WPF User Control Parent

I have a user control that I load into a MainWindow at runtime. I cannot get a handle on the containing window from the UserControl.

I have tried this.Parent, but it's always null. Does anyone know how to get a handle to the containing window from a user control in WPF?

Here is how the control is loaded:

private void XMLLogViewer_MenuItem_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
	MenuItem application = sender as MenuItem;
	string parameter = application.CommandParameter as string;
	string controlName = parameter;
	if (uxPanel.Children.Count == 0)
	{
		System.Runtime.Remoting.ObjectHandle instance = Activator.CreateInstance(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly().FullName, controlName);
		UserControl control = instance.Unwrap() as UserControl;
		this.LoadControl(control);
	}
}

private void LoadControl(UserControl control)
{
	if (uxPanel.Children.Count > 0)
	{
		foreach (UIElement ctrl in uxPanel.Children)
		{
			if (ctrl.GetType() != control.GetType())
			{
				this.SetControl(control);
			}
		}
	}
	else
	{
		this.SetControl(control);
	}
}

private void SetControl(UserControl control)
{
    control.Width = uxPanel.Width;
    control.Height = uxPanel.Height;
    uxPanel.Children.Add(control);
}

Try using the following:

Window parentWindow = Window.GetWindow(userControlReference);

The GetWindow method will walk the VisualTree for you and locate the window that is hosting your control.

You should run this code after the control has loaded (and not in the Window constructor) to prevent the GetWindow method from returning null. E.g. wire up an event:

this.Loaded += new RoutedEventHandler(UserControl_Loaded); 

I'll add my experience. Although using the Loaded event can do the job, I think it may be more suitable to override the OnInitialized method. Loaded occurs after the window is first displayed. OnInitialized gives you chance to make any changes, for example, add controls to the window before it is rendered.

Use VisualTreeHelper.GetParent or the recursive function below to find the parent window.

public static Window FindParentWindow(DependencyObject child)
{
    DependencyObject parent= VisualTreeHelper.GetParent(child);

    //CHeck if this is the end of the tree
    if (parent == null) return null;

    Window parentWindow = parent as Window;
    if (parentWindow != null)
    {
        return parentWindow;
    }
    else
    {
        //use recursion until it reaches a Window
        return FindParentWindow(parent);
    }
}

I needed to use the Window.GetWindow(this) method within Loaded event handler. In other words, I used both Ian Oakes' answer in combination with Alex's answer to get a user control's parent.

public MainView()
{
    InitializeComponent();

    this.Loaded += new RoutedEventHandler(MainView_Loaded);
}

void MainView_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
    Window parentWindow = Window.GetWindow(this);

    ...
}

If you are finding this question and the VisualTreeHelper isn't working for you or working sporadically, you may need to include LogicalTreeHelper in your algorithm.

Here is what I am using:

public static T TryFindParent<T>(DependencyObject current) where T : class
{
    DependencyObject parent = VisualTreeHelper.GetParent(current);
    if( parent == null )
        parent = LogicalTreeHelper.GetParent(current);
    if( parent == null )
        return null;

    if( parent is T )
        return parent as T;
    else
        return TryFindParent<T>(parent);
}

This approach worked for me but it is not as specific as your question:

App.Current.MainWindow

How about this:

DependencyObject parent = ExVisualTreeHelper.FindVisualParent<UserControl>(this);

public static class ExVisualTreeHelper
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Finds the visual parent.
    /// </summary>
    /// <typeparam name="T"></typeparam>
    /// <param name="sender">The sender.</param>
    /// <returns></returns>
    public static T FindVisualParent<T>(DependencyObject sender) where T : DependencyObject
    {
        if (sender == null)
        {
            return (null);
        }
        else if (VisualTreeHelper.GetParent(sender) is T)
        {
            return (VisualTreeHelper.GetParent(sender) as T);
        }
        else
        {
            DependencyObject parent = VisualTreeHelper.GetParent(sender);
            return (FindVisualParent<T>(parent));
        }
    } 
}

I've found that the parent of a UserControl is always null in the constructor, but in any event handlers the parent is set correctly. I guess it must have something to do with the way the control tree is loaded. So to get around this you can just get the parent in the controls Loaded event.

