Enable command binding for TextBlock

Question

I am developing a WPF application, and have a TextBlock which I want to use command binding to trigger a command on when clicked. What's the best way to achieve this?

• The TextBlock-control does not have a Command property, but it does have a CommandManager. What is this? Can it be used for command bindings? I've seen many other controls as well with this property..

• Is there some control I have overseen that can be used? Is it e.g. recommended to use a button and style it to not look like a button?

• Is there some controls supporting Command bindings which I can wrap around the TextBlock?

• Should I create a custom control which basically is a TextBlock, but with extra properties Command and CommandArgument which enables command binding on e.g. the MouseLeftButtonDown property.

Answer 1

Is there some control I have overseen that can be used? Is it e.g. recommended to use a button and style it to not look like a button?

Yes. The simplest approach would be to re-template a button to act like a TextBlock and leverage the command property on the button class.

Something like this:

<ControlTemplate TargetType="Button">
        <TextBlock Text="{TemplateBinding Content}" />
    </ControlTemplate>
...
<Button Content="Foo" Command="{Binding Bar}" />

Answer 2

The below XAML can be used to add a Command Binding to a WPF TextBlock which will then work on a mouse action.

<TextBlock FontWeight="Bold" Text="Header" Cursor="Hand">
    <TextBlock.InputBindings>
        <MouseBinding Command="ApplicationCommands.Cut" MouseAction="LeftClick"/>
    </TextBlock.InputBindings>
</TextBlock>

The Command can be one of the built-in application commands, which would use the syntax as shown above, or it can be a custom Command that inherits from the ICommand Interface. In that case, the syntax would be:

<MouseBinding Command="{Binding myCustomCommand}" MouseAction="LeftClick"/>

The MouseAction doesn't provide any Intellisense tips on what to put there (in VS2015), so you have to do a little digging to get the valid enumerations.

As of .NET 4.5, the valid entries for MouseAction are:

• LeftClick - left mouse button click.
• LeftDoubleClick - left mouse button double-click.
• MiddleClick - middle mouse button click.
• MiddleDoubleClick - middle mouse button double-click.
• None - No action.
• RightClick - right mouse button click.
• RightDoubleClick - right mouse button double-click.
• WheelClick - A mouse wheel rotation.

Constants shown above are taken from MSDN.