TUM.CMS.VplControl 0.4#

TUM.CMS.VplControl is a WPF based Visual Programming Language Control for .Net. A visual programming language can aid non-programmers to write simple programs or processes, without the knowledge of how they are internally built. The control allows simple visual programming (assignments, boolean expressions, math expressions, and scripting) from scratch. Further nodes for your purposes can be added easily. The development of this VPL framework was mainly influenced by the well known VPL tools Dynamo and Grasshopper.

Get Started

Download or clone this repository and run the test project in visual studio.

Give it a try:

Add node (double click)
Context menu (right click)
Group selected nodes (Ctrl+G)
Select all nodes (Ctrl+A)
Copy nodes to clipboard (Ctrl+C)
Insert nodes from clipboard (Ctrl+V)
Open from .xml file (Ctrl+O)
Save to .xml file (Ctrl+S)
Delete nodes (DEL)

Features

Drawing nodes
Customize nodes
Resizeable nodes
Panning
Grouping
Hints
Copy/Paste
Serialize/Deserialize
Zooming
Type sensetive
Customizable style
Vertical/Horizontal flow switch
ZoomToFit
Aligning
Radial context menu

ToDo

Lacing
Animations
Resize group node to one node
Nodes for graph plotting / sql
Drag&Drop nodes from toolbox
Performance improvement: Virtual canvas
Node preview at port
Calculation progress bar

Using TUM.CMS.VplControl in your project

Start a new WPF project
Add reference to TUM.CMS.VplControl.dll

Add a ResourceDictionary to your App.xaml file

  <Application x:Class="KBEControlCenter2.App"
   	xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
   	xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
   	StartupUri="MainWindow.xaml">
  
  	<Application.Resources>
  	
  		<ResourceDictionary>
  			<ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
  				<ResourceDictionary Source="/TUM.CMS.VplControl;component/Themes/Generic.xaml" />
  			</ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
  		</ResourceDictionary>
  	
  	</Application.Resources>
  </Application>

Add a VplControl element to your host control:

  <Window
      xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
      xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
      xmlns:VplControl="clr-namespace:TUM.CMS.VplControl;assembly=TUM.CMS.VplControl"
      x:Class="TUM.CMS.VplControl.Test.MainWindow"
      Title="MainWindow" WindowStartupLocation="CenterScreen" WindowState="Maximized">
  
  	    <Grid>
  	    	<VplControl:VplControl Name="VplControl" />
  	    </Grid>

  </Window>

Route key events of your host Control/Window to the VplControl

  KeyDown += VplControl.VplControl_KeyDown;
  KeyUp += VplControl.VplControl_KeyUp;

###Create custom nodes###

You find a TemplateNode.cs file in the test project:

using System.Windows.Controls;
using TUM.CMS.VplControl.Nodes;

namespace TUM.CMS.VplControl.Test.Nodes
{
    public class TemplateNode : Node
    {
	    public TemplateNode(VplControl hostCanvas)
		    : base(hostCanvas)
	    {
		    AddInputPortToNode("Test", typeof (object));
		    AddOutputPortToNode("Test", typeof (object));
		    
		    AddControlToNode(new Label {Content = "TemplateNode"});
	    }
		    
	    public override void Calculate()
	    {
	    	OutputPorts[0].Data = InputPorts[0].Data;
	    }
		    
        public override void SerializeNetwork(XmlWriter xmlWriter)
        {
            base.SerializeNetwork(xmlWriter);

            // add your xml serialization methods here
        }

        public override void DeserializeNetwork(XmlReader xmlReader)
        {
            base.DeserializeNetwork(xmlReader);

            // add your xml deserialization methods here
        }

	    public override Node Clone()
	    {
	    	return new TemplateNode(HostCanvas)
		    {
		    Top = Top,
		    Left = Left
		    };
	    }
    }
}

This TemplateNode consists of a Input- and OutputPort and a label. Use the Calculate() method to implement your tasks.

Add your custom nodes to the ExternalNodeTypes Property of the VplControl and set the NodeTypeMode to All or OnlyExternal:

VplControl.ExternalNodeTypes.AddRange(
    ClassUtility.GetTypesInNamespace(Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly(), "TUM.CMS.VplControl.Test.Nodes")
        .ToList());

VplControl.NodeTypeMode = NodeTypeModes.All;

Contact

Dominic Singer

dominic.singer@tum.de