Working with Margins in WPF

Hi all,

As we know, that WPF has come up with a new Concept of XAML, the thing which irritated me most while I as learning it, is working with Margins. I, being an average guy, certainly took pretty long to understand how Margin Works.

     When I start learning WPF, I thought that previous version(Win Forms) is pretty easy and effective as compared to new WPF. But more familiar I got with WPF, I found it more and more effective.



Q. What are Margins?
A. Margins are mere numbers, which decide how far your control will be placed from the boundaries of the parent control/container.




Example:

  

  
< Grid >
      < Image Height="40" Margin="0,1,0,0" Name="imgTop" Opacity="1" Stretch="Fill" Style="{DynamicResource formHeaderImageStyle}" VerticalAlignment="Top" />

   < / Grid >

Now here, in the above line, it says vertical alignment = Top, that means, the margin will be considered from the top only. Margin 0,1,0,0 means 1 point away from top. Suppose if you want to increase and decrease the height of the control propotionate to the parent container then you can use following code.

< Grid >
      < Image Height="40" Margin="0,10,0,10" Name="imgTop" Opacity="1" Stretch="Fill" Style="{DynamicResource formHeaderImageStyle}" VerticalAlignment="Strech" />

   < / Grid >

The above code says Vertical alignment = strech. It means that the image control will be streched according to the margin set and the actual height of the container. The image control will be ten-ten points away from the top and the bottom of the container(Grid in the current case). If the Grid's height is increased, the image's height will be increased to ensure that the bottom is only 10 points aways from the Grid's lower bottom.

Thanks,
Vikas

Office 2007 Format

Hi,

Microsoft has brought a revolutionary change in office Application through Office 2007 Launch. The biggest change, for me is its XML Format. Now, Office document is not a mere document anymore. The new office documents behave like a Container too, that means, you can store any data in an office document. For example, you can store any bussiness information in an excel file which will not be visible to users at all.

I will take an example of a simple excel file, say myExcel.xlsx. If you add a zip extension(convert the name to myExcel.xlsx.zip) and open it with compressed zip folder, you can see that the excel file is a container(a folder) actually. Because, the data in office 2007 is stored in a container in the form of different files. You will see a file named "[Content_Types].xml" and along with few folders(normally three folders). These three folders are the containers where in all the data of the file store in the form of different XML Files. Whatever you will store in the excel file, it will appear in the XML file, one way or another.

One very good example of how the document is structured or used, is here:
http://blogs.msdn.com/brian_jones/archive/2005/06/20/430892.aspx

If I include a chart in a sheet, it will create few more xml files. For ex, \xl\charts\chart1.xml. This XML will contain all the data for chart and the formatting of the chart too. It will contain, that how many series does the chart have, what is the range of the chart, what type of chart is it etc.

Apart of the above features, you can also store your own XML Data in office document. The Office 2007 XML file format accommodates custom business data, and allows for programmatic access to it when files are loaded. So the data in Custom XML will not be directly visible to the user, but you can load it on the runtime and use it programmatically. A very good link from Brian Jones is http://blogs.msdn.com/brian_jones/archive/2005/11/04/integrating-with-business-data-store-custom-xml-in-the-office-xml-formats.aspx.

You can add the CustomXML while using the CustomXMLParts Object (given in the Office Object Model). Here is the link of MSDN http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa433523.aspx

Example:
[Code]
Dim cParts As CustomXMLParts
Set cParts = ThisWorkbook.CustomXMLParts

Create an xmlFile and save it on desktop. It can contain any information related to your bussiness requirements:

< ?xml version="1.0" ? >
< BhandariInfotech >
< ChartSheet Id="fChart" >Chart Collection< /ChartSheet >
< DataSheet Id="fChart" >Data Collection< /DataSheet >
< ChartSheet Id="sChart" >Charts< /ChartSheet >
< DataSheet Id="sChart" >Datas< /DataSheet >
< /BhandariInfotech >

cParts.Add "C:\A.xml"


[/Code]

The above data will include the above XML Tags in an XML File and store it in the excel file itself. This data will not be visible to user, but you can use it programmatically to access the data. You can also add your critical Business information, which you have to use in the document, but you don't want the users to see that information. These information can be your revenue figures, your Balance Sheet info...etc.

The XML Format is very modular and clean too. Every single thing in the Office Documents, is stored in different XML Files. Be it your Chart Data, be it your sheet data, be it your Name ranges...everything is stored in different XML files. These all files can be accessed programmatically to extend the functionalities of office applications. The idea of keeping all the files separate is to make sure that a user should be able to access a specific type of data, without touching the other files in the container. Earlier, suppose if my one sheet is corrupted, then the other sheets in the workbook will not be effected because the data is kept in separate XML files for different sheets. If I have 200+ sheets in my workbook, and I want to access only one sheet frequently, then opening a workbook with 200+ sheets can be a cumbersum task which will involve long time in opening and closing the workbook again and again. The other option is, access the Office Document Programmatically and copy only that sheet which you require in a new workbook and open that new workbook.

Thanks,
Vikas

Getting the object of Running office Application

If you want to use the running excel object. You can use the following function:

private void getExcelApp()
{
try
{
objXlApp = (excel.Application)System.Runtime.InteropServices.Marshal.GetActiveObject("Excel.Application");
}
catch
{
objXlApp = new excel.Application();
}
}

Setting RGB Colors for Excel 2007 Chart Series

Sub ColorChartSeriesWithRGB()
Dim chrt As Chart
Dim iSeries As Series
Dim colors(4, 3) As Integer
Dim i As Integer
Set chrt = ActiveChart
colors(1, 1) = 100
colors(1, 2) = 200
colors(1, 3) = 250
colors(2, 1) = 200
colors(2, 2) = 256
colors(2, 3) = 50
colors(3, 1) = 60
colors(3, 2) = 180
colors(3, 3) = 126
colors(4, 1) = 111
colors(4, 2) = 123
colors(4, 3) = 205
i = 1
For Each iSeries In chrt.SeriesCollection
iSeries.Format.Fill.ForeColor.RGB = RGB(colors(i, 1), colors(i, 2), colors(i, 3))
i = i + 1
Next iSeries
End Sub