How do I implement an address location bar (bread crumb control) similar to that in Windows Vista's File Explorer?

StackOverflow https://stackoverflow.com/questions/205775

  •  03-07-2019
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Question

The explorer control in Windows Vista is very handy and I would like to be able to incorporate it in an application written in WPF. I've been unable to find a stock control that is part of the Framework. This application is being specifically developed for Windows Vista and therefore, having the same look and feel as the OS is desirable.

One could use the Microsoft.Win32.OpenFileDialog, but the problem with that is that it looks nothing like Vista's so it sticks out like a sore thumb.

Any thoughts on a good implementation would be most helpful. I would like to stay away from Third Party components if possible, but am definitely open to all suggestions.

Was it helpful?

Solution

I haven't yet tried it but look at VistaBridge... It gives you all the Vista look dialog boxes!

OTHER TIPS

Actipro makes a really good WPF breadcrumb control. There's also an open source WPF breadcrumb control that I might actually give a try.

There is a replacement for the Microsoft.Win32 file dialogs on my blog that gives you the Vista look without the complexity of VistaBridge and is also backward compatible with XP.

http://www.nbdtech.com/blog/archive/2008/07/15/Vista-style-open-and-save-dialogs-with-WPF-without-using.aspx

At the risk of sounding self-serving, the best Breadcrumb control for WPF you can find is here:

http://www.teraque.com/Products/Explorer-Chrome-Suite

I've spent a year trying to reverse engineer the Window's Vista control because none of the off-the-shelf products provided the right look-and-feel. You will run into the limitations of all of the suggestions above sooner or later. And, having been through it myself, I can tell you that trying to embark on developing the controls yourself will take you months. The oddities surrounding the overflow logic alone will be enough to eat up two months just to get it right.

Good luck. If there's anything I can answer for you, please feel free to contact me.

Donald Roy Airey

Donald.Roy.Airey@teraque.com

If you are coding for the .net Framework 3.5, calling for the common dialog should display the correct Vista era dialog.


Sorry, appears I was mistaken. In previous projects, I was using this library to call the Vista dialogs.

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