Introduction

Fins ara, en aquesta guia d'aprenentatge, només hem utilitzat els controls integrats per defecte dins del marc de treball WPF. Aquests ja et portaran lluny, gràcies a la seva flexibilitat i al fet que es poden personalitzar i modelar per a fer pràcticament qualsevol cosa. No obstant això, en algun moment donat segurament t'acabaràs beneficiant a través de la creació dels teus propis controls. En altres marcs de treball de UI (interfície d'usuari), això pot ser més aviat incòmode, però WPF et permet fer-ho d'una forma força senzilla, oferint dues formes d'aconseguir la tasca: Els Controls D'Usuari (UserControls) i els Controls Personalitzats (CustomControls).

UserControls

A WPF UserControl inherits the UserControl class and acts very much like a WPF Window: You have a XAML file and a Code-behind file. In the XAML file, you can add existing WPF controls to create the look you want and then combine it with code in the Code-behind file, to achieve the functionality you want. WPF will then allow you to embed this collection of functionality in one or several places in your application, allowing you to easily group and re-use functionality across your application(s).

Custom controls

A Custom control is more low-level than a UserControl. When you create a Custom control, you inherit from an existing class, based on how deep you need to go. In many cases, you can inherit the Control class, which other WPF controls inherits from (e.g. the TextBox), but if you need to go even deeper, you can inherit the FrameworkElement or even the UIElement. The deeper you go, the more control you get and the less functionality is inherited.

The look of the Custom control is usually controlled through styles in a theme file, while the look of the User control will follow the look of the rest of the application. That also highlights one of the major differences between a UserControl and a Custom control: The Custom control can be styled/templated, while a UserControl can't.

Summary

Creating re-usable controls in WPF is very easy, especially if you take the UserControl approach. In the next article, we'll look into just how easy it is to create a UserControl and then use it in your own application.