Grid class
Defines a flexible grid area that consists of columns and rows. Child elements of the Grid are measured and arranged according to their row/column assignments (set by using Grid.Row and Grid.Column attached properties) and other logic.
Inheritance
Syntax
<Grid ...> oneOrMoreUIElements </Grid> -or- <Grid .../>
XAML Values
- oneOrMoreUIElements
-
One or more object elements that derive from the UIElement class. Object elements defined here become members of the Children collection.
Attributes
- MarshalingBehaviorAttribute(Agile)
- StaticAttribute(Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.IGridStatics, NTDDI_WIN8)
- ThreadingAttribute(Both)
- VersionAttribute(NTDDI_WIN8)
- WebHostHiddenAttribute()
Members
The Grid class has these types of members:
Constructors
The Grid class has these constructors.
| Constructor | Description |
|---|---|
| Grid | Initializes a new instance of the Grid class. |
Events
The Grid class has these events.
| Event | Description |
|---|---|
| DoubleTapped | Occurs when an otherwise unhandled DoubleTap interaction occurs over the hit test area of this element. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| DragEnter | Occurs when the input system reports an underlying drag event with this element as the target. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| DragLeave | Occurs when the input system reports an underlying drag event with this element as the origin. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| DragOver | Occurs when the input system reports an underlying drag event with this element as the potential drop target. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| Drop | Occurs when the input system reports an underlying drop event with this element as the drop target. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| GotFocus | Occurs when a UIElement receives focus. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| Holding | Occurs when an otherwise unhandled Hold interaction occurs over the hit test area of this element. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| KeyDown | Occurs when a keyboard key is pressed while the UIElement has focus. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| KeyUp | Occurs when a keyboard key is released while the UIElement has focus. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| LayoutUpdated | Occurs when the layout of the visual tree changes. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) |
| Loaded | Occurs when a FrameworkElement has been constructed and added to the object tree, and is ready for interaction. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) |
| LostFocus | Occurs when a UIElement loses focus. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| ManipulationCompleted | Occurs when a manipulation on the UIElement is complete. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| ManipulationDelta | Occurs when the input device changes position during a manipulation. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| ManipulationInertiaStarting | Occurs when the input device loses contact with the UIElement object during a manipulation and inertia begins. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| ManipulationStarted | Occurs when an input device begins a manipulation on the UIElement. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| ManipulationStarting | Occurs when the manipulation processor is first created. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| PointerCanceled | Occurs when a pointer that made contact abnormally loses contact. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| PointerCaptureLost | Occurs when pointer capture previously held by this element moves to another element or elsewhere. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| PointerEntered | Occurs when a pointer enters the hit test area of this element. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| PointerExited | Occurs when a pointer leaves the hit test area of this element. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| PointerMoved | Occurs when a pointer moves while the pointer remains within the hit test area of this element. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| PointerPressed | Occurs when the pointer device initiates a Press action within this element. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| PointerReleased | Occurs when the pointer device that previously initiated a Press action is released, while within this element. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| PointerWheelChanged | Occurs when the delta value of a pointer wheel changes. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| RightTapped | Occurs when a right-tap input stimulus happens while the pointer is over the element. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| SizeChanged | Occurs when either the ActualHeight or the ActualWidth property changes value on a FrameworkElement. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) |
| Tapped | Occurs when an otherwise unhandled Tap interaction occurs over the hit test area of this element. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| Unloaded | Occurs when this object is no longer connected to the main object tree. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) |
Methods
The Grid class has these methods. It also inherits methods from the Object class.
