TriState Checkbox - how to change the order of the states

Question

I have a CheckBox in my application that is using the TriState mode. The normal behavior for this mode seems to be cycling between null, false, true.

I\'d like to c

Answer 1

Only for completeness here additionally the solution for Windows-Forms. We have to override the OnClick method, overriding OnStateChanged results in display bug (and stackoverflow if done incorrectly).

/// <summary>
/// A <see cref="System.Windows.Forms.CheckBox"/> with the ability to reverse the checkstate order.
/// </summary>
/// <seealso cref="System.Windows.Forms.CheckBox" />
public class CheckBoxReversible : CheckBox
{
    private bool FInvertCheckStateOrder;

    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets a value indicating whether to invert the check state order from [Indeterminate->Unchecked->Checked] to [Indeterminate->Checked->Unchecked].
    /// </summary>
    /// <value>
    ///   <c>true</c> to invert the check state order; otherwise, <c>false</c>.
    /// </value>
    public bool InvertCheckStateOrder
    {
        get { return FInvertCheckStateOrder; }
        set { FInvertCheckStateOrder = value; }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Löst das <see cref="E:System.Windows.Forms.Control.Click" />-Ereignis aus.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="e">Eine Instanz der <see cref="T:System.EventArgs" />-Klasse, die die Ereignisdaten enthält.</param>
    protected override void OnClick(EventArgs e)
    {
        if (this.InvertCheckStateOrder)
        {
            if (this.CheckState == CheckState.Indeterminate)
                this.CheckState = CheckState.Checked;
            else
                if (this.CheckState == CheckState.Checked)
                    this.CheckState = CheckState.Unchecked;
                else
                    if (this.CheckState == CheckState.Unchecked)
                        this.CheckState = this.ThreeState ? CheckState.Indeterminate : CheckState.Checked;
        }
        else
            base.OnClick(e);
    }
}

Answer 2

As pointed out, there is no CheckBox.OnToggle() to override in WinForms, so in that case CheckBox.OnClick() is where to head for.

Here's a minimal implementation of a WinForms checkbox that cycles Unchecked -> Indeterminate -> Checked -> Unchecked..., instead of the default Unchecked -> Checked -> Indeterminate -> Unchecked...

using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;

public class MyCheckBox : CheckBox
{
    protected override void OnClick(EventArgs e)
    {
        switch(this.CheckState)
        {
            case CheckState.Indeterminate:
                this.CheckState = CheckState.Checked;
                break;
            case CheckState.Checked:
                this.CheckState = CheckState.Unchecked;
                break;
            case CheckState.Unchecked:
                this.CheckState = this.ThreeState ? CheckState.Indeterminate : CheckState.Checked;
                break;
            default:
                throw new ApplicationException("Unexpected CheckState: " + this.CheckState.ToString());
        }
    }
}

Or if you are happy about introducing a dependency on what int values Windows assigns to what states of CheckState, this works also:

using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;

public class MyCheckBox : CheckBox
{
    protected override void OnClick(EventArgs e)
    {
        CheckState newState = this.CheckState - 1;
        if (newState < 0) 
        {
            newState = this.ThreeState ? CheckState.Indeterminate : CheckState.Checked;
        }
        this.CheckState = newState;
    }
}

Answer 3

I guess the event handler and the default behavior are just cancelling each other's effects, so the checkbox seems disabled...

Actually I recently had to do the same thing. I had to inherit from CheckBox and override OnToggle :

public class MyCheckBox : CheckBox
{


    public bool InvertCheckStateOrder
    {
        get { return (bool)GetValue(InvertCheckStateOrderProperty); }
        set { SetValue(InvertCheckStateOrderProperty, value); }
    }

    // Using a DependencyProperty as the backing store for InvertCheckStateOrder.  This enables animation, styling, binding, etc...
    public static readonly DependencyProperty InvertCheckStateOrderProperty =
        DependencyProperty.Register("InvertCheckStateOrder", typeof(bool), typeof(MyCheckBox), new UIPropertyMetadata(false));

    protected override void OnToggle()
    {
        if (this.InvertCheckStateOrder)
        {
            if (this.IsChecked == true)
            {
                this.IsChecked = false;
            }
            else if (this.IsChecked == false)
            {
                this.IsChecked = this.IsThreeState ? null : (bool?)true;
            }
            else
            {
                this.IsChecked = true;
            }
        }
        else
        {
            base.OnToggle();
        }
    }
}

Answer 4

Accepted solution is the best, but if you don't want to create a subclass, just do something as:

void chkbokHeader_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
  CheckBox senderChk = sender as CheckBox;
  bool bCheck = false;
  //here, the status is already changed, so rechange:
  if (senderChk.IsChecked == true) // from UNCHECKED
    bCheck = true;
  else if (senderChk.IsChecked == false) //from INDETERMINATE
    bCheck = true;
  else //from CHECKED
    bCheck = false;

  senderChk.IsChecked = bCheck;
  e.Handled = true;
}

It create the (checked) sequence: indeterminate -> true -> false -> true -> false -> true -> ...

Answer 5

Thank you very much, it has been very useful to solve a similar behavior with ToggleButton.

class InvertedToggleButton : ToggleButton
{
    public bool InvertCheckStateOrder
    {
        get { return (bool)GetValue(InvertCheckStateOrderProperty); }
        set { SetValue(InvertCheckStateOrderProperty, value); }
    }

    // Using a DependencyProperty as the backing store for InvertCheckStateOrder.  This enables animation, styling, binding, etc...
    public static readonly DependencyProperty InvertCheckStateOrderProperty = DependencyProperty.Register("InvertCheckStateOrder", typeof(bool), typeof(ToggleButtonInvertido), new UIPropertyMetadata(false));

    protected override void OnToggle()
    {
        if (this.InvertCheckStateOrder)
        {
            if (this.IsChecked == true)
            {
                this.IsChecked = false;
            }
            else if (this.IsChecked == false)
            {
                this.IsChecked = this.IsThreeState ? null : (bool?)true;
            }
            else
            {
                this.IsChecked = true;
            }
        }
        else
        {
            if (!this.IsChecked.HasValue)
                this.IsChecked = true;
            else
                base.OnToggle();
        }
    }
}