[wpf] How do I create a WPF Rounded Corner container?

We are creating an XBAP application that we need to have rounded corners in various locations in a single page and we would like to have a WPF Rounded Corner container to place a bunch of other elements within. Does anyone have some suggestions or sample code on how we can best accomplish this? Either with styles on a or with creating a custom control?

I know that this isn't an answer to the initial question ... but you often want to clip the inner content of that rounded corner border you just created.

Chris Cavanagh has come up with an excellent way to do just this.

I have tried a couple different approaches to this ... and I think this one rocks.

Here is the xaml below:

<Page
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    Background="Black"
>
    <!-- Rounded yellow border -->
    <Border
        HorizontalAlignment="Center"
        VerticalAlignment="Center"
        BorderBrush="Yellow"
        BorderThickness="3"
        CornerRadius="10"
        Padding="2"
    >
        <Grid>
            <!-- Rounded mask (stretches to fill Grid) -->
            <Border
                Name="mask"
                Background="White"
                CornerRadius="7"
            />

            <!-- Main content container -->
            <StackPanel>
                <!-- Use a VisualBrush of 'mask' as the opacity mask -->
                <StackPanel.OpacityMask>
                    <VisualBrush Visual="{Binding ElementName=mask}"/>
                </StackPanel.OpacityMask>

                <!-- Any content -->
                <Image Source="http://chriscavanagh.files.wordpress.com/2006/12/chriss-blog-banner.jpg"/>
                <Rectangle
                    Height="50"
                    Fill="Red"/>
                <Rectangle
                    Height="50"
                    Fill="White"/>
                <Rectangle
                    Height="50"
                    Fill="Blue"/>
            </StackPanel>
        </Grid>
    </Border>
</Page>

I just had to do this myself, so I thought I would post another answer here.

Here is another way to create a rounded corner border and clip its inner content. This is the straightforward way by using the Clip property. It's nice if you want to avoid a VisualBrush.

The xaml:

<Border
    Width="200"
    Height="25"
    CornerRadius="11"
    Background="#FF919194"
>
    <Border.Clip>
        <RectangleGeometry
            RadiusX="{Binding CornerRadius.TopLeft, RelativeSource={RelativeSource AncestorType={x:Type Border}}}"
            RadiusY="{Binding RadiusX, RelativeSource={RelativeSource Self}}"
        >
            <RectangleGeometry.Rect>
                <MultiBinding
                    Converter="{StaticResource widthAndHeightToRectConverter}"
                >
                    <Binding
                        Path="ActualWidth"
                        RelativeSource="{RelativeSource AncestorType={x:Type Border}}"
                    />
                    <Binding
                        Path="ActualHeight"
                        RelativeSource="{RelativeSource AncestorType={x:Type Border}}"
                    />
                </MultiBinding>
            </RectangleGeometry.Rect>
        </RectangleGeometry>
    </Border.Clip>

    <Rectangle
        Width="100"
        Height="100"
        Fill="Blue"
        HorizontalAlignment="Left"
        VerticalAlignment="Center"
    />
</Border>

The code for the converter:

public class WidthAndHeightToRectConverter : IMultiValueConverter
{
    public object Convert(object[] values, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
    {
        double width = (double)values[0];
        double height = (double)values[1];
        return new Rect(0, 0, width, height);
    }
    public object[] ConvertBack(object value, Type[] targetTypes, object parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
    {
        throw new NotImplementedException();
    }
}

I know that this isn't an answer to the initial question ... but you often want to clip the inner content of that rounded corner border you just created.

Chris Cavanagh has come up with an excellent way to do just this.

I have tried a couple different approaches to this ... and I think this one rocks.

