Using VisualBrush as OpacityMask

Question

I want to set OpacityMask to a control, but I need to build that mask dynamically. Here is how it should look:

http://i54.tinypic.com/350lc3a.png
The width and height of the whole (red) rectangle is dynamic, based on width and height of parent control. But I need to place two small rectangles (static width and height) in top left and top right corner, as shown on image. So how can I make this happen?

I tried this code, but it doesn't work: (nothing is displayed at all)

<Border BorderBrush="#80FFFFFF" BorderThickness="1" CornerRadius="5">
    <Border.OpacityMask>
        <VisualBrush>
            <VisualBrush.Visual>
                <DockPanel>
                    <StackPanel DockPanel.Dock="Top" Orientation="Horizontal" Height="2">
                        <Border Background="Transparent" Width="12" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" HorizontalAlignment="Left" />
                        <Border Background="Black" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" />
                        <Border Background="Transparent" Width="12" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" HorizontalAlignment="Right" />
                    </StackPanel>

                    <Border Background="Black" />
                </DockPanel>
            </VisualBrush.Visual>
        </VisualBrush>
    </Border.OpacityMask>
</Border>

Is it even valid to use VisualBrush this way (as a OpacityMask)?

Answer 1

If I understand your question correctly you want those Black squares in you image to be transparent?

Update: Uploaded sample project here: http://www.mediafire.com/?5tfkd1cxwfq0rct

I think the problem is that the Panel inside the VisualBrush won't stretch. You could get the desired effect by Binding the Width and Height of whatever Panel you use to the ActualWidth and ActualHeight of the Border

<Border Name="border" BorderBrush="Red" BorderThickness="1" CornerRadius="5">
    <Border.OpacityMask>
        <VisualBrush>
            <VisualBrush.Visual>
                <Grid Width="{Binding ElementName=border, Path=ActualWidth}"
                      Height="{Binding ElementName=border, Path=ActualHeight}">
                    <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                        <ColumnDefinition Width="20"/>
                        <ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
                        <ColumnDefinition Width="20"/>
                    </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                    <Grid.RowDefinitions>
                        <RowDefinition Height="20"/>
                        <RowDefinition Height="*"/>
                    </Grid.RowDefinitions>
                    <Rectangle Fill="Transparent" Grid.Column="0"/>
                    <Rectangle Fill="Black" Grid.Column="1"/>
                    <Rectangle Fill="Transparent" Grid.Column="2"/>
                    <Rectangle Fill="Black" Grid.Row="1" Grid.ColumnSpan="3"/>
                </Grid>
            </VisualBrush.Visual>
        </VisualBrush>
    </Border.OpacityMask>
    <Grid>
        <TextBlock Text="Testing OpacityMask with a rather long string................." Grid.ZIndex="3"/>
        <Rectangle Fill="Green"/>
    </Grid>
</Border>

Update Again
The DropShadowEffect for the Decorator Child of the Border seems to push the OpacityMask for the Border both Verticaly and Horizontaly. And what's even worse is that it seems to stack, so in your example when you have three DropShadowEffects for three nested Decorators, the sum of the BlurRadius is 45 (20+15+10) so the OpacityMask is pushed by a value of 45 (at least it looks like this is whats going on, but it's a little hard to tell..). You could try to compensate for this by increasing the ColumnDefinition Widths and RowDefinition Heights but I think it'll be hard to find a dynamic solution.

A better approach to your problem may be to use Border.Clip but that doesn't come easy either.

Point1:  0, 2
Point2: 12, 2
Point3: 12, 0
Point4: Width of Border - 12, 0
Point5: Width of Border - 12, 2
Point5: Width of Border, 2
Point6: Width of Border, Height of Border
Point7: 0, Height of Border

Update 3
Came up with a better solution that doesn't require so many Bindings. Create a custom class that derives from Border and override GetLayoutClip. This works both in Designer and Runtime. To increase flexibility of ClippedBorder you could introduce some Dependency Properties to use instead of the hardcoded 2 and 12. New sample app here: http://www.mediafire.com/?9i13rrqpbmzdbvs

public class ClippedBorder : Border
{
    protected override Geometry GetLayoutClip(Size layoutSlotSize)
    {
        PathGeometry pathGeometry = new PathGeometry();
        pathGeometry.Figures = new PathFigureCollection();

        //Point1:  0, 2
        PathFigure pathFigure = new PathFigure();
        pathFigure.StartPoint = new Point(0, 2);

        //Point2: 12, 2
        LineSegment lineSegment1 = new LineSegment();
        lineSegment1.Point = new Point(12, 2);

        //Point3: 12, 0
        LineSegment lineSegment2 = new LineSegment();
        lineSegment2.Point = new Point(12, 0);

        //Point4: Width of Border - 12, 0
        LineSegment lineSegment3 = new LineSegment();
        lineSegment3.Point = new Point(this.ActualWidth-12, 0);

        //Point5: Width of Border - 12, 2
        LineSegment lineSegment4 = new LineSegment();
        lineSegment4.Point = new Point(this.ActualWidth-12, 2);

        //Point5: Width of Border, 2
        LineSegment lineSegment5 = new LineSegment();
        lineSegment5.Point = new Point(this.ActualWidth, 2);

        //Point6: Width of Border, Height of Border
        LineSegment lineSegment6 = new LineSegment();
        lineSegment6.Point = new Point(this.ActualWidth, this.ActualHeight);

        //Point7: 0, Height of Border 
        LineSegment lineSegment7 = new LineSegment();
        lineSegment7.Point = new Point(0, this.ActualHeight);

        pathFigure.Segments.Add(lineSegment1);
        pathFigure.Segments.Add(lineSegment2);
        pathFigure.Segments.Add(lineSegment3);
        pathFigure.Segments.Add(lineSegment4);
        pathFigure.Segments.Add(lineSegment5);
        pathFigure.Segments.Add(lineSegment6);
        pathFigure.Segments.Add(lineSegment7);

        pathGeometry.Figures.Add(pathFigure);

        return pathGeometry;
    }
}