wpf z

Finding an ancestor of a WPF dependency object

This is a simple snippet which helps you to find a specified parent of a given WPF dependency object somewhere in its visual tree:

(Snippet updated 2009.09.14)

/// <summary>
/// Finds a parent of a given item on the visual tree.
/// </summary>
/// <typeparam name="T">The type of the queried item.</typeparam>
/// <param name="child">A direct or indirect child of the
/// queried item.</param>
/// <returns>The first parent item that matches the submitted
/// type parameter. If not matching item can be found, a null
/// reference is being returned.</returns>
public static T TryFindParent<T>(this DependencyObject child)
    where T : DependencyObject
{
  //get parent item
  DependencyObject parentObject = GetParentObject(child);

  //we‘ve reached the end of the tree
  if (parentObject == null) return null;

  //check if the parent matches the type we‘re looking for
  T parent = parentObject as T;
  if (parent != null)
  {
    return parent;
  }
  else
  {
    //use recursion to proceed with next level
    return TryFindParent<T>(parentObject);
  }
}

/// <summary>
/// This method is an alternative to WPF‘s
/// <see cref="VisualTreeHelper.GetParent"/> method, which also
/// supports content elements. Keep in mind that for content element,
/// this method falls back to the logical tree of the element!
/// </summary>
/// <param name="child">The item to be processed.</param>
/// <returns>The submitted item‘s parent, if available. Otherwise
/// null.</returns>
public static DependencyObject GetParentObject(this DependencyObject child)
{
  if (child == null) return null;

  //handle content elements separately
  ContentElement contentElement = child as ContentElement;
  if (contentElement != null)
  {
    DependencyObject parent = ContentOperations.GetParent(contentElement);
    if (parent != null) return parent;

    FrameworkContentElement fce = contentElement as FrameworkContentElement;
    return fce != null ? fce.Parent : null;
  }

  //also try searching for parent in framework elements (such as DockPanel, etc)
  FrameworkElement frameworkElement = child as FrameworkElement;
  if (frameworkElement != null)
  {
    DependencyObject parent = frameworkElement.Parent;
    if (parent != null) return parent;
  }

  //if it‘s not a ContentElement/FrameworkElement, rely on VisualTreeHelper
  return VisualTreeHelper.GetParent(child);
}

This snippet works with arbitrary dependency objects that are of Type Visual or Visual3D. So let’s say you need a reference to the Window that hosts a given Button control somewhere, all you need is this:

Button myButton = ...
Window parentWindow = UIHelper.TryFindParent<Window>(myButton);

The above TryFindParent method also makes it easy to get an item at a given position. The method below performs a hit test based on a given position. If hit testing does not return the requested item (e.g. a clicked CheckBox on a tree, while you are keen on the TreeViewItem that hosts the CheckBox), the procedure delegates the lookup to TryFindParent.

This comes in very handy for mouse-related events if you just need to now what’s under your mouse pointer:

/// <summary>
/// Tries to locate a given item within the visual tree,
/// starting with the dependency object at a given position.
/// </summary>
/// <typeparam name="T">The type of the element to be found
/// on the visual tree of the element at the given location.</typeparam>
/// <param name="reference">The main element which is used to perform
/// hit testing.</param>
/// <param name="point">The position to be evaluated on the origin.</param>
public static T TryFindFromPoint<T>(UIElement reference, Point point)
  where T:DependencyObject
{
  DependencyObject element = reference.InputHitTest(point)
                               as DependencyObject;
  if (element == null) return null;
  else if (element is T) return (T)element;
  else return TryFindParent<T>(element);
}