties and DataTrigger is for databound properties (data or other controls). Since you are trying to style the Border
, it makes more sense to place the DataTrigger
there and have it watch the TextBox
than to have the TextBox
change the appearance of the Border
.
As I understand it, the TargetName
property of Setter
is only applicable within a DataTemplate
or ControlTemplate
. (Info from Dr. WPF in this forum post)
Here's some XAML that works in Kaxaml:
<Page
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
<Page.Style>
<Style TargetType="Page">
<Setter Property="Background" Value="#CCCCD0" />
<Style.Triggers>
<DataTrigger Binding="{Binding ElementName=txtSearch, Path=IsFocused}"
Value="true">
<Setter Property="Background" Value="Black" />
</DataTrigger>
</Style.Triggers>
</Style>
</Page.Style>
<TextBox x:Name="txtSearch" Width="100"
HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center" />
</Page>
You would change the Page
object with your UserControl
. I find it much easier to test these sorts of things out in a rapid prototyping tool such as Kaxaml before coding up the UserControl
in VS.
Note that you have to set the default colour (in this case #CCCCD0
) via a property setter and not via an attribute on the Page
itself. This is because the attribute would override the value set by the trigger (because it's a style trigger), so even though the trigger would fire, it would always be trumpted by the local attribute specification, meaning that it wouldn't change. I only point this out because it's a fairly common gotcha.
If you were changing the background of the text box you need to remove the TargetName
property:
<Style x:Key="searchTextBoxStyle" TargetType="{x:Type TextBox}">
<Style.Triggers>
<Trigger Property="IsFocused" Value="true">
<Setter Property="Background" Value="{StaticResource OnMouseOverColor}" />
</Trigger>
</Style.Triggers>
</Style>
and change the TextBox that wants this style to be:
<TextBox Style="{StaticResource searchTextBoxStyle}" .... />
However, as you want to change the value of the parent user control this won't give you want you want.
You could certainly do it in the code behind by adding a GotFocus
event handler and putting the code to change the background colour in there.