Make WPF/SL grid ignore a child element when determining size

Question

I have a Grid which has several children, one of which is a ScrollViewer. I want the Grid to size itself based on all of its children except the ScrollViewer, which

Answer 1

Pavlo Glazkov's answer works very well for me! I have used it for a control that does not want to specify explicit sizes ... I added some logic and properties to defeat one dimension:

public sealed class NoSizeDecorator
            : Decorator
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Sets whether the width will be overridden.
        /// </summary>
        public static readonly DependencyProperty DisableWidthOverrideProperty
                = DependencyProperty.Register(
                        nameof(NoSizeDecorator.DisableWidthOverride),
                        typeof(bool),
                        typeof(NoSizeDecorator),
                        new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(
                                false,
                                FrameworkPropertyMetadataOptions.AffectsMeasure));

        /// <summary>
        /// Sets whether the width will be overridden.
        /// </summary>
        public bool DisableWidthOverride
        {
            get => (bool)GetValue(NoSizeDecorator.DisableWidthOverrideProperty);
            set => SetValue(NoSizeDecorator.DisableWidthOverrideProperty, value);
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Sets whether the height will be overridden.
        /// </summary>
        public static readonly DependencyProperty DisableHeightOverrideProperty
                = DependencyProperty.Register(
                        nameof(NoSizeDecorator.DisableHeightOverride),
                        typeof(bool),
                        typeof(NoSizeDecorator),
                        new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(
                                false,
                                FrameworkPropertyMetadataOptions.AffectsMeasure));

        /// <summary>
        /// Sets whether the height will be overridden.
        /// </summary>
        public bool DisableHeightOverride
        {
            get => (bool)GetValue(NoSizeDecorator.DisableHeightOverrideProperty);
            set => SetValue(NoSizeDecorator.DisableHeightOverrideProperty, value);
        }


        protected override Size MeasureOverride(Size constraint)
        {
            UIElement child = Child;
            if (child == null)
                return new Size();
            constraint
                    = new Size(
                            DisableWidthOverride
                                    ? constraint.Width
                                    : 0D,
                            DisableHeightOverride
                                    ? constraint.Height
                                    : 0D);
            child.Measure(constraint);
            return new Size(
                    DisableWidthOverride
                            ? child.DesiredSize.Width
                            : 0D,
                    DisableHeightOverride
                            ? child.DesiredSize.Height
                            : 0D);
        }
    }

Answer 2

If I understood correctly what you want, then you can do the following trick. Create a decorator that will ask for 0 space during the Measure stage and will arrange the child with all the given space at the Arrange stage:

public class NoSizeDecorator : Decorator
{
    protected override Size MeasureOverride(Size constraint) {
        // Ask for no space
        Child.Measure(new Size(0,0));
        return new Size(0, 0);
    }        
}

And your XAML will look like this:

<Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="White">
    <Grid VerticalAlignment="Top" HorizontalAlignment="Left">
        <Grid.RowDefinitions>
            <RowDefinition/>
            <RowDefinition/>
        </Grid.RowDefinitions>
        <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
            <ColumnDefinition/>
            <ColumnDefinition/>
        </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
        <my:NoSizeDecorator Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="0">
            <ScrollViewer ScrollViewer.HorizontalScrollBarVisibility="Auto" ScrollViewer.VerticalScrollBarVisibility="Auto">
                <Button Height="300" Width="300" Content="0,0"/>
            </ScrollViewer>
        </my:NoSizeDecorator>

        <Button Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="0" Height="100" Width="100" Content="1,0"/>
        <Button Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="1" Height="100" Width="100" Content="0,1"/>
        <Button Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="1" Height="100" Width="100" Content="1,1"/>
    </Grid>
</Grid>