I have a menu flyout which is opened on ListView Items. The default open animation is quite slow is there a way to change the default animation of flyout menu?
EDIT
I am using following dependency property for showing context menu on list view item it works fine but when context menu is shown it squeezes the the whole view a bit. I do not want to squeeze the page when context menu is opened.
public class OpenMenuFlyoutAction:DependencyObject,IAction
{
public object Execute(object sender, object parameter)
{
if (!Global.IsDisabledShowContextMenuOnListView)
{
FrameworkElement senderElement = sender as FrameworkElement;
FlyoutBase flyoutBase = FlyoutBase.GetAttachedFlyout(senderElement);
flyoutBase.ShowAt(senderElement);
}
return null;
}
}
List Item data template
<DataTemplate x:Key="MemberListItemDataTemplate">
<Grid Width="{Binding ElementName=searchView,Path=ActualWidth}" Background="{Binding ItemBackground}"
Margin="0,0,0,20" Height="auto">
<i:Interaction.Behaviors>
<icore:EventTriggerBehavior EventName="Holding">
<helpers:OpenMenuFlyoutAction />
</icore:EventTriggerBehavior>
</i:Interaction.Behaviors>
<FlyoutBase.AttachedFlyout>
<MenuFlyout>
<MenuFlyoutItem Text="share" RequestedTheme="Dark" Command="{Binding ElementName=pageMyProfile, Path=DataContext.ShareMemberDetails}" CommandParameter="{Binding item99}" />
<MenuFlyoutItem Text="reomve from members" RequestedTheme="Dark" Command="{Binding ElementName=pageMyProfile, Path=DataContext.RemoveMember}" CommandParameter="{Binding item99}" />
</MenuFlyout>
</FlyoutBase.AttachedFlyout>
...
</DataTemplate>
Yeah, you need to create a new Style targeting MenuFlyoutPresenter in your resources
<Style TargetType="MenuFlyoutPresenter">
If you copy it from Program Files (x86)\Windows Phone Kits\8.1\Include\abi\Xaml\Design\generic.xaml you'll notice there are already some storyboards inside for various visual states that you need to change in order to get a different animation.
I wrote about something very similar in my blog post MenuFlyout flip animation on Windows Phone WinRT
Related
I am trying to use a ParallaxView to make an image within the GridViewItem parallax as the GridView is scrolled. The intended effect is the same as the newsfeed in the Xbox UWP app on PC; images on the listview items there parallax as you scroll. This is shown visually in the following image:
I am running into a databinding data context issue, however. All of the examples I have seen are to make the background of the entire GridView or ListView parallax. A working example of that is as follows (very similar to the XAML Controls Gallery Sample found here):
<Grid>
<ParallaxView Name="GridViewParallaxView"
Source="{x:Bind MyGridView}"
VerticalShift="100">
<!-- This is the background image that parallaxes. -->
<Image></Image>
</ParallaxView>
<GridView Name="MyGridView">
<!-- GridView Content Here... -->
</GridView>
</Grid>
The problem I am running into is when trying to place the ParallaxView INSIDE of the DataTemplate in the ItemTemplate in the GridView.
<GridView Name="MyGridView"
ItemsSource="{x:Bind MyDataList}">
<GridView.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate x:DataType="models:MyDataType">
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"></RowDefinition>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"></RowDefinition>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<ParallaxView Name="GridViewParallaxView"
Grid.Row="0"
Source="{x:Bind MyGridView}"
VerticalShift="100">
<!-- This is the image ON EACH GRIDVIEW ITEM that parallaxes. -->
<Image Source="{x:Bind MySource}"></Image>
</ParallaxView>
<TextBlock Name="ItemTitleTextBlock"
Grid.Row="1"
Text="{x:Bind Title}"></TextBlock>
</Grid>
</DataTemplate>
</GridView.ItemTemplate>
</GridView>
Note that some properties (like MinWidth and Margin) have been omitted for brevity.
