How do I layout a form in WPF using grid or other controls for maintainability [closed]

Answer 1

I came across this post today while having the same question, using the answers in this thread I came up with a manageable solution to simple text/text pairs. To add new fields simply expand the "FormItems" collection.

xmlns:c="clr-namespace:System.Collections;assembly=mscorlib"

There has been no consideration for margins and padding, it just shows the concept of using a DataTemplate to reuse the layout of each item. It can be adapted to include other data types and controls fairly easily. You could even use the ItemTemplateSelector to select a different template based on the type of the DictionaryEntry.Value

EDIT

Another approach that I found that made it easier for DataBinding was to use Visual Studio to create a new WPF "Custom Control". Doing so will create a new file named Themes/Generic.xaml with a new default layout defined there. A few simple edits and we can use the ItemsControl to display our new control.

New class:

public class FormControlItem : ContentControl
{
    public object Field {
        get { return base.GetValue(FieldProperty); }
        set { base.SetValue(FieldProperty, value); }
    }

    static FormControlItem() {
        DefaultStyleKeyProperty.OverrideMetadata(
            typeof(FormControlItem), 
            new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(typeof(FormControlItem)));
    }

    public static readonly DependencyProperty FieldProperty =
        DependencyProperty.Register(
            "Field",
            typeof(object),
            typeof(FormControlItem),
            new FrameworkPropertyMetadata());
}

Themes/Generic.xaml:

Usage example: