README.md

Author: Peter

CustomControlBaseLib.sln

@@ -9,6 +9,13 @@ Project("{9A19103F-16F7-4668-BE54-9A1E7A4F7556}") = "CustomControlSample", "Cust
 EndProject
 Project("{9A19103F-16F7-4668-BE54-9A1E7A4F7556}") = "CustomControlSampleLib", "CustomControlSampleLib\CustomControlSampleLib.csproj", "{086A3184-0414-49C5-8EDE-22769BDFC569}"
 EndProject
+Project("{2150E333-8FDC-42A3-9474-1A3956D46DE8}") = "Solution Items", "Solution Items", "{1D1115C6-C797-4376-8B86-349094F45C0E}"
+	ProjectSection(SolutionItems) = preProject
+		CustomControlSample.pdn = CustomControlSample.pdn
+		CustomControlSample.png = CustomControlSample.png
+		README.md = README.md
+	EndProjectSection
+EndProject
 Global
 	GlobalSection(SolutionConfigurationPlatforms) = preSolution
 		Debug|Any CPU = Debug|Any CPU

CustomControlSample.pdn

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
         xmlns:local="clr-namespace:CustomControlSample"
         xmlns:CustomControlSampleLib="clr-namespace:CustomControlSampleLib;assembly=CustomControlSampleLib"
         mc:Ignorable="d"
-        Title="MainWindow" Width="500" Height="400">
+        Title="MainWindow" Width="400" Height="300">
     <Grid>
     <Grid.RowDefinitions>
       <RowDefinition/>
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
     </Grid.RowDefinitions>
     <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
       <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto"/>
-      <ColumnDefinition Width="200"/>
+      <ColumnDefinition Width="100"/>
       <ColumnDefinition Width="50"/>
       <ColumnDefinition/>
     </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>

CustomControlSample.png

@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+# Base WPF functionality for writing custom controls
+
+## Table of content
+[About](#about)  
+[Sample](#sample)  
+[Build requirements](#Build-requirements)  
+[Structure CustomControlBaseLib Solution](#Structure-CustomControlBaseLib-Solution)  
+[Project Status](#Project-Status)  
+[Copyright](#Copyright)
+
+## About
+
+It can be quite a lot of work to support resizing, padding, different fonts, etc.
+when you write a WPF custom control. The main class in the library `CustomControlBase` 
+provides these functionalities and also drawing directly to the screen for your
+custom control.
+A few other methods in this library are also helpful when writing
+WPF controls, like `GlyphDrawer` which allows to measure text length and
+writing text directly to a Control's DrawingContext.
+
+## Sample
+
+`CustomControlBase` can be used for any custom control. `CustomControlSample` in 
+`CustomControlSampleLib` provides a detailed example how to add `Visuals`, 
+`FramworkElemtens`, `Controls`, etc. and how to directly 
+draw to the screen can be easily combined. Left in the sample is a `TextBox` and right 
+is a code drawn ellipse with the same (!) size like the TextBox. A possible use case would
+be a graph together with legend. 
+
+![User has changed data, cannot close window](CustomControlSample.png)
+
+One challenge here is the sizing and placing of the control's content, depending on Alignment (stretched or not), 
+`TextBox.FontSize` and available space given by the Window. `CustomControlBase` and 
+`CustomControlSample` also support Border and Padding. `Font` and `BackGround` are inherited in a custom 
+control from `Control`, but they don't do anything out of the box. `CustomControlBase` adds the missing 
+functionality.
+
+## Build requirements
+.Net Core 3.1 or later
+
+## Structure CustomControlBaseLib Solution
+
+### CustomControlBaseLib
+The only library needed to be referenced from other code, providing:
+* `CustomControlBase`: Base class for custom controls with functionality added for Children, Drawing, 
+`Border`, `Padding` and `Background`.
+* `GlyphDrawer`: Writes text to a `DrawingContext`. Can also be used to calculate the length of text.
+### CustomControlSample
+Shows how to use `CustomControlBase`
+### CustomControlSampleLib
+Helper library for `CustomControlSample`
+
+## Project Status
+Completed and stable
+
+## Copyright
+Copyright 2020 Jürg Peter Huber, Singapore.
+
+Licensed under the [Creative Commons 0 license](COPYING.txt)
+