The code behind (not totally relevant, but to add context to some of the bindings):
public class MyPage : Page
{
public ObservableCollection<MyDataType> MyDataList { get; set; }
}
public class MyDataType
{
public string Title { get; set; }
public ImageSource MySource { get; set; }
}
This does not work because placing the 'ParallaxView' inside of the 'DataTemplate' changes the 'DataContext'. MyGridView can no longer be bound to directly like that. So how do I bind it?
Also, I read that the DataContext property is inherited by children in the XAML tree. I need the Image databinding to be in the same context as the DataTemplate. Is there a way to just change the DataContext for the ParallaxView?
You could use Binding, instead of x:Bind.
<ParallaxView Name="GridViewParallaxView"
Grid.Row="0"
Source="{Binding ElementName=MyGridView}"
VerticalShift="100">
<!-- This is the image ON EACH GRIDVIEW ITEM that parallaxes. -->
<Image Source="{x:Bind MySource}"></Image>
</ParallaxView>
In my Xmal I have
<Button
Command = "{Binding FaultClick}"
/>
</StackPanel>
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding FaultButtons}"
<ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<Button command={"Binding FaultCheck"}>
<Grid>
<TextBlock Text={"Binding FaultButtons.Content"}/}
</Grid>
</Button>
</DataTemplate>
</ItemsControl,ItemTemplate>
<ItemsControl>
and in my ViewModel I have
FaultCheck = new RelayCommand(ClickThisFault,() => true);
in the constructor
Public RelayCommand FaultCheck
{
Get;
Private set;
}
public void ClickThisFault()
{
some actions
}
in the body
What I am trying to achieve is to dynamically build a set of buttons that that the user can click to register faults.
the command binding on the button outside the ItemsControl works fine, I put it there to test the binding.
the itemsource binding on the ItemsControl works as well, my dynamic buttons are created but the Command Binding on the Buttons inside the ItemsControl and the Text Binding on the textBlock dosent work.
Am I missing something with Binding Dynamically created objects ?? or is there a better way to do this??
I would like to create a ListView where items have a "hover" and a "selected" state, displaying different content in each state.
There have been some similar question here on StackOverflow, but none helped in my particular case.
Let's say I have a model:
public class TagFile : BaseBind // A class with INotifyProperyChanged interface
{
private string path;
public String Path
{
get { return path; }
set
{
SetProperty(ref path, value);
}
}
public void SelectButtonClick()
{
// Do something
}
public void HoverButtonClick()
{
// Do something
}
}
...then I have a main ViewModel:
public class AppViewModel : BaseBind
{
public ObservableCollection<TagFile> ItemsList { get; set; }
// Other things
}
... then a Page:
<Grid>
<ListView ItemsSource="ItemsList">
<ListView.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate x:DataType="local:TagFile">
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition/>
<RowDefinition/>
<RowDefinition/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<TextBlock Text="{x:Bind Path, mode=OneWay}"/>
<Button Content="Select Button" Click="{x:Bind SelectButtonClick}"/>
<Button Content="Hover Button" Click="{x:Bind HoverbuttonClick}"/>
</Grid>
</DataTemplate>
</ListView.ItemTemplate>
</ListView>
</Grid>
I would like to customize ListViewItem Style in order to make the SelectButton appear only when the ListViewItem is selected and the HoverButton only when the cursor is onto it.
I already know that I need to play with ItemTemplate and ItemContainerStyle, but it seems to be more difficult than I tought at the beginning, because I could create a custom style for the ItemContainerStyle in this way (using the IsSelected property from ListViewItem):
<Style TargetType="ListViewItem" x:Key="TestContainerStyle">
<Setter Property="Template">
<Setter.Value>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="ListViewItem">
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<ContentPresenter x:Name="Presenter" Content="{TemplateBinding Content}"/>
<Button Grid.Row="1" Content="Select Button" Visibility="{Binding IsSelected, RelativeSource={RelativeSource Mode=TemplatedParent}}"/>
</Grid>
</ControlTemplate>
</Setter.Value>
</Setter>
<Setter Property="HorizontalContentAlignment" Value="Stretch"/>
</Style>
...but in this way:
1) I loose all the default brushes;
2) I don't know how I could bind the SelectButton to the model's command;
3) I would have to find a way for the "hover" state, in order to display the HoverButton;
4) Last, but not least... I would like to include all the customizations in the App.xaml file (or in associated ResourceDictionary files, as I need them across the entire app).
