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CheckBox ControlTemplate Example

Controls in Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) have a ControlTemplate that contains the visual tree of that control. You can change the structure and appearance of a control by modifying the ControlTemplate of that control. There is no way to replace only part of the visual tree of a control; to change the visual tree of a control you must set the Template property of the control to its new and complete ControlTemplate.

This topic shows the ControlTemplate of the WPF CheckBox control.

This topic contains the following sections.

  • Prerequisites
  • CheckBox ControlTemplate Example
  • Related Topics

Prerequisites

In order to run the examples in this topic, you should understand how to write WPF applications. For more information, see Get Started Using Windows Presentation Foundation. You should also understand how styles are used in WPF. For more information, see Styling and Templating.

CheckBox ControlTemplate Example

While this example contains all of the elements that are defined in the ControlTemplate of a CheckBox by default, the specific values should be thought of as examples.

<Style x:Key="{x:Type CheckBox}" TargetType="CheckBox">
  <Setter Property="SnapsToDevicePixels" Value="true"/>
  <Setter Property="OverridesDefaultStyle" Value="true"/>
  <Setter Property="FocusVisualStyle"    Value="{StaticResource CheckBoxFocusVisual}"/>
  <Setter Property="Template">
    <Setter.Value>
      <ControlTemplate TargetType="CheckBox">
        <BulletDecorator Background="Transparent">
          <BulletDecorator.Bullet>
            <Border x:Name="Border"  
              Width="13" 
              Height="13" 
              CornerRadius="0" 
              Background="{StaticResource NormalBrush}"
              BorderThickness="1"
              BorderBrush="{StaticResource NormalBorderBrush}">
              <Path 
                Width="7" Height="7" 
                x:Name="CheckMark"
                SnapsToDevicePixels="False" 
                Stroke="{StaticResource GlyphBrush}"
                StrokeThickness="2"
                Data="M 0 0 L 7 7 M 0 7 L 7 0" />
            </Border>
          </BulletDecorator.Bullet>
          <ContentPresenter Margin="4,0,0,0"
            VerticalAlignment="Center"
            HorizontalAlignment="Left"
            RecognizesAccessKey="True"/>
        </BulletDecorator>
        <ControlTemplate.Triggers>
          <Trigger Property="IsChecked" Value="false">
            <Setter TargetName="CheckMark" Property="Visibility" Value="Collapsed"/>
          </Trigger>
          <Trigger Property="IsChecked" Value="{x:Null}">
            <Setter TargetName="CheckMark" Property="Data" Value="M 0 7 L 7 0" />
          </Trigger>
          <Trigger Property="IsMouseOver" Value="true">
            <Setter TargetName="Border" Property="Background" Value="{StaticResource DarkBrush}" />
          </Trigger>
          <Trigger Property="IsPressed" Value="true">
            <Setter TargetName="Border" Property="Background" Value="{StaticResource PressedBrush}" />
            <Setter TargetName="Border" Property="BorderBrush" Value="{StaticResource PressedBorderBrush}" />
          </Trigger>
          <Trigger Property="IsEnabled" Value="false">
            <Setter TargetName="Border" Property="Background" Value="{StaticResource DisabledBackgroundBrush}" />
            <Setter TargetName="Border" Property="BorderBrush" Value="{StaticResource DisabledBorderBrush}" />
            <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="{StaticResource DisabledForegroundBrush}"/>
          </Trigger>
        </ControlTemplate.Triggers>
      </ControlTemplate>
    </Setter.Value>
  </Setter>
</Style>

The above example uses one or more of the following resources:

<Style x:Key="CheckBoxFocusVisual">
  <Setter Property="Control.Template">
    <Setter.Value>
      <ControlTemplate>
        <Border>
          <Rectangle 
            Margin="15,0,0,0"
            StrokeThickness="1"
            Stroke="#60000000"
            StrokeDashArray="1 2"/>
        </Border>
      </ControlTemplate>
    </Setter.Value>
  </Setter>
</Style>

  ...

