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windows-8webviewwindows-runtimewinrt-xamlappbar

How can I create an AppBar in Metro that works in a WebView?


So I got a normal AppBar to work in a C# metro app, but the problem is I need the app to display an html page. I create a WebView that takes up 100% of the width and height of the page, and by doing so, the AppBar doesn't show up anymore on right clicks and edge swipes. Is there a way for the AppBar to work with such a WebView in place?

--Resolved--

What I ended up doing was adding a 1px border around the WebView so that swipes could be detected. Since what I included in my WebView dynamically changes with time, WebViewBrush didn't work out for me. Instead I just shrunk the size of the WebView when the AppBar is opened and then expanded it when it was closed.


Solution

  • Not trying to steal Filip's answer, but I think a few more details are necessary to fully answer the question.

    Even with a WebView running full-screen, the AppBar tries to show itself when you right-click or swipe. You can prove this by subscribing to the AppBar.Opened event. What's interesting is that the AppBar appears to somehow know it's obscured and automatically closes itself. Even if it didn't close itself, you wouldn't be able to see it because it's obscured under the WebView.

    Filip had the right idea about hiding the WebView and using WebViewBrush while the AppBar is open. You can find a good example of doing that here:

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/windows.ui.xaml.controls.webviewbrush.aspx

    As for when to swap between WebView and WebViewBrush, I'd simply do it on AppBar.Opened and reverse it on AppBar.Closed. AppBar is light dismiss, meaning as soon as you tap anywhere outside of it's client area it will close.

    One last word of advice: In my testing it seemed that the swipe gesture was getting swallowed sometimes. That problem seemed to go away when I put a 1 pixel boarder on top and bottom of the WebView. Your mileage may vary.