This is it... I have tried various pattern from StackOverflow answers, but my case includes many differnt things (compile binding in App.xaml files, create a "hover" state, using binding in a Style without a DataType, etc.) that are answered here only separately.
I need to... put them all together, and it seems more tricky than I thought, as I said.
Thank you for your help, really appreciate.
EDIT: the behaviour should be like the Groove App list items: some buttons (Play and Remove item) appears only when the the item is selected or in hover state.
Normal state:
...and Hover/selected state:
There are two ways where you can achieve what you want:
The first one: I don't prefer it as you will need to copy the whole style and embed your item template inside the style. It also doesn't scale if you want to have the same behavior for multiple parts of your app.
You can copy the ListViewItem style which uses UIElement tree and visual states instead of a ListViewItemPresenter. This way you don't lose default brushes.
Note: look in the above link for the template with x:Key="ListViewItemExpanded".
<!-- Style for Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.ListViewItem -->
<Style TargetType="ListViewItem" x:Key="ListViewItemExpanded">
Second Note:
These styles and resources are based on the Windows Software
Development Kit (SDK) for Windows 10, Version 1511 (Windows SDK
version 10.0.10586.0). Styles and resources from other versions of the
SDK might have different values. For design purposes, generic.xaml is
available in the (Program Files)\Windows
Kits\10\DesignTime\CommonConfiguration\Neutral\UAP\10.0.10586.0\Generic
folder from a Windows SDK installation.
Now you can use pointerover and selected states to show and hide different elements.
Second approach: Using custom control [Recommended]
Break your problem to two things:
You can define IsSelected property in your model/viewmodel for each item, and update that within your select command. Now you can control the first button visibility by binding to IsSelected.
Second is the hover part, you create a custom control which expose a dependency property IsPointerOver and you can bind visibility of the 'Hover Button' to it.
Example:
public class ExtendedControl : ContentControl
{
public static readonly DependencyProperty IsPointerOverProperty =
DependencyProperty.Register("IsPointerOver", typeof(bool), typeof(ExtendedControl),
new PropertyMetadata(false));
public bool IsPointerOver
{
get => (bool)GetValue(IsPointerOverProperty);
protected set => SetValue(IsPointerOverProperty, value);
}
protected override void OnPointerEntered(PointerRoutedEventArgs e)
{
base.OnPointerEntered(e);
IsPointerOver = true;
}
protected override void OnPointerCanceled(PointerRoutedEventArgs e)
{
base.OnPointerCanceled(e);
IsPointerOver = false;
}
protected override void OnPointerExited(PointerRoutedEventArgs e)
{
base.OnPointerExited(e);
IsPointerOver = false;
}
}
Xaml:
<ListView.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate >
<local:ExtendedControl x:Name="ExtendedControl">
<StackPanel>
<Button Content="Always Visible"/>
<Button Content="Only on hover" Visibility="{x:Bind ExtendedControl.IsPointerOver,Mode=OneWay,Converter={StaticResource BoolToVisibilityConverter}}"/>
</StackPanel>
</local:ExtendedControl>
</DataTemplate>
</ListView.ItemTemplate>
I've got a shared Flyout defined in my <Page.Resources> as follows:
<Flyout x:Name="InfoFlyout" Opened="{Binding IsOpen,
ElementName=MyListView, Mode=TwoWay}">
<Grid>
<Button Foreground="White" Margin="5">
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<TextBlock Text="Help"/>
</StackPanel>
</Button>
</Grid>
</Flyout>
But I get An object reference not set error when compiling, so I used the code from this article (Using Windows 8.1 Flyout control with MVVM) instead.
This seems to circumvent the problem I was having with the above code. Now my shared Flyout code looks like this:
<Flyout x:Name="InfoFlyout"
helpers:FlyoutHelpers.Parent="{Binding ElementName=MyListView}"
helpers:FlyoutHelpers.IsOpen="{Binding IsOpen, Mode=TwoWay}">
<Grid>
<Button Foreground="White" Margin="5">
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<TextBlock Text="Help"/>
</StackPanel>
</Button>
</Grid>
</Flyout>
My ListView control (i.e. x:Name="MyListView") is binded to the page's ViewModel i.e. MainPageViewModel. The IsOpen property is defined in the MainViewModel.