| Method | Description |
|---|---|
| AddHandler | Adds a routed event handler for a specified routed event, adding the handler to the handler collection on the current element. Specify handledEventsToo as true to have the provided handler be invoked even if the event is handled elsewhere. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| Arrange | Positions child objects and determines a size for a UIElement. Parent objects that implement custom layout for their child elements should call this method from their layout override implementations to form a recursive layout update. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| ArrangeOverride | Provides the behavior for the Arrange pass of layout. Classes can override this method to define their own Arrange pass behavior. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) |
| CapturePointer | Sets pointer capture to a UIElement. Once captured, only the element that has capture will fire pointer-related events. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| ClearValue | Clears the local value of a dependency property. (Inherited from DependencyObject) |
| FindName | Retrieves an object that has the specified identifier name. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) |
| FindSubElementsForTouchTargeting | Enables a UIElement subclass to expose child elements that assist with resolving touch targeting. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| GetAnimationBaseValue | Returns any base value established for a dependency property, which would apply in cases where an animation is not active. (Inherited from DependencyObject) |
| GetColumn | Gets the value of the Grid.Column XAML attached property from the specified FrameworkElement. |
| GetColumnSpan | Gets the value of the Grid.ColumnSpan XAML attached property from the specified FrameworkElement. |
| GetRow | Gets the value of the Grid.Row XAML attached property from the specified FrameworkElement. |
| GetRowSpan | Gets the value of the Grid.RowSpan XAML attached property from the specified FrameworkElement. |
| GetValue | Returns the current effective value of a dependency property from a DependencyObject. (Inherited from DependencyObject) |
| InvalidateArrange | Invalidates the arrange state (layout) for a UIElement. After the invalidation, the UIElement will have its layout updated, which will occur asynchronously. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| InvalidateMeasure | Invalidates the measurement state (layout) for a UIElement. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| Measure | Updates the DesiredSize of a UIElement. Typically, objects that implement custom layout for their layout children call this method from their own MeasureOverride implementations to form a recursive layout update. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| MeasureOverride | Provides the behavior for the Measure pass of the layout cycle. Classes can override this method to define their own Measure pass behavior. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) |
| OnApplyTemplate | Invoked whenever application code or internal processes (such as a rebuilding layout pass) call ApplyTemplate. In simplest terms, this means the method is called just before a UI element displays in your app. Override this method to influence the default post-template logic of a class. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) |
| OnCreateAutomationPeer | When implemented in a derived class, returns class-specific AutomationPeer implementations for the Microsoft UI Automation infrastructure. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| OnDisconnectVisualChildren | Override this method to implement how layout and logic should behave when items are removed from a class-specific content or children property. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| ReadLocalValue | Returns the local value of a dependency property, if a local value is set. (Inherited from DependencyObject) |
| ReleasePointerCapture | Releases pointer captures for capture of one specific pointer by this UIElement. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| ReleasePointerCaptures | Releases all pointer captures held by this element. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| RemoveHandler | Removes the specified routed event handler from this UIElement. Typically the handler in question was added by AddHandler. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| SetBinding | Attaches a binding to a FrameworkElement, using the provided binding object. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) |
| SetColumn | Sets the value of the Grid.Column XAML attached property on the specified FrameworkElement. |
| SetColumnSpan | Sets the value of the Grid.ColumnSpan XAML attached property on the specified FrameworkElement. |
| SetRow | Sets the value of the Grid.Row XAML attached property on the specified FrameworkElement. |
| SetRowSpan | Sets the value of the Grid.RowSpan XAML attached property on the specified FrameworkElement. |
| SetValue | Sets the local value of a dependency property on a DependencyObject. (Inherited from DependencyObject) |
| TransformToVisual | Returns a transform object that can be used to transform coordinates from the UIElement to the specified object. (Inherited from UIElement) |
| UpdateLayout | Ensures that all positions of child objects of a UIElement are properly updated for layout. (Inherited from UIElement) |
Attached Properties
The Grid class has these attached properties.
| Access type | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| Read/write | Gets or sets the column alignment of an element when child layout is processed by a parent Grid layout container. | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets a value that indicates the total number of columns that the element content spans within a parent Grid. | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets the row alignment of an element when child layout is processed by a visual tree parent Grid. | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets a value that indicates the total number of rows that the element content spans within a parent Grid. |
Properties
The Grid class has these properties.
| Property | Access type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Read-only | Gets the rendered height of a FrameworkElement. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) | |
| Read-only | Gets the rendered width of a FrameworkElement. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets a value that determines whether this UIElement can be a drop target for purposes of drag-and-drop operations. (Inherited from UIElement) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets a Brush that is used to fill the panel. (Inherited from Panel) | |
| Read-only | Gets a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) that represents the base Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) for an XAML-constructed object at XAML load time. This property is useful for Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) resolution at run time. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets a value that indicates that rendered content should be cached as a composited bitmap when possible. (Inherited from UIElement) | |
| Read-only | Gets the collection of child elements of the panel. (Inherited from Panel) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets the collection of Transition style elements that apply to child content of a Panel subclass. (Inherited from Panel) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets the RectangleGeometry used to define the outline of the contents of a UIElement. (Inherited from UIElement) | |
| Read-only | Gets a list of ColumnDefinition objects defined on this instance of Grid. | |
| Read-only | Identifies the Grid.Column XAML attached property. | |
