#MAKE FLOWLAYOUT BUT FILL VERTICALLY CODE#
#MAKE FLOWLAYOUT BUT FILL VERTICALLY WINDOWS#

If you set the margin to 100 pixels on all four sides, the button takes up the available space, minus the defined margin, and it will continue to do so even after the user resizes the window. For instance, you could set the Margin property of the button. You could provide a bit more information to the layout engine. When the user resizes the window, the button is resized as well. In other words, the button's size fills 100% of the available space in the window, no matter how big the window is. Because the window object doesn't really know what to do with the button, it makes the only choice that makes sense for any object that's limited to containing a single child: It gives the button the entire space available within the window. Instead, the button's position is automatically set by the window object.

#MAKE FLOWLAYOUT BUT FILL VERTICALLY CODE#

The code for such a set up would look like this (namespace shortened to keep the example readable): Īs you can see, I haven't defined a placement or a size for the button. For instance, you could put a Button inside the Window. (Containers come in two variations: those that contain a single element and those that contain multiple elements). Inside of a Window, you can place exactly one child element. Let's pick WPF's Window UI element as an example. The root of many XAML apps is an object such as a Window or a Page. This process is repeated ad-nauseam in a hierarchical fashion, from the largest of elements down to the smallest controls. It does this based on its own rules, but also by taking the properties and attributes of the child element into consideration. The container is the element that decides where its child elements are positioned. The basic idea behind “layout” (the act of positioning elements on the screen) in XAML follows a pretty simple pattern: UI elements are placed inside of other UI elements (containers). When used correctly, the layout system is the very feature that makes XAML more productive than other UI technologies. That's what takes me to the current installment of this article series.

When used correctly, the layout system is the very feature that makes XAML more productive than other UI technology and using it incorrectly qualifies as an anti-pattern.

And it's even possible to create custom layout approaches that lay out screens for business applications (for instance, consider my article “Super Productivity: Using WPF's Automatic Layout Features in Business Applications” at, which is just as applicable in today's XAML dialects as it was a few years ago when I wrote the article). You can opt for flow or stack layouts and even lay out rich text documents. You can position elements in absolute terms inside of Canvas or Grid containers. Where other systems provide few or no choices to lay out elements on the screen (such as WinForm's fixed position and size approach), and others offer just a handful of options (HTML's flow layout “with variations” comes to mind), XAML technologies provide a very rich layout system.

#MAKE FLOWLAYOUT BUT FILL VERTICALLY WINDOWS#

Unlike in many of the other UI development technologies, all XAML variations (WPF, Universal Windows Apps, etc.) provide a rich and flexible way of laying out elements on the screen in ways that range from simple, hand-coded UIs to completely automated and customized approaches. One of the great features of all XAML dialects (and their underlying technologies) is the awesome power that comes with the provided layout engine.

Make flowlayout but fill vertically