Question

I am trying to host a custom Windows Forms control in WPF. My custom control does not have a public constructor, and it has a static Create() method which looks something like this:

public abstract class MyCustomControl : UserControl
{
  internal MyCustomControl(...) {  }

  public static MyCustomControl Create(SomeEnum kind)
  {
    switch (kind)
    {
      case SomeEnum.Kind1:
        return new MySuperCustomControl(...);
      ...
    }

What I want to do is instantiate this custom control in WPF and then have it hosted in WindowsFormsHost, but I obviously can’t add an abstract class:

 <wfi:WindowsFormsHost Width="250" Height="150">
  <my:MyCustomControl x:Name="customControl" />  <-- doesn't work
</wfi:WindowsFormsHost>

Is there a way I could add it into the “Host” via code?

Answer 1

You can’t host control without public constructor in XAML.
You can try two way:

1. define name for your
   WindowsFormsHost and set Child
   property of WindowsFormsHost to your
   instance from static Create() in C#
   code. for example in initialize (or
   load) method. – it is simple way.
2. try to bind Child property of WindowsFormsHost to Create() method.
   Frankly, I don’t know or this
   approach will be work… but you can
   try :).. how bind to method in XAML?
   you can read – this or try to
   look in msdn or google 🙂