Stack.Widgets

A collection of widgets for Stack

• Widgets
  • Usage
  • WebView
  • Underlay
• Data Sources
  • Usage
  • WebDataSource
  • RefreshableDataSource
  • Refreshable data sources
• Parsers and data binding
• Samples

Widgets

Usage

Requires Stack v2.1+ (release planned for the end of June 2018).

Reference widgets library in your layout like this:

xmlns:widgets="clr-namespace:LostTech.Stack.Widgets;assembly=LostTech.Stack.Widgets"

Insert your widget(s):

<widgets:__SOME__WIDGET__ ...></widgets:__SOME__WIDGET__>

WebView

Example:

<widgets:WebView URL="https://detectmybrowser.com/"/>

URL (bindable, OneWay) - get or set the URL to display

Current version uses IE engine.

Underlay

There's an easy way to hide widgets from layout grid, when you are dragging a window:

<widgets:__WIDGET__ ... zones:Layout.IsUnderlay="True" .../>

Setting this will automatically hide your widget from the dragging overlay. Note, this setting is an opposite of IsHint, which shows element only in the overlay.

Data Sources

These are helpful if you want to create custom inline widgets inside your layout. Together with parsers (see data binding), they allow to build complex data display for virtually any information source you could imagine.

Usage

Requires Stack v2.1+

Add a reference to out of box data sources in your layout:

xmlns:sources="clr-namespace:LostTech.Stack.Widgets.DataSources;assembly=LostTech.Stack.Widgets"

If its not already there, add <*.Resources> section to your layout's root. Add your data source to Resouces section.

For example:

<Grid
  ...
  xmlns:...
  xmlns:...
  ...
>
  <Grid.Resources>
    <sources:__SOME_DATA_SOURCE__ x:Key="MySource" 
              ...
              />  
  </Grid.Resources>
  ...
</Grid>

WebDataSource

WebDataSource allows you to fetch data from the Internet. Can refresh data automatically, if the remote source provides expiration information (see Expiration below). This data source is Refreshable (see below).

Settable properties

Url (bindable, required) - sets the URL to fetch data from.

Example: Url="https://www.hanselman.com/blog/SyndicationService.asmx/GetAtom"

Notes: WebDataSource does not currently provide any authentication mechanisms. So either the Url must be unauthenticated, or the authentication information must be passed in the Url itself.

Provided data

Content: string (bindable, optional) - provides the text, retrieved from the data request. Usually, it will be JSON, XML or HTML. Returns null if the last request was not successful.

ContentTimestamp: DateTime (bindable) - provides the time, when the Content property was last updated.

Error: Exception (bindable, optional) - a network error, if any. Set to null if data source received valid, but possibly unsuccessful response from the server. Most useful is its Message property.

Expiration: DateTime? (bindable, optional) - if a successful response was received, and server provided expiration time in it, it will be reflected in this property. By default, when this time will come, WebDataSource will refresh itself.

Response*: HttpResponseMessage (bindable, optional, OneWay) - if any response was received (see Error above otherwise), this will contain .NET standard response object.

Its most common properties are IsSuccessStatusCode, that indicates, if request was succesfully processed, and StatusCode, that returns corresponding HTTP status code.

RefreshableDataSource

RefreshableDataSource is actually just a wrapper for other data sources, or .NET properties. It enables periodic refresh of data from the source, even if the source does not update automatically. Hense, this data source is Refreshable.

Example

In this example we create a data source from a static .NET DateTime.Now property. RefreshableDataSource wrapping is required, because DateTime.Now does not raise any change events, so UI does not know when to update it. We set the refresh interval to 1 second.

<sources:RefreshableDataSource x:Key="TimeSource" 
         Source="{c:Binding sys:DateTime.Now}"
         sources:DataSource.RefreshInterval="0:0:1"
         />
...
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Source, Source={StaticResource TimeSource}, Mode=OneWay}"/>

Settable properties

Source (bindable, required) - sets the source property to get the data from. The same property is used to retrieve the data. DataSource.RefreshInterval (bindable, required) - sets the refresh interval. This property can actually be set on any Refreshable data source, see below.

Provided data

Source (bindable) - gets the data from the wrapped data source.

Refreshable data sources

Some data sources (currently - all out of box ones) are refreshable. They implement IRefreshable interface, which provides a RefreshCommand, that can be executed to refresh data. For example:

<Button Command="{Binding RefreshCommand, Source={StaticResource SOME_REFRESHABLE_DATASOURCE}}">Refresh!</Button>

The following property can be set to update them at regular intervals:

DataSource.RefreshInterval (bindable) - sets the refresh interval.

Samples

Sample inline widgets are demostrated in the blog post