HorizontalAlignment Stretch MaxWidth and Left aligned at the same time

Question

This seems like it should be easy but I m stumped  In WPF  I d like a TextBox that stretches to the width of it s parent  but only to a maximum width  The problem is that I want it to be left justified within its parent  To get it to stretch you have to use HorizontalAlignment  Stretch   but then the result is centered  I ve experimented with HorizontalContentAlignment  but it doesn t seem to do anything   How do I get this blue text box to grow with the size of the window  have a maximum width of 200 pixels  and be left justified    lt Page   xmlns  http   schemas microsoft com winfx 2006 xaml presentation    xmlns x  http   schemas microsoft com winfx 2006 xaml  gt     lt StackPanel gt         lt TextBox Background  Azure  Text  Hello  HorizontalAlignment  Stretch  MaxWidth  200    gt     lt  StackPanel gt   lt  Page gt    What s the trick

User · Answer

You can use this for the Width of your DataTemplate:

Width="{Binding ActualWidth,RelativeSource={RelativeSource FindAncestor, AncestorType={x:Type ScrollContentPresenter}}}"

Make sure your DataTemplate root has Margin="0" (you can use some panel as the root and set the Margin to the children of that root)

User · Answer

Maybe I can still help somebody out who bumps into this question  because this is a very old issue  I needed this as well and wrote a behavior to take care of this  So here is the behavior  public class StretchMaxWidthBehavior   Behavior lt FrameworkElement gt                protected override void OnAttached                 base OnAttached              FrameworkElement this AssociatedObject Parent  SizeChanged    this OnSizeChanged             protected override void OnDetaching                 base OnDetaching              FrameworkElement this AssociatedObject Parent  SizeChanged -  this OnSizeChanged             private void OnSizeChanged object sender  SizeChangedEventArgs e                this SetAlignments               private void SetAlignments                 var slot   LayoutInformation GetLayoutSlot this AssociatedObject           var newWidth   slot Width          var newHeight   slot Height           if   double IsInfinity this AssociatedObject MaxWidth                         if  this AssociatedObject MaxWidth  lt  newWidth                                this AssociatedObject HorizontalAlignment   HorizontalAlignment Left                  this AssociatedObject Width   this AssociatedObject MaxWidth                            else                               this AssociatedObject HorizontalAlignment   HorizontalAlignment Stretch                  this AssociatedObject Width   double NaN                                   if   double IsInfinity this AssociatedObject MaxHeight                         if  this AssociatedObject MaxHeight  lt  newHeight                                this AssociatedObject VerticalAlignment   VerticalAlignment Top                  this AssociatedObject Height   this AssociatedObject MaxHeight                            else                               this AssociatedObject VerticalAlignment   VerticalAlignment Stretch                  this AssociatedObject Height   double NaN                                   Then you can use it like so   lt Grid gt       lt Grid ColumnDefinitions gt           lt ColumnDefinition Width  quot Auto quot    gt           lt ColumnDefinition   gt       lt  Grid ColumnDefinitions gt        lt TextBlock Grid Column  quot 0 quot  Text  quot Label quot    gt       lt TextBox Grid Column  quot 1 quot  MaxWidth  quot 600 quot  gt             lt i Interaction Behaviors gt                                         lt cbh StretchMaxWidthBehavior  gt             lt  i Interaction Behaviors gt       lt  TextBox gt   lt  Grid gt   And finally to forget to use the System Windows Interactivity namespace to use the behavior

User · Answer

lt Grid gt       lt Grid ColumnDefinitions gt           lt ColumnDefinition Width     MaxWidth  200   gt       lt  Grid ColumnDefinitions gt        lt TextBox Background  Azure  Text  Hello    gt   lt  Grid gt

User · Answer

Both answers given worked for the problem I stated -- Thanks   In my real application though  I was trying to constrain a panel inside of a ScrollViewer and Kent s method didn t handle that very well for some reason I didn t bother to track down  Basically the controls could expand beyond the MaxWidth setting and defeated my intent   Nir s technique worked well and didn t have the problem with the ScrollViewer  though there is one minor thing to watch out for  You want to be sure the right and left margins on the TextBox are set to 0 or they ll get in the way  I also changed the binding to use ViewportWidth instead of ActualWidth to avoid issues when the vertical scrollbar appeared

User · Answer

Both answers given worked for the problem I stated -- Thanks   In my real application though  I was trying to constrain a panel inside of a ScrollViewer and Kent s method didn t handle that very well for some reason I didn t bother to track down  Basically the controls could expand beyond the MaxWidth setting and defeated my intent   Nir s technique worked well and didn t have the problem with the ScrollViewer  though there is one minor thing to watch out for  You want to be sure the right and left margins on the TextBox are set to 0 or they ll get in the way  I also changed the binding to use ViewportWidth instead of ActualWidth to avoid issues when the vertical scrollbar appeared

