about WindowsFormsHost

Question

I use WindowsFormsHost to host a Windows.Forms.PictureBox control in a WPF application

I want to cover it with some other WPF controls( e.g. Image), but no control in WPF can appears in front of the WindowsFormsHost control.

Why? How?

Thank you!

Answer 1

You can't. This got me as well.

See http://windowssdk.msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms744952.aspx

Answer 2

Plain and simple the WPF compositing engine and the Winforms (i.e. User32/GDI+) engine do things quite differently. Because of those differences (and also the fact that WPF has no control over whether a Winforms control is using DirectX or not), WPF controls and WinFormsHost can't exist in the same space....well they can but guess who's getting their Z-index sent to the back?

Answer 3

And there's actually no way to set the Z-index of WindowsFormsHost (WFH) control to a value lower than the WPF user control?!

This su*ks bigtime!!! >(

I've managed to move around my fullscreen app in windows 7 using win + arrow key combo and have then the WPF (virtual keyboard) control visibly render in the background (though semi-partially obscured) by adding a button to Open/Close it after WPF Window loads....after whose opening I've been able then to move around that WPF usercontrol of mine on top of WFH control which is displaying a Gecko web browser control inside, so I know it's possible somehow....I just don't know how to manage that in managed C# code (please don't tell me you have to use Win32 API Hwnd and stuff)?!?

 

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dd