Before I start hacking in a really crude solution, I thought I'd see if someone could give me a little nudge in the right direction.
What I really want to do is let a user select some text in a RichTextBox, click a button, and convert that text into a custom rendered control. Convert it to a Button containing the text they had selected, for instance.
You can do this with Command and CommandParameter
First, bind the button to an ICommand, like:
<Button Content="Go" Command="{Binding MyCommand}" CommandParameter="{Binding ElementName=myRichTextBox, Path=Selection}" />
<RichTextBox Name="myRichTextBox" />
Then in your ViewModel or Controller or Code-behind or wherever, you expose the ICommand as a property,and point it to a method to do the work, like...
public ICommand MyCommand
{
get
{
if (_queryCommand == null)
{
_queryCommand = new RelayCommand<TextSelection>(DoWork);
}
return _queryCommand;
}
}
private void DoWork(TextSelection param)
{
string selectedText = param.Text;
// Build your control here...
// probably put it in an ObservableCollection<Control> which is bound by an Items Control, like a ListBox
}
Note: I have used the RelayCommand from Josh Smith's excellent MVVM Foundation, but you could equally use a RoutedUICommand for example (which would add the extra benefit of letting you associate input gestures to your command)
You'll need to write some code that takes your selection and wraps it in an InlineUIContainer - that's how you get controls inside a rich text box:
<RichTextBox>
<FlowDocument>
<Paragraph>
<Run>Fo</Run>
<InlineUIContainer>
<Button IsEnabled="True">oB</Button>
</InlineUIContainer>
<Run>ar</Run>
</Paragraph>
</FlowDocument>
</RichTextBox>
