How do I load controls in different ContentControls of a Shell using CaliburnMicro

Question

By default when you use "ActivateItem(new Control());" your control is loaded into a ContentControl which with the name ActiveItem, fro example. . If I have multiple content controls on my page how would I load controls into them whilst retaining the ability to use the default functionality of being able to load controls into the the active item control.

for example I want to have a login control to be loaded into the Login ContentControl, and when a user successfully login I want a new control to be loaded into the ActiveItem ContentControl.

Thanx in advance.

Answer 1

If the ViewModel that gets binded to the UI contains a property with the name that matches a content control. The Content control view automatically gets resolved the the view supported by this property, provided this property itself is a ViewModel type and has been registed with Ioc container. For example

<ContentControl x:Name="LoginStatus"></ContentControl>

If there is a property LoginStatus on the main ViewModel (LoginStatus property itself is a ViewModel). The content control would correctly get rendered with the appropriate view.

Answer 2

This is an old question, but in case anyone is having the same issue, here is my solution:

1. Your main window that contain both (or even more than two) of your User Controls must be inherited from Caliburn.Micro.Conductor<Screen>.Collection.AllActive;
2. Your User Controls must be inherited from Caliburn.Micro.Screen;
3. You must also keep naming conventions in mind. If you use MenuUC as the name of a ContentControl in your View, also create a property named MenuUC in your ViewModel;
4. Initialize your UserControl as I do in Constructor;
5. Now you can use ActivateItem(MenuUC) and DeactivateItem(MenuUC) everywhere in your code. Caliburn.Micro automatically detects which one you want to work with.

Example XAML View code:

<Window x:Class="YourProject.Views.YourView"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
        xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
        mc:Ignorable="d"
        Title="YourViewTitle" Width="900" Height="480">

    <Grid>
        <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
            <ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
            <ColumnDefinition Width="4*"/>
        </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
        <Grid.RowDefinitions>
            <RowDefinition Height="auto"/>
            <RowDefinition Height="*"/>
        </Grid.RowDefinitions>

        <!-- Menu Side Bar -->
        <ContentControl Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="0" x:Name="MenuUC" />

        <!-- Panel -->
        <Border Grid.Column="1" Grid.RowSpan="2" BorderThickness="1,0,0,0" BorderBrush="#FF707070" >
            <ContentControl x:Name="PanelUC" />
        </Border>
    </Grid>
</Window>

Example C# ViewModel code:

class YourViewModel : Conductor<Screen>.Collection.AllActive
{
    // Menu Side Bar
    private MenuUCViewModel _menuUC;
    public MenuUCViewModel MenuUC
    {
        get { return _menuUC; }
        set { _menuUC = value; NotifyOfPropertyChange(() => MenuUC); }
    }

    // Panel
    private Screen _panelUC;
    public Screen PanelUC
    {
        get { return _panelUC; }
        set { _panelUC = value; NotifyOfPropertyChange(() => PanelUC); }
    }

    // Constructor
    public YourViewModel()
    {
        MenuUC = new MenuUCViewModel();
        ActivateItem(MenuUC);

        PanelUC = new FirstPanelUCViewModel();
        ActivateItem(PanelUC);
    }

    // Some method that changes PanelUC (previously FirstPanelUCViewModel) to SecondPanelUCViewModel
    public void ChangePanels()
    {
        DeactivateItem(PanelUC);
        PanelUC = new SecondPanelUCViewModel();
        ActivateItem(PanelUC);
    }
}

In the above example, ChangePanels() acts as a method to load new User Control into your ContentControl.

Also read this question, it might be help you further.