Now in my ListView DataTemplate, I want my Flyout to open when I press and hold the ListViewItem or when pressing a button within the ListViewItem:
<DataTemplate>
<Grid FlyoutBase.AttachedFlyout="{StaticResource InfoFlyout}">
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="Auto"/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Image Grid.Column="0" Source={Binding MyImage} />
<Grid Grid.Column="1" Margin="5">
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="*" />
<ColumnDefinition Width="Auto" />
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Button Width="30" Height="30"
Flyout="{StaticResource InfoFlyout}"
content="i">
</Button>
</Grid>
<interactivity:Interaction.Behaviors>
<core:EventTriggerBehavior EventName="Holding">
<actions:OpenFlyoutAction />
</core:EventTriggerBehavior>
</interactivity:Interaction.Behaviors>
</Grid>
</DataTemplate>
As you can see, I've got the Flyout "attached" to the Grid via:
FlyoutBase.AttachedFlyout="{StaticResource InfoFlyout}"
and I've got the same Flyout attached to the button within the ListViewItem itself via:
Flyout="{StaticResource InfoFlyout}"
I've put breakpoints on both my setter and getter for the IsOpen property and when page gets loaded, it does go into the getter but whenever I open or close my Flyout either via Holding or by pressing the 'i' button, it doesn't trigger the method below and therefore it doesn't change the IsOpen property.
private static void OnIsOpenPropertyChanged(DependencyObject d,
DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e) as defined in the FlyoutHelper class.
The reason I've set my ElementName to MyListView is that I want all my ListViewItem to be binded to the one property i.e. IsOpen as I need to detect whenever a flyout menu is opened irrelevant of which ListViewItem it belongs to.
How can I achieve or resolve this?
UPDATE - 1
The problem of accessing the shared menu has been resolved by using the following:
<Flyout x:Name="InfoFlyout"
helpers:FlyoutHelpers.Parent="{Binding ElementName=MyListView}"
helpers:FlyoutHelpers.IsOpen="{Binding IsOpen, Mode=TwoWay}">
and setting the button to
<Button Width="30" Height="30"
Command="{Binding InformationCommand}"
CommandParameter="{Binding}"
Flyout="{StaticResource InfoFlyout}">
Which is fine and as #ElvisXia mentioned, you can comment out the code in the OnIsOpenPropertyChanged as the positioning is already determined by the button located inside my ListViewItem.
There is however one outstanding problem. A small one btw, but nice if it can be solved. The shared flyout which is attached to the grid itself in the DataTemplate i.e.
<DataTemplate>
<Grid FlyoutBase.AttachedFlyout="{StaticResource InfoFlyout}">
It is being positioning based on the ListViewItem which technically is correct as I'm calling a different piece of code for that one i.e.
<interactivity:Interaction.Behaviors>
<core:EventTriggerBehavior EventName="Holding">
<actions:OpenFlyoutAction />
</core:EventTriggerBehavior>
</interactivity:Interaction.Behaviors>
And the OpenFlyoutAction is defined as follows:
public class OpenFlyoutAction : DependencyObject, IAction
{
public object Execute(object sender, object parameter)
{
FrameworkElement senderElement = sender as FrameworkElement;
FlyoutBase flyoutBase = FlyoutBase.GetAttachedFlyout(senderElement);
flyoutBase.ShowAt(senderElement);
return null;
}
}
Can I somehow stop using the OpenFlyoutAction and use the same code as provided in the article to open my Flyout wherever the user is holding his/her finger on the relevant ListViewItem rather than on top or below the actual ListViewItem?
I understand it's a little bit side track from the original issue which was to share a Flyout by to controls but may as well finish it as it is somehow relevant to the issue.
Thanks.
Change the type of Parent from Button to ListView. To open flyout in particular X,Y position is not possible in WP. You can choose PopUp control instead. Here is a link which i got open the pop up in tapped position. You can use VisualTreeHelper to get PopUp control of tapped ListViewItem
By Using Windows 8.1 Flyout control with MVVM , the author use parent to control where the flyout shows up.
