Class WPFWindowWrapperHelper

Namespace: VisioForge.Core.UI.WPF

Assembly: VisioForge.Core.dll

Static helper class providing extension methods for seamless WinForms dialog integration in WPF applications.

This utility class extends WinForms Form objects with convenient extension methods that automatically handle the complexity of showing WinForms dialogs from WPF applications. It eliminates the need for manual window handle extraction and wrapper creation.

Key features:

Extension methods for natural API usage
Automatic window handle extraction and wrapper creation
Proper parent-child relationship establishment
Seamless integration between WPF and WinForms modal dialogs
Clean, fluent API that hides interop complexity

Benefits:

Simplified syntax for showing WinForms dialogs from WPF
Automatic resource management for window handles
Consistent modal dialog behavior across UI frameworks
Reduced boilerplate code for mixed-mode applications

Thread safety: Extension methods should be called from the UI thread as they access WPF window handles.

public static class WPFWindowWrapperHelper

Inheritance

object

WPFWindowWrapperHelper

Inherited Members

object.Equals(object?)

object.Equals(object?, object?)

object.GetHashCode()

object.GetType()

object.MemberwiseClone()

object.ReferenceEquals(object?, object?)

object.ToString()

Methods

ShowDialog(Form, Window)

Shows a WinForms dialog with proper parenting to a WPF window.

This extension method provides a convenient way to display WinForms dialogs from WPF applications while maintaining proper parent-child relationships. It automatically creates a WPFWindowWrapper to handle the Win32 interop and ensures the dialog appears modal to the parent WPF window.

The method handles:

Automatic window handle extraction from the WPF parent
Creation of the appropriate wrapper object
Proper modal dialog behavior
Correct Z-order and focus management
Standard WinForms dialog result handling

Usage example: OpenFileDialog dialog = new OpenFileDialog(); if (dialog.ShowDialog(this) == DialogResult.OK) { ... }

Thread safety: Must be called from the UI thread.

public static DialogResult ShowDialog(this Form form, Window parent)

Parameters

form Form: The WinForms form/dialog to display.
parent Window: The parent WPF window that will own the dialog.

Returns

DialogResult: The dialog result indicating how the dialog was closed.

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