User · Answer

You can set HorizontalAlignment to Left  set your MaxWidth and then bind Width to the ActualWidth of the parent element    lt Page   xmlns  http   schemas microsoft com winfx 2006 xaml presentation    xmlns x  http   schemas microsoft com winfx 2006 xaml  gt     lt StackPanel Name  Container  gt          lt TextBox Background  Azure       Width   Binding ElementName Container Path ActualWidth       Text  Hello  HorizontalAlignment  Left  MaxWidth  200    gt     lt  StackPanel gt   lt  Page gt

User · Answer

lt Grid gt       lt Grid ColumnDefinitions gt           lt ColumnDefinition Width     MaxWidth  200   gt       lt  Grid ColumnDefinitions gt        lt TextBox Background  Azure  Text  Hello    gt   lt  Grid gt

User · Answer

In my case I had to put textbox into a stack panel in order to stretch textbox on left side   Thanks to previous post  Just for an example I did set a background color to see what   s happens when window size is changing    lt StackPanel Name  JustContainer  VerticalAlignment  Center  HorizontalAlignment  Stretch  Background  BlueViolet   gt       lt TextBox         Name  Input  Text  Hello World          MaxWidth  300         HorizontalAlignment  Right         Width   Binding ActualWidth  RelativeSource  RelativeSource Mode FindAncestor  AncestorType  x Type FrameworkElement     gt       lt  TextBox gt   lt  StackPanel gt

User · Answer

In my case I had to put textbox into a stack panel in order to stretch textbox on left side   Thanks to previous post  Just for an example I did set a background color to see what   s happens when window size is changing    lt StackPanel Name  JustContainer  VerticalAlignment  Center  HorizontalAlignment  Stretch  Background  BlueViolet   gt       lt TextBox         Name  Input  Text  Hello World          MaxWidth  300         HorizontalAlignment  Right         Width   Binding ActualWidth  RelativeSource  RelativeSource Mode FindAncestor  AncestorType  x Type FrameworkElement     gt       lt  TextBox gt   lt  StackPanel gt

User · Answer

You can use this for the Width of your DataTemplate:

Width="{Binding ActualWidth,RelativeSource={RelativeSource FindAncestor, AncestorType={x:Type ScrollContentPresenter}}}"

Make sure your DataTemplate root has Margin="0" (you can use some panel as the root and set the Margin to the children of that root)

User · Answer

I would use SharedSizeGroup   lt Grid gt       lt Grid ColumnDefinition gt           lt ColumnDefinition SharedSizeGroup  col1  gt  lt  ColumnDefinition gt             lt ColumnDefinition SharedSizeGroup  col2  gt  lt  ColumnDefinition gt       lt  Grid ColumnDefinition gt       lt TextBox Background  Azure  Text  Hello  Grid Column  1  MaxWidth  200    gt   lt  Grid gt

User · Answer

lt Grid gt       lt Grid ColumnDefinitions gt           lt ColumnDefinition Width     MaxWidth  200   gt       lt  Grid ColumnDefinitions gt        lt TextBox Background  Azure  Text  Hello    gt   lt  Grid gt

User · Answer

You can set HorizontalAlignment to Left  set your MaxWidth and then bind Width to the ActualWidth of the parent element    lt Page   xmlns  http   schemas microsoft com winfx 2006 xaml presentation    xmlns x  http   schemas microsoft com winfx 2006 xaml  gt     lt StackPanel Name  Container  gt          lt TextBox Background  Azure       Width   Binding ElementName Container Path ActualWidth       Text  Hello  HorizontalAlignment  Left  MaxWidth  200    gt     lt  StackPanel gt   lt  Page gt

User · Answer

Functionally similar to the accepted answer  but doesn t require the parent element to be specified    lt TextBox     Width   Binding ActualWidth  RelativeSource  RelativeSource Mode FindAncestor  AncestorType  x Type FrameworkElement         MaxWidth  500      HorizontalAlignment  Left    gt

User · Answer

You can set HorizontalAlignment to Left  set your MaxWidth and then bind Width to the ActualWidth of the parent element    lt Page   xmlns  http   schemas microsoft com winfx 2006 xaml presentation    xmlns x  http   schemas microsoft com winfx 2006 xaml  gt     lt StackPanel Name  Container  gt          lt TextBox Background  Azure       Width   Binding ElementName Container Path ActualWidth       Text  Hello  HorizontalAlignment  Left  MaxWidth  200    gt     lt  StackPanel gt   lt  Page gt

User · Answer

lt Grid gt       lt Grid ColumnDefinitions gt           lt ColumnDefinition Width     MaxWidth  200   gt       lt  Grid ColumnDefinitions gt        lt TextBox Background  Azure  Text  Hello    gt   lt  Grid gt

