FAQ

Why is WindowsFormsHost or WebBrowser content annoying me?

• Why is so-and-so WinForms control inside the WindowsFormsHost invisible or not rendering?
• Why is the WebBrowser (or other control) covering my Flyout (or another control)? [AIRSPACE]

What you are facing is an issue colloquially called the Airspace issue. Due to the different underlying graphical engines used in WinForms (GDI) and WPF (DirectX and such), there are some interop issues. Sometimes, your controls appear will be invisible. Sometimes, your WinForms control may overlap your WPF controls.

It is important to know that this is an WPF issue, not a MahApps.Metro one.

By default, the vanilla Window class and MahApps.Metro's MetroWindow has AllowsTransparency set to false. If you set this in MahApps.Metro's MetroWindow initialized event to true you will get this issue.

Solution

The solution, should for some reason that you need AllowsTransparency to be set to true or get the rendering issue with WindowsFormsHost is:

• Go to https://microsoftdwayneneed.codeplex.com/ or now on GitHub here or here
• Get (compile) the lib and add it as a reference to your project.
• Add xmlns:interop="clr-namespace:Microsoft.DwayneNeed.Interop;assembly=Microsoft.DwayneNeed" to your XAML.
• Place your Control in the AirspaceDecorator:

<interop:AirspaceDecorator AirspaceMode="Redirect"
                           Background="White"
                           IsInputRedirectionEnabled="True"
                           IsOutputRedirectionEnabled="True">
    <!--your winforms control or webbrowser here here-->
</interop:AirspaceDecorator>

Why is my WebBrowser positioned incorrectly?

thanks to @myCollections for providing this screenshot from #1038

Chances are

• your WebBrowser is being moved by the MetroWindow's built-in TransitioningContentControl.

Solution

The solution for the issue is to set the WindowTransitionsEnabled property on your MetroWindow to false (or use the AirspaceDecorator explained above).

Why is my error template rectangle appearing above another control?

Take a look to this blog post with a nice explanation why this happens.

Solution

Simply wrap your TextBox (or the complete container) in an AdornerDecorator.

How do I use Dialogs synchronously?

The short answer is you can't, unless you use ShowModalDialogExternally.

The long answer is because internal dialogs (dialogs shown inside of a MetroWindow) are not real dialogs. They are controls shown on top of your MetroWindow's content. That means that it requires that the UI thread/dispatcher be available to work, just like your controls do.

We use internal dialogs asynchronously so that you can wait for a response from the dialog and keep the UI available for other potential user interactions.

External dialogs

The reason that external dialogs can be used synchronously is because since the dialog has it's own "window", it has its own UI thread that can wait for user input.