| Read-only | Identifies the Grid.ColumnSpan XAML attached property. | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets the data context for a FrameworkElement when it participates in data binding. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) | |
| Read-only | Gets the size that this UIElement computed during the measure pass of the layout process. (Inherited from UIElement) | |
| Read-only | Gets the CoreDispatcher that this object is associated with. (Inherited from DependencyObject) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets the direction in which text and other UI elements flow within any parent element that controls their layout. This property can be set to either LeftToRight or RightToLeft. Setting FlowDirection to RightToLeft on any element sets the alignment to the right, the reading order to right-to-left and the layout of the control to flow from right to left. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets the suggested height of a FrameworkElement. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets the horizontal alignment characteristics that are applied to a FrameworkElement when it is composed in a layout parent, such as a panel or items control. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets a value that determines whether the DoubleTapped event can originate from that element. (Inherited from UIElement) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets whether the contained area of this UIElement can return true values for hit testing. (Inherited from UIElement) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets a value that determines whether the Holding event can originate from that element. (Inherited from UIElement) | |
| Read-only | Gets a value that indicates whether this Panel is a container for UI items that are generated by an ItemsControl. (Inherited from Panel) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets a value that determines whether the RightTapped event can originate from that element. (Inherited from UIElement) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets a value that determines whether the Tapped event can originate from that element. (Inherited from UIElement) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets localization/globalization language information that applies to a FrameworkElement, and also to all child elements of the current FrameworkElement in the object representation and in UI. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets the ManipulationModes value used for UIElement behavior and interaction with gestures. (Inherited from UIElement) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets the outer margin of a FrameworkElement. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets the maximum height constraint of a FrameworkElement. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets the maximum width constraint of a FrameworkElement. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets the minimum height constraint of a FrameworkElement. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets the minimum width constraint of a FrameworkElement. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets the identifying name of the object. When a XAML processor creates the object tree from XAML markup, run-time code can refer to the XAML-declared object by this name. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets the degree of the object's opacity. (Inherited from UIElement) | |
| Read-only | Gets the parent object of this FrameworkElement in the object tree. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) | |
| Read-only | Gets the set of all captured pointers, represented as Pointer values. (Inherited from UIElement) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets the perspective projection (3-D effect) to apply when rendering this element. (Inherited from UIElement) | |
| Read-only | Gets the final render size of a UIElement. (Inherited from UIElement) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets transform information that affects the rendering position of a UIElement. (Inherited from UIElement) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets the origin point of any possible render transform declared by RenderTransform, relative to the bounds of the UIElement. (Inherited from UIElement) | |
| Read/write | Gets the locally defined resource dictionary. In XAML, you can establish resource items as child object elements of a frameworkElement.Resources property element, through XAML implicit collection syntax. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) | |
| Read-only | Gets a list of RowDefinition objects defined on this instance of Grid. | |
| Read-only | Identifies the Grid.Row XAML attached property. | |
| Read-only | Identifies the Grid.RowSpan XAML attached property. | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets an instance Style that is applied for this object during layout and rendering. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets an arbitrary object value that can be used to store custom information about this object. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets the collection of Transition style elements that apply to a UIElement. (Inherited from UIElement) | |
| Read-only | Gets the collection of triggers for animations that are defined for a FrameworkElement. Not commonly used. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets a value that determines whether rendering for the object and its visual subtree should use rounding behavior that aligns rendering to whole pixels. (Inherited from UIElement) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets the vertical alignment characteristics that are applied to a FrameworkElement when it is composed in a parent object such as a panel or items control. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets the visibility of a UIElement. A UIElement that is not visible is not rendered and does not communicate its desired size to layout. (Inherited from UIElement) | |
| Read/write | Gets or sets the width of a FrameworkElement. (Inherited from FrameworkElement) |
Remarks
You typically define layout behavior for a Grid in XAML by providing one or more RowDefinition elements as the value of Grid.RowDefinitions, and one or more ColumnDefinition elements as the value of Grid.ColumnDefinitions. Then, you apply the Grid.Row and Grid.Column attached properties to each of the element children of the Grid, to indicate which row/column combination is used to position that element within the parent Grid.
To set the height of rows and the width of columns, you set RowDefinition.Height for each RowDefinition and ColumnDefinition.Width for each ColumnDefinition. By default, each row or column divides layout space equally. You can change this behavior either by providing absolute pixel values, or a Star sizing that divides available space using a weighted factor. For more info on how to use Star sizing in a Grid, see Quickstart: Defining layouts or GridLength. You also can use an Auto sizing that sizes to content.
To indicate that an element child should span multiple rows or multiple columns in the Grid, you can apply the Grid.RowSpan or Grid.ColumnSpan attached properties to child elements of a Grid.
By default, a Grid contains one row and one column.
Setting the Margin property on the child elements in a Grid sets the distance between the element and its grid cell boundaries. The HorizontalAlignment and VerticalAlignment properties describe how the child element should be positioned within the grid cell. You can precisely position child elements of a Grid by using a combination of the Margin property and alignment properties. If you need even more control over the layout of individual child elements, consider using VariableSizedWrapGrid.