So the author have codes like below(FlyoutHelpers.cs):
private static void OnIsOpenPropertyChanged(DependencyObject d,
DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
var flyout = d as Flyout;
var parent = (ListView)d.GetValue(ParentProperty);
if (flyout != null && parent != null)
{
var newValue = (bool)e.NewValue;
if (newValue)
flyout.ShowAt(parent);
else
flyout.Hide();
}
}
He use flyout.ShowAt(parent) to let flyout show at parent element. But in your codes you have binded the flyout to the button using:
<Button Width="30" Height="30"
Flyout="{StaticResource InfoFlyout}" content="i">
</Button>
So it is not necessary to let it show at it's parent any more. To fix the problem, you can comment out the statements like below:
private static void OnIsOpenPropertyChanged(DependencyObject d,
DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
//var flyout = d as Flyout;
//var parent = (ListView)d.GetValue(ParentProperty);
//if (flyout != null && parent != null)
//{
// var newValue = (bool)e.NewValue;
// if (newValue)
// flyout.ShowAt(parent);
// else
// flyout.Hide();
//}
}
Then you will see the flyout shows at the right place.
I may be approaching this all wrong, so tell me if you have an alternative suggestions.
I'm making an app for windows RT that will have a bunch of text blocks displayed to the user, for example character stats.
The user will see:
Str: 10
Con: 10
Dex: 10
and so on.
I want them to be able to fill these in, then have a select view values calculated based on the result.
My though was to click an "Edit" button at the top and toggle some text boxes over each editable text block.
When trying to set this up using "Blend for Visual Studio" I can't seem to make a text box that is smaller than 49x34 (much larger than my text blocks).
I was going to find a way to generate a text box for each text block (using its dimensions) on button click, but since they will always be the same and there will be a lot of them I was trying to make them static via blend.
I'm pretty new to XAML, and I can't seem to find a good example of people setting up editable fields like this, so how should I make a bunch of static fields have editable text boxes?
I would create both the TextBox and TextBlock overlays in XAML, and place them directly on top of each other in a Grid, using Horizontal and Vertical alignments to "Center" to ensure that the text is always completely lined up. I would also use static Widths to ensure that the columns line up well.
From there, you can directly bind the Visibility to some boolean "IsEditing" property, to make sure that only one of the controls are shown at a time.
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<TextBlock Text="Str: " Width="40" VerticalAlignment="Center" />
<Grid Width="40" VerticalAlignment="Center">
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Strength}"
Visibility="{Binding IsEditing, Converter={StaticResource BooleanToInvisibilityConverter}}"
VerticalAlignment="Center"
HorizontalAlignment="Center" />
<TextBox Text="{Binding Strength}"
Visibility="{Binding IsEditing, Converter={StaticResource BooleanToVisibilityConverter}}"
VerticalAlignment="Center"
HorizontalContentAlignment="Center" />
</Grid>
</StackPanel>
Somewhere along the way you'll have to define your "BooleanToVisibility" and "BooleanToInvisiblity" converter resources. I like this implementation by Diedrik Krols. It's nice and simple, with the option to invert.
You might want to use a style for a TextBox, which changes depending on whether or not the "IsReadOnly" property is true or not.
When IsReadOnly is true, you can set the BorderBrush and Background to Transparent, thus making it look like a normal textblock.
In this way, you don't have to overlay TextBlocks and TextBoxes; just use TextBox controls by themselves, and toggle the "IsReadOnly" property when you click the Edit button.