Here is the xaml below:

<Page
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    Background="Black"
>
    <!-- Rounded yellow border -->
    <Border
        HorizontalAlignment="Center"
        VerticalAlignment="Center"
        BorderBrush="Yellow"
        BorderThickness="3"
        CornerRadius="10"
        Padding="2"
    >
        <Grid>
            <!-- Rounded mask (stretches to fill Grid) -->
            <Border
                Name="mask"
                Background="White"
                CornerRadius="7"
            />

            <!-- Main content container -->
            <StackPanel>
                <!-- Use a VisualBrush of 'mask' as the opacity mask -->
                <StackPanel.OpacityMask>
                    <VisualBrush Visual="{Binding ElementName=mask}"/>
                </StackPanel.OpacityMask>

                <!-- Any content -->
                <Image Source="http://chriscavanagh.files.wordpress.com/2006/12/chriss-blog-banner.jpg"/>
                <Rectangle
                    Height="50"
                    Fill="Red"/>
                <Rectangle
                    Height="50"
                    Fill="White"/>
                <Rectangle
                    Height="50"
                    Fill="Blue"/>
            </StackPanel>
        </Grid>
    </Border>
</Page>

VB.Net code based implementation of kobusb's Border control solution. I used it to populate a ListBox of Button controls. The Button controls are created from MEF extensions. Each extension uses MEF's ExportMetaData attribute for a Description of the extension. The extensions are VisiFire charting objects. The user pushes a button, selected from the list of buttons, to execute the desired chart.

        ' Create a ListBox of Buttons, one button for each MEF charting component. 
    For Each c As Lazy(Of ICharts, IDictionary(Of String, Object)) In ext.ChartDescriptions
        Dim brdr As New Border
        brdr.BorderBrush = Brushes.Black
        brdr.BorderThickness = New Thickness(2, 2, 2, 2)
        brdr.CornerRadius = New CornerRadius(8, 8, 8, 8)
        Dim btn As New Button
        AddHandler btn.Click, AddressOf GenericButtonClick
        brdr.Child = btn
        brdr.Background = btn.Background
        btn.Margin = brdr.BorderThickness
        btn.Width = ChartsLBx.ActualWidth - 22
        btn.BorderThickness = New Thickness(0, 0, 0, 0)
        btn.Height = 22
        btn.Content = c.Metadata("Description")
        btn.Tag = c
        btn.ToolTip = "Push button to see " & c.Metadata("Description").ToString & " chart"
        Dim lbi As New ListBoxItem
        lbi.Content = brdr
        ChartsLBx.Items.Add(lbi)
    Next

Public Event Click As RoutedEventHandler

Private Sub GenericButtonClick(sender As Object, e As RoutedEventArgs)
    Dim btn As Button = DirectCast(sender, Button)
    Dim c As Lazy(Of ICharts, IDictionary(Of String, Object)) = DirectCast(btn.Tag, Lazy(Of ICharts, IDictionary(Of String, Object)))
    Dim w As Window = DirectCast(c.Value, Window)
    Dim cc As ICharts = DirectCast(c.Value, ICharts)
    c.Value.CreateChart()
    w.Show()
End Sub

<System.ComponentModel.Composition.Export(GetType(ICharts))> _
<System.ComponentModel.Composition.ExportMetadata("Description", "Data vs. Time")> _
Public Class DataTimeChart
    Implements ICharts

    Public Sub CreateChart() Implements ICharts.CreateChart
    End Sub
End Class

Public Interface ICharts
    Sub CreateChart()
End Interface

Public Class Extensibility
    Public Sub New()
        Dim catalog As New AggregateCatalog()

        catalog.Catalogs.Add(New AssemblyCatalog(GetType(Extensibility).Assembly))

        'Create the CompositionContainer with the parts in the catalog
        ChartContainer = New CompositionContainer(catalog)

        Try
            ChartContainer.ComposeParts(Me)
        Catch ex As Exception
            Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString)
        End Try
    End Sub

    ' must use Lazy otherwise instantiation of Window will hold open app. Otherwise must specify Shutdown Mode of "Shutdown on Main Window".
    <ImportMany()> _
    Public Property ChartDescriptions As IEnumerable(Of Lazy(Of ICharts, IDictionary(Of String, Object)))

End Class

If you're trying to put a button in a rounded-rectangle border, you should check out msdn's example. I found this by googling for images of the problem (instead of text). Their bulky outer rectangle is (thankfully) easy to remove.

Note that you will have to redefine the button's behavior (since you've changed the ControlTemplate). That is, you will need to define the button's behavior when clicked using a Trigger tag (Property="IsPressed" Value="true") in the ControlTemplate.Triggers tag. Hope this saves someone else the time I lost :)