<!-- Fill Brushes -->

<LinearGradientBrush x:Key="NormalBrush" StartPoint="0,0" EndPoint="0,1">
  <GradientBrush.GradientStops>
    <GradientStopCollection>
      <GradientStop Color="#FFF" Offset="0.0"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#CCC" Offset="1.0"/>
    </GradientStopCollection>
  </GradientBrush.GradientStops>
</LinearGradientBrush>

<LinearGradientBrush x:Key="HorizontalNormalBrush" StartPoint="0,0" EndPoint="1,0">
  <GradientBrush.GradientStops>
    <GradientStopCollection>
      <GradientStop Color="#FFF" Offset="0.0"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#CCC" Offset="1.0"/>
    </GradientStopCollection>
  </GradientBrush.GradientStops>
</LinearGradientBrush>

<LinearGradientBrush x:Key="LightBrush" StartPoint="0,0" EndPoint="0,1">
  <GradientBrush.GradientStops>
    <GradientStopCollection>
      <GradientStop Color="#FFF" Offset="0.0"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#EEE" Offset="1.0"/>
    </GradientStopCollection>
  </GradientBrush.GradientStops>
</LinearGradientBrush>

<LinearGradientBrush x:Key="HorizontalLightBrush" StartPoint="0,0" EndPoint="1,0">
  <GradientBrush.GradientStops>
    <GradientStopCollection>
      <GradientStop Color="#FFF" Offset="0.0"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#EEE" Offset="1.0"/>
    </GradientStopCollection>
  </GradientBrush.GradientStops>
</LinearGradientBrush>

<LinearGradientBrush x:Key="DarkBrush" StartPoint="0,0" EndPoint="0,1">
  <GradientBrush.GradientStops>
    <GradientStopCollection>
      <GradientStop Color="#FFF" Offset="0.0"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#AAA" Offset="1.0"/>
    </GradientStopCollection>
  </GradientBrush.GradientStops>
</LinearGradientBrush>

<LinearGradientBrush x:Key="PressedBrush" StartPoint="0,0" EndPoint="0,1">
  <GradientBrush.GradientStops>
    <GradientStopCollection>
      <GradientStop Color="#BBB" Offset="0.0"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#EEE" Offset="0.1"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#EEE" Offset="0.9"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#FFF" Offset="1.0"/>
    </GradientStopCollection>
  </GradientBrush.GradientStops>
</LinearGradientBrush>

<SolidColorBrush x:Key="DisabledForegroundBrush" Color="#888" />

<SolidColorBrush x:Key="DisabledBackgroundBrush" Color="#EEE" />

<SolidColorBrush x:Key="WindowBackgroundBrush" Color="#FFF" />

<SolidColorBrush x:Key="SelectedBackgroundBrush" Color="#DDD" />

<!-- Border Brushes -->

<LinearGradientBrush x:Key="NormalBorderBrush" StartPoint="0,0" EndPoint="0,1">
  <GradientBrush.GradientStops>
    <GradientStopCollection>
      <GradientStop Color="#CCC" Offset="0.0"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#444" Offset="1.0"/>
    </GradientStopCollection>
  </GradientBrush.GradientStops>
</LinearGradientBrush>

<LinearGradientBrush x:Key="HorizontalNormalBorderBrush" StartPoint="0,0" EndPoint="1,0">
  <GradientBrush.GradientStops>
    <GradientStopCollection>
      <GradientStop Color="#CCC" Offset="0.0"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#444" Offset="1.0"/>
    </GradientStopCollection>
  </GradientBrush.GradientStops>
</LinearGradientBrush>

<LinearGradientBrush x:Key="DefaultedBorderBrush" StartPoint="0,0" EndPoint="0,1">
  <GradientBrush.GradientStops>
    <GradientStopCollection>
      <GradientStop Color="#777" Offset="0.0"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#000" Offset="1.0"/>
    </GradientStopCollection>
  </GradientBrush.GradientStops>
</LinearGradientBrush>

<LinearGradientBrush x:Key="PressedBorderBrush" StartPoint="0,0" EndPoint="0,1">
  <GradientBrush.GradientStops>
    <GradientStopCollection>
      <GradientStop Color="#444" Offset="0.0"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#888" Offset="1.0"/>
    </GradientStopCollection>
  </GradientBrush.GradientStops>
</LinearGradientBrush>

<SolidColorBrush x:Key="DisabledBorderBrush" Color="#AAA" />

<SolidColorBrush x:Key="SolidBorderBrush" Color="#888" />

<SolidColorBrush x:Key="LightBorderBrush" Color="#AAA" />

<!-- Miscellaneous Brushes -->
<SolidColorBrush x:Key="GlyphBrush" Color="#444" />

<SolidColorBrush x:Key="LightColorBrush" Color="#DDD" />

For the complete sample, see Styling with ControlTemplates Sample.

See Also

Concepts

Guidelines for Designing Stylable Controls

Other Resources

ControlTemplate Examples