In your resources:
<Style x:Key="MyEditableField" TargetType={x:Type TextBox}>
<Style.Triggers>
<DataTrigger Binding="{Binding IsReadOnly, RelativeSource={RelativeSource Self}}" Value="True">
<Setter Property="BorderBrush" Value="Transparent" />
<Setter Property="Background" Value="Transparent" />
</DataTrigger>
</Style.Triggers>
</Style>
And here's one of your editable fields:
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<TextBlock Text="Str: " />
<TextBox Style="{StaticResource MyEditableField}"
Text="{Binding Strength}"
IsReadOnly="{Binding IsEditingDisabled}" />
</StackPanel>
Late answer, but who wants can also create a custom editable textbox, its pretty easy actually here is the code (obviously you can modify it for your own needs)
public class EditableTextBox : TextBox
{
public EditableTextBox()
{
this.BorderBrush = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Black);
}
protected override void OnTapped(TappedRoutedEventArgs e)
{
this.IsReadOnly = false;
SetEditingStyle();
base.OnTapped(e);
}
protected override void OnDoubleTapped(DoubleTappedRoutedEventArgs e)
{
this.IsReadOnly = false;
SetEditingStyle();
base.OnDoubleTapped(e);
}
protected override void OnLostFocus(RoutedEventArgs e)
{
this.IsReadOnly = true;
SetReadonlyStyle();
base.OnLostFocus(e);
}
public void SetReadonlyStyle()
{
this.BorderBrush.Opacity = 0;
this.Background.Opacity = 0;
}
public void SetEditingStyle()
{
this.BorderBrush.Opacity = 1;
this.Background.Opacity = 1;
}
}
Sample:
Tutorial: Full tutorial url
Using a property to toggle edit mode between view AND viewmodel is a bad design approach you should use events and command binding to communicate changes of states like this between view and viewmodel.
Here is an article that describes the principle in an MVVM compliant way:
http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/802385/A-WPF-MVVM-In-Place-Edit-TextBox-Control
Please have a look and tell me what you think.
This builds off of BTownTKD's solution, but as I really do prefer as much WPF of a solution as possible here is a bit of a modification, in my case I'm trying to modify the name of a tab control.
My view model has the following code:
private bool _isEditingName = false;
public bool IsEditingName
{
get
{
return _isEditingName;
}
set
{
_isEditingName = value;
OnPropertyChanged();
}
}
public ICommand StartEditing
{
get
{
return new DelegateCommand(() =>
{
IsEditingName = true;
});
}
}
public ICommand EndEditing
{
get
{
return new DelegateCommand(() =>
{
IsEditingName = false;
});
}
}
Next is my view that has the data template for the tab (not the content just the tab):
<TabControl ItemsSource="{Binding Items}" SelectedItem="{Binding ActiveItem}">
<TabControl.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<Grid VerticalAlignment="Center">
<TextBlock x:Name="TabName" Text="{Binding Name}" Visibility="{Binding IsEditingName, Converter={StaticResource InvertedBoolToVisConverter}}" VerticalAlignment="Center" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" TextAlignment="Left">
<TextBlock.InputBindings>
<MouseBinding MouseAction="LeftDoubleClick" Command="{Binding StartEditing}" />
</TextBlock.InputBindings>
</TextBlock>
<TextBox Text="{Binding Name}" Visibility="{Binding IsEditingName, Converter={StaticResource BoolToVisConverter}}" VerticalAlignment="Center" HorizontalContentAlignment="Stretch" TextAlignment="Left" IsVisibleChanged="TextBox_IsVisibleChanged">
<i:Interaction.Triggers>
<i:EventTrigger EventName="LostFocus">
<i:InvokeCommandAction Command="{Binding EndEditing}" />
</i:EventTrigger>
</i:Interaction.Triggers>
<TextBox.InputBindings>
<KeyBinding Key="Enter" Command="{Binding EndEditing}" />
</TextBox.InputBindings>
</TextBox>
</Grid>
</DataTemplate>
</TabControl.ItemTemplate>
</TabControl>
And last but not least, I wanted a double click to put me in edit mode, and to auto focus on the textbox and select all of the content for immediate typing. None of the xaml solutions were as clean as a simple code behind so I finally just decided on adding this to the textbox on visibility changed handler:
private void TextBox_IsVisibleChanged(object sender, System.Windows.DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
{
var box = sender as TextBox;
if (box != null)
{
if ((bool)e.NewValue)
{
box.Focus();
box.SelectAll();
}
}
}
Out of all of the solutions I found, this was by far my favorite. Thanks everyone for your posts!! Helped me find a really good overall solution to my problem!