Issue with GridSplitter.Cursor and Rehosting the Designer

Question

There is an issue with the Cursor for GridSpitters when Rehosting the Designer. This is mentioned in the following posts:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/wfprerelease/thread/339b8f37-431e-4678-ace5-a3040d31486c

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/wpfprerelease/thread/c3c192af-4666-47ac-836c-803148a35207

Here is what is happening:

If the WorkflowDesigner is loaded using a new Sequence Activity, the Cursor will not ever display the SizeWE cursor when moussing over a GridSplitter.  If the WorkflowDesigner is loaded using a new Flowchart Activity, the Cursor will not display the SizeWE Cursor when moussing over a GridSplitter until the FlowChart Activity is resized in the WorkflowDesigner. Once the FlowChart Activity is resized, the GridSplitter will behave as expected concerning the display of SizeWE Cursor on Mouse over.

To Reproduce the Problem:

1.        Download, Build and run the solution: http://sites.google.com/site/jeremiahsscratchpad/WorkflowDesignerProblem.zip?attredirects=0&d=1
2.        Mouse over the GridSplitter and attempt to move it horizontally.
3.        Note that the Cursor does not change but the GridSplitter can be moved.
4.        Resize the FlowChart Activity in the Designer.
5.        Mouse over the GridSplitter and attempt to move it horizontally.
6.        Note that the Cursor does now change and the GridSplitter can be moved.
7.        Stop the debug session.
8.        Comment out line 92 in Designer.xaml.cs.
9.        Uncomment line 93 in Designer.xaml.cs
10.    Compile and run.
11.    Mouse over the GridSplitter and attempt to move it horizontally.
12.    Note that the Cursor does not change but the GridSplitter can be moved.
13.    Note that you cannot resize the Sequence Activity.
14.    Note that thing can  be done in the Designer due to resize, to  cause the Cursor to behave correctly when mousing over the GridSplitter.

I need to fix this and I have to use a Sequence Activity as the Root Activity. I believe that the root issue is the WorkflowDesigner not dealing with the Cursor correctly.

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- jeremiah adams

Answer 1

Hi,

I saw this issue on the machine with only .Net Framework 4 installed. If .Net Framework 4.5 installed, the issue disappeared even the target framework is 4.0. You may contact Microsoft to request a hotfix or submit a feedback on connect.microsoft.com site.

Answer 2

Thanks for the input Franconia.

Moving our team to .net 4.5 is going to be a tough sell at best.

I submitted a request at connect.microsoft.com: https://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/741504/workflow-foundation-4-issue-with-gridsplitter-cursor-and-rehosting-the-designer

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- jeremiah adams

Answer 3

Hi Jeremiah,
I see you've submitted the bug to connect, however, in the interest of clear expectations, I would like to let you know that by using connect to submit a bug like this you can typically only expect a fix to be delivered in next version, i.e. via .Net 4.5.

Another option compared to connect is contacting Microsoft support to request a fix for .Net 4.0. This would probably be delivered a patch .exe which would need to be installed on customer's machines where the issue is encountered.

Can I ask what is the hard sell part of .Net 4.5 for you? Is it because you still need to support Windows XP?
Tim

Answer 4

Thanks for the input Tim. The hard sell for .Net 4.5 is just the timming. Eventually we will move to 4.5, but I was hoping to resolve this bug with our service pack that went out last week. We have no plans as to when we will be moving to .Net 4.5. We do not need to support XP.

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- jeremiah adams

Answer 5

Just to keep everyone informed of latest developments, this issue appears to be fixed in .Net Framework 4.5 RC, and so it should also be fixed in final release of .Net Framework 4.5, unless any problem is found with the fix in the interim.
Tim