Question

I have a full-screen Bing map control. Over the top, I want to overlay various other controls.

<Grid>
<maps:Map x:Name="Map" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" />

<Grid Style="{StaticResource LayoutRootStyle}" Background="Transparent"
      x:Name="InnerGrid">
  <Grid.RowDefinitions>
    <RowDefinition Height="132" />
    <RowDefinition Height="*" />
  </Grid.RowDefinitions>

  <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
    <ColumnDefinition Width="700" />
    <ColumnDefinition Width="350" />
  </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>

  ... Content ...

The trouble is that the InnerGrid consumes the mouse events which I need the map control to receive instead. Setting the background to transparent has done nothing useful.

So, I found the RoutedEvents stuff:

internal sealed partial class PageCodeBehind : Page
{
    public PageCodeBehind()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
        InnerGrid.AddHandler(PointerPressedEvent, new PointerEventHandler(OnPointerPressedEvent), true);
        InnerGrid.AddHandler(PointerMovedEvent, new PointerEventHandler(OnPointerMovedEvent), true);
    }

    private void OnPointerPressedEvent(object sender, PointerRoutedEventArgs pointerRoutedEventArgs)
    {
        // I can hit a breakpoint here...

        var peer = FrameworkElementAutomationPeer.FromElement(GigMap) as MapAutomationPeer;
        peer.RaiseAutomationEvent(...);

So – I can capture the event, but I have no idea how to trigger the event on the Map control. Having looked at the automation peer stuff – it seems like they are concerned with higher-level concepts than mouse-down, such as open tool-tip etc.

Any idea how I forward all events from my InnerGrid control to the Map control?

Many thanks for any help,
Jon

Answer 1

Ok – I found a work-around. Setting Background=”{x:Null}” on the InnerGrid makes it forward events. Beautifully undocumented as always on MSDN 🙂

I’d still like to know any other methods available though if anyone knows more information.

Many thanks,
Jon