WPF MDI children

6
votes

This question has been posted before, but I can't find a good answer.

I want MDI children in my WPF application. And I want those children to be fully WPF compliant.

.Net WPF doesn't have MDI children (windows within main window) any more. Some say it’s because the design is obsolete and GUI apps shouldn't be designed that way. Those people can refrain from answering this post. I know what I need. :)

What (preferably free) alternatives is there for WPF MDI? Will they work with MVVM?

EDIT: PEOPLE - don't vote up comments that say "MDI IS NOT GOOD". I specifically asked people to avoid that. I'm asking for MDI windows, not to be told not to use MDI windows.

1
wpfmdi
What's wrong with the answers to the questions you've seen posted before? Unless you tell us why those solutions won't work for you, people will be posting them again. For example: wpfmdi.codeplex.com - Cody Gray
I don't remember what was wrong with it - but you make a good point, I should have been more specific. I'll get back to this as soon as I'm "in the code" again (some time next year). - Tedd Hansen
Just tried MVVM light with WPF-MDI. I bound Commands in menu and button in MDI child (user control). It's working fine. - Tae-Sung Shin

1 Answers

3
votes

I understand you don't want to hear that, but MDI basically aimed to duplicate the desktop metaphor inside the application's main window, and that was a little confusing to end users because it involved several levels of window management:

Tech: Now click on the Maximize button of the active window inside the other window you've just restored to normal size and everything should be okay.

Customer: What?

Tab-based interfaces are generally considered as a better alternative to MDI. You might want to use the TabControl class and read Josh Smith's MVVM article on MSDN Magazine, which demonstrates how to host your views in TabItems.