User · Answer

Maybe I can still help somebody out who bumps into this question  because this is a very old issue  I needed this as well and wrote a behavior to take care of this  So here is the behavior  public class StretchMaxWidthBehavior   Behavior lt FrameworkElement gt                protected override void OnAttached                 base OnAttached              FrameworkElement this AssociatedObject Parent  SizeChanged    this OnSizeChanged             protected override void OnDetaching                 base OnDetaching              FrameworkElement this AssociatedObject Parent  SizeChanged -  this OnSizeChanged             private void OnSizeChanged object sender  SizeChangedEventArgs e                this SetAlignments               private void SetAlignments                 var slot   LayoutInformation GetLayoutSlot this AssociatedObject           var newWidth   slot Width          var newHeight   slot Height           if   double IsInfinity this AssociatedObject MaxWidth                         if  this AssociatedObject MaxWidth  lt  newWidth                                this AssociatedObject HorizontalAlignment   HorizontalAlignment Left                  this AssociatedObject Width   this AssociatedObject MaxWidth                            else                               this AssociatedObject HorizontalAlignment   HorizontalAlignment Stretch                  this AssociatedObject Width   double NaN                                   if   double IsInfinity this AssociatedObject MaxHeight                         if  this AssociatedObject MaxHeight  lt  newHeight                                this AssociatedObject VerticalAlignment   VerticalAlignment Top                  this AssociatedObject Height   this AssociatedObject MaxHeight                            else                               this AssociatedObject VerticalAlignment   VerticalAlignment Stretch                  this AssociatedObject Height   double NaN                                   Then you can use it like so   lt Grid gt       lt Grid ColumnDefinitions gt           lt ColumnDefinition Width  quot Auto quot    gt           lt ColumnDefinition   gt       lt  Grid ColumnDefinitions gt        lt TextBlock Grid Column  quot 0 quot  Text  quot Label quot    gt       lt TextBox Grid Column  quot 1 quot  MaxWidth  quot 600 quot  gt             lt i Interaction Behaviors gt                                         lt cbh StretchMaxWidthBehavior  gt             lt  i Interaction Behaviors gt       lt  TextBox gt   lt  Grid gt   And finally to forget to use the System Windows Interactivity namespace to use the behavior

User · Answer

I would use SharedSizeGroup   lt Grid gt       lt Grid ColumnDefinition gt           lt ColumnDefinition SharedSizeGroup  col1  gt  lt  ColumnDefinition gt             lt ColumnDefinition SharedSizeGroup  col2  gt  lt  ColumnDefinition gt       lt  Grid ColumnDefinition gt       lt TextBox Background  Azure  Text  Hello  Grid Column  1  MaxWidth  200    gt   lt  Grid gt

User · Answer

Functionally similar to the accepted answer  but doesn t require the parent element to be specified    lt TextBox     Width   Binding ActualWidth  RelativeSource  RelativeSource Mode FindAncestor  AncestorType  x Type FrameworkElement         MaxWidth  500      HorizontalAlignment  Left    gt

User · Answer

Both answers given worked for the problem I stated -- Thanks   In my real application though  I was trying to constrain a panel inside of a ScrollViewer and Kent s method didn t handle that very well for some reason I didn t bother to track down  Basically the controls could expand beyond the MaxWidth setting and defeated my intent   Nir s technique worked well and didn t have the problem with the ScrollViewer  though there is one minor thing to watch out for  You want to be sure the right and left margins on the TextBox are set to 0 or they ll get in the way  I also changed the binding to use ViewportWidth instead of ActualWidth to avoid issues when the vertical scrollbar appeared

User · Answer

Both answers given worked for the problem I stated -- Thanks   In my real application though  I was trying to constrain a panel inside of a ScrollViewer and Kent s method didn t handle that very well for some reason I didn t bother to track down  Basically the controls could expand beyond the MaxWidth setting and defeated my intent   Nir s technique worked well and didn t have the problem with the ScrollViewer  though there is one minor thing to watch out for  You want to be sure the right and left margins on the TextBox are set to 0 or they ll get in the way  I also changed the binding to use ViewportWidth instead of ActualWidth to avoid issues when the vertical scrollbar appeared

User · Answer

You can set HorizontalAlignment to Left  set your MaxWidth and then bind Width to the ActualWidth of the parent element    lt Page   xmlns  http   schemas microsoft com winfx 2006 xaml presentation    xmlns x  http   schemas microsoft com winfx 2006 xaml  gt     lt StackPanel Name  Container  gt          lt TextBox Background  Azure       Width   Binding ElementName Container Path ActualWidth       Text  Hello  HorizontalAlignment  Left  MaxWidth  200    gt     lt  StackPanel gt   lt  Page gt

[wpf] HorizontalAlignment=Stretch, MaxWidth, and Left aligned at the same time?

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