For an example checkout this question https://stackoverflow.com/questions/296503/wpf-user-controls-datacontext-is-null

Another way:

var main = App.Current.MainWindow as MainWindow;

It's working for me:

DependencyObject GetTopLevelControl(DependencyObject control)
{
    DependencyObject tmp = control;
    DependencyObject parent = null;
    while((tmp = VisualTreeHelper.GetParent(tmp)) != null)
    {
        parent = tmp;
    }
    return parent;
}

This didn't work for me, as it went too far up the tree, and got the absolute root window for the entire application:

Window parentWindow = Window.GetWindow(userControlReference);

However, this worked to get the immediate window:

DependencyObject parent = uiElement;
int avoidInfiniteLoop = 0;
while ((parent is Window)==false)
{
	parent = VisualTreeHelper.GetParent(parent);
	avoidInfiniteLoop++;
	if (avoidInfiniteLoop == 1000)
	{
		// Something is wrong - we could not find the parent window.
		break;
	}
}
Window window = parent as Window;
window.DragMove();

If you just want to get a specific parent, not only the window, a specific parent in the tree structure, and also not using recursion, or hard break loop counters, you can use the following:

public static T FindParent<T>(DependencyObject current)
    where T : class 
{
    var dependency = current;

    while((dependency = VisualTreeHelper.GetParent(dependency) ?? LogicalTreeHelper.GetParent(dependency)) != null
        && !(dependency is T)) { }

    return dependency as T;
}

Just don't put this call in a constructor (since the Parent property is not yet initialized). Add it in the loading event handler, or in other parts of your application.

DependencyObject parent = ExVisualTreeHelper.FindVisualParent<UserControl>(this);

DependencyObject GetTopParent(DependencyObject current)
{
    while (VisualTreeHelper.GetParent(current) != null)
    {
        current = VisualTreeHelper.GetParent(current);
    }
    return current;
}

DependencyObject parent = GetTopParent(thisUserControl);

The Window.GetWindow(userControl) will return the actual window only after the window was initialized (InitializeComponent() method finished).

This means, that if your user control is initialized together with its window (for instance you put your user control into the window's xaml file), then on the user control's OnInitialized event you will not get the window (it will be null), cause in that case the user control's OnInitialized event fires before the window is initialized.

This also means that if your user control is initialized after its window, then you can get the window already in the user control's constructor.

Gold plated edition of the above (I need a generic function which can infer a Window within the context of a MarkupExtension:-

public sealed class MyExtension : MarkupExtension
{
    public override object ProvideValue(IServiceProvider serviceProvider) =>
        new MyWrapper(ResolveRootObject(serviceProvider));
    object ResolveRootObject(IServiceProvider serviceProvider) => 
         GetService<IRootObjectProvider>(serviceProvider).RootObject;
}

class MyWrapper
{
    object _rootObject;

    Window OwnerWindow() => WindowFromRootObject(_rootObject);

    static Window WindowFromRootObject(object root) =>
        (root as Window) ?? VisualParent<Window>((DependencyObject)root);
    static T VisualParent<T>(DependencyObject node) where T : class
    {
        if (node == null)
            throw new InvalidOperationException("Could not locate a parent " + typeof(T).Name);
        var target = node as T;
        if (target != null)
            return target;
        return VisualParent<T>(VisualTreeHelper.GetParent(node));
    }
}

MyWrapper.Owner() will correctly infer a Window on the following basis:

• the root Window by walking the visual tree (if used in the context of a UserControl)
• the window within which it is used (if it is used in the context of a Window's markup)

Different approaches and different strategies. In my case I could not find the window of my dialog either through using VisualTreeHelper or extension methods from Telerik to find parent of given type. Instead, I found my my dialog view which accepts custom injection of contents using Application.Current.Windows.

public Window GetCurrentWindowOfType<TWindowType>(){
 return Application.Current.Windows.OfType<TWindowType>().FirstOrDefault() as Window;
}