WrapGrid is another similar layout panel that has the benefit of better handling for content that's too wide, which might be clipped by a regular Grid depending on values of other layout properties.
Grid XAML attached properties
Grid is the host service class for several XAML attached properties. These attached properties enable child elements to report how they should be positioned in their Grid parent.
Grid provides these attached properties for XAML usage:
In order to support XAML processor access to the attached properties, and also to expose equivalent get and set operations to code, each XAML attached property has a pair of Get and Set accessor methods. For example, the GetColumnSpan and SetColumnSpan methods support and provide the equivalent code-only support for Grid.ColumnSpan. Alternatively, you can use the dependency property system to get or set the value of the attached property. Call GetValue or SetValue, passing the arguments of the dependency property identifier to set, and a reference to the target object on which to get or set the value.
Examples
This XAML example shows how to design a layout by using a Grid.
<Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="#555555" Width="400" Height="300"> <Grid.ColumnDefinitions> <ColumnDefinition Width="250" /> <ColumnDefinition Width="150" /> </Grid.ColumnDefinitions> <Grid.RowDefinitions> <RowDefinition Height="Auto" /> <RowDefinition Height="2*" /> <RowDefinition Height="*"/> </Grid.RowDefinitions> <TextBlock Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="0" Grid.ColumnSpan="2" Margin="10" FontWeight="Bold" Text="Contoso Corporation" HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center" /> <Grid x:Name="FormLayoutGrid" Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="0"> <Grid.ColumnDefinitions> <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" /> <ColumnDefinition /> </Grid.ColumnDefinitions> <Grid.RowDefinitions> <RowDefinition Height="*" /> <RowDefinition Height="*" /> <RowDefinition Height="*" /> </Grid.RowDefinitions> <TextBlock Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="0" Text="First Name" Margin="10" HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Center" /> <TextBox Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="1" Margin="10" /> <TextBlock Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="0" Text="Last Name" Margin="10" HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Center" /> <TextBox Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="1" Margin="10" /> <TextBlock Grid.Row="2" Grid.Column="0" Text="Address" Margin="10" HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Center" /> <TextBox Grid.Row="2" Grid.Column="1" Margin="10" /> </Grid> </Grid>
This example builds a UI layout in code rather than using XAML. It illustrates how you might set the various Grid attached properties in code, after you've hooked up all the parent-child relationships in the visual tree for the app.
public Page()
{
InitializeComponent();
LayoutDesign();
}
private void LayoutDesign()
{
//Create Stackpanel for ListBox Control and its description
StackPanel DeptStackPanel = new StackPanel();
DeptStackPanel.Margin = new Thickness(10);
LayoutRoot.Children.Add(DeptStackPanel);
Grid.SetColumn(DeptStackPanel, 1);
Grid.SetRow(DeptStackPanel, 1);
TextBlock DeptListHeading = new TextBlock();
DeptListHeading.Text = "Department";
ListBox DeptList = new ListBox();
DeptList.Items.Add("Finance");
DeptList.Items.Add("Marketing");
DeptList.Items.Add("Human Resources");
DeptList.Items.Add("Payroll");
DeptStackPanel.Children.Add(DeptListHeading);
DeptStackPanel.Children.Add(DeptList);
//Create StackPanel for buttons
StackPanel ButtonsStackPanel = new StackPanel();
ButtonsStackPanel.Margin = new Thickness(10);
ButtonsStackPanel.Orientation = Orientation.Horizontal;
ButtonsStackPanel.HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Center;
LayoutRoot.Children.Add(ButtonsStackPanel);
Grid.SetColumn(ButtonsStackPanel, 0);
Grid.SetRow(ButtonsStackPanel, 2);
Grid.SetColumnSpan(ButtonsStackPanel, 2);
Button BackButton = new Button();
BackButton.Content = "Back";
BackButton.Width = 100;
Button CancelButton = new Button();
CancelButton.Content = "Cancel";
CancelButton.Width = 100;
Button NextButton = new Button();
NextButton.Content = "Next";
NextButton.Width = 100;
ButtonsStackPanel.Children.Add(BackButton);
ButtonsStackPanel.Children.Add(CancelButton);
ButtonsStackPanel.Children.Add(NextButton);
BackButton.Margin = new Thickness(10);
CancelButton.Margin = new Thickness(10);
NextButton.Margin = new Thickness(10);
}
}
Requirements
|
Minimum supported client | Windows 8 [Windows Store apps only] |
|---|---|
|
Minimum supported server | Windows Server 2012 [Windows Store apps only] |
|
Namespace |
|
|
Metadata |
|
See also
- Panel
- WrapGrid
- VariableSizedWrapGrid
- Grid.Row
- Grid.Column
- Attached properties overview
- Quickstart: Defining layouts
Build date: 3/12/2013
