WPF XAML: how to get StackPanel's children to fill maximum space downward?

Posted by Edward Tanguay on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by Edward Tanguay
Published on 2009-02-20T10:47:24Z Indexed on 2010/06/05 8:52 UTC
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wpf

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xaml

I simply want flowing text on the left, and a help box on the right.

The help box should extend all the way to the bottom.

If you take out the outer StackPanel below it works great.

But for reasons of layout (I'm inserting UserControls dynamically) I need to have the wrapping StackPanel.

How do I get the GroupBox to extend down to the bottom of the StackPanel, as you can see I've tried:

VerticalAlignment="Stretch"
VerticalContentAlignment="Stretch"
Height="Auto"

XAML:

<Window x:Class="TestDynamic033.Test3"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    Title="Test3" Height="300" Width="600">
    <StackPanel 
        VerticalAlignment="Stretch" 
        Height="Auto">

        <DockPanel 
            HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" 
            VerticalAlignment="Stretch" 
            Height="Auto" 
            Margin="10">

            <GroupBox 
                DockPanel.Dock="Right" 
                Header="Help" 
                Width="100" 
                Background="Beige" 
                VerticalAlignment="Stretch" 
                VerticalContentAlignment="Stretch" 
                Height="Auto">
                <TextBlock Text="This is the help that is available on the news screen." TextWrapping="Wrap" />
            </GroupBox>

            <StackPanel DockPanel.Dock="Left" Margin="10" Width="Auto" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch">
                <TextBlock Text="Here is the news that should wrap around." TextWrapping="Wrap"/>
            </StackPanel>

        </DockPanel>
    </StackPanel>
</Window>

Answer:

Thanks Mark, using DockPanel instead of StackPanel cleared it up. In general, I find myself using DockPanel more and more now for WPF layouting, here's the fixed XAML:

<Window x:Class="TestDynamic033.Test3"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    Title="Test3" Height="300" Width="600" MinWidth="500" MinHeight="200">
    <DockPanel 
        VerticalAlignment="Stretch" 
        Height="Auto">

        <DockPanel 
            HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" 
            VerticalAlignment="Stretch" 
            Height="Auto" 
            MinWidth="400"
            Margin="10">

            <GroupBox 
                DockPanel.Dock="Right" 
                Header="Help" 
                Width="100" 
                VerticalAlignment="Stretch" 
                VerticalContentAlignment="Stretch" 
                Height="Auto">
                <Border CornerRadius="3" Background="Beige">
                    <TextBlock Text="This is the help that is available on the news screen." TextWrapping="Wrap" 

                Padding="5"/>
                </Border>
            </GroupBox>

            <StackPanel DockPanel.Dock="Left" Margin="10" Width="Auto" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch">
                <TextBlock Text="Here is the news that should wrap around." TextWrapping="Wrap"/>
            </StackPanel>

        </DockPanel>
    </DockPanel>
</Window>

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