Question

In my WPF project, I have a dll that contains several WPF UserControls. I would like, in runtime, to be able to check a parameter in the database (already implemented) and according to that parameter (which is a string) to be able to load a specific UserControl to my View.

The UserControl is actually a Canvas, so it basically just places the correct Canvas on the View according to the database entry.

I don’t know if I was clear, so please ask me if you didn’t understand the question.

Thanks to all helpers!

Answer 1

This concept of loading controls or similar things from a dll at runtime is called Reflection and it is a common way of doing things in certain scenarios. Try to google Reflection in C# you will find a lot of tutorials about it.

Basically you will load the dll at runtime. Then you will look for control. Once you find it you will create its instance and use it. All this will happen at runtime

  UserControl myControl = null;    
  Assembly asm = Assembly.LoadFile(Your dll path);
  Type[] tlist = asm.GetTypes();
  foreach (Type t in tlist)
  {
     if(t.Name == "Your class name" )
     {
         myControl = Activator.CreateInstance(t) as UserControl;
         break;
     }               
  }

Also see this question for reference