Report a Silverlight Bug

Re: Re: Re: Re: Layout cycle detected. Layout could not complete.

jemiller — Mon, 04 May 2009 17:28:07 GMT

I'm curious to know what the issue was with authentication and WCF? Is it with forms based authentication or something? I'm using basic HTTP authentication, but, I had to write a custom HttpModule to handle it on the backend. This is one thing that I've always disliked about ASP.NET authentication. There should be a way to do basic HTTP authentication in an easy way. There are definitely a lot of rough edges that I hope get smoothed out in Silverlight 3. The fact that 2 couldn't handle web service faults was pretty lame. It made it near impossible to give meaningful errors in some cases. That's supposed to be fixed in 3.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Layout cycle detected. Layout could not complete.

ThatRickGuy — Mon, 04 May 2009 15:53:28 GMT

Yup, it's going to be an awesome platform, once they get caught up on features, stabilize, and improve support. I've got a pair of apps in production. An entry kiosk for on site after hours employee directory, and a IT only project/time tracking app that we were using to really test Silverlight's ability to handle LOB applications. And while the UI functionality blew standard web development away, the over all dev time suffered due to the limitations and known defects of SL2.

I'll still be trying to work it into applications (a coworker just mentioned that it would be nice if we had a website with the new cafeteria's menu and daily specials on it). But I can't imagine pushing to get our CSRs' apps out of VB6/ASP to SL until SL3 comes out, and even then, only if we can be promised better support than we are getting with SL2.

"Use the next beta version" is not acceptable support for LOB applications.

-Rick

Re: Re: Re: Re: Layout cycle detected. Layout could not complete.

snelldl — Mon, 04 May 2009 15:05:27 GMT

I agree with you. But despite those drawbacks, we've managed to roll out some cool apps that exist on our intranet.

The wcf authentication problems go away in version 3, but of course we don't know when that will be ready for prime time.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Layout cycle detected. Layout could not complete.

ThatRickGuy — Mon, 04 May 2009 14:32:35 GMT

I hear ya there. I was working with web services and I wanted to pass up exceptions in the .error property. After a fair bit of digging I found a way to do it through using WCF. So I blow half a week getting a framework in place to get exception handling built into my WCF web calls from Silverlight. Works great on my dev machine. Push it into the initial testing environment, and none of my web services are working. Easy enough to figure out, looked like I was no longer using an authenticated connection. No problem, switch WCF off of basic HTTP binding...

Oh wait, we only get basic HTTP binding in SL2.

When I can get authenticated web service calls and built in exception handling for WCF calls, I'll be happy.

But honestly, I can't present SL to my management as a realistic solution to anything right now since we are getting near zero support for known defects. At current rate, maybe in another year or two when things stablize and MS feels like putting some effort into support, Silverlight will be ready for the business world. But until then, its use IMO is limited to kiosks, web advertising, and silly flash games.

-Rick

Re: Re: Re: Re: Layout cycle detected. Layout could not complete.

Brauliod — Mon, 04 May 2009 10:33:09 GMT

I just smashed my face against this problem today... and realized... 6 months ago detected and not fixed :-(, no service pack at all for the SL 2 bugs (except for the DataGrid).

The message here then is... we won't fix bugs on SL2, ... use SL3 Beta 1 that has no going live license and right now introduces new bugs, or just start hacking this limitations or go using nasty workarounds, quite frustrating for all us that decide to be brave and start working on SL2 RTW.

Re: Re: Re: Layout cycle detected. Layout could not complete.

snelldl — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 21:24:10 GMT

Thanks

Re: Re: Re: Layout cycle detected. Layout could not complete.

Dave Relyea — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 21:10:49 GMT

The best I can give you is "second half of the year."

Re: Re: Re: Layout cycle detected. Layout could not complete.

snelldl — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 20:29:01 GMT

OK, I understand that. I guess I figured, like with most software projects the majority of us write, we have projected timelines, even for beta testing.

So I guess I'm looking for your understanding of what the SL group is projecting, eg, 2 months in beta 1, 2 months in beta2, then rtm, so 4 months of beta testing. And if everything goes super de dooper, you may compress the beta 2 time period.

Many of us have new projects that we are doing in SL2, but after seeing the new features in SL3, we would like to switch all our development over to that environment. We could probably convince management that we should add a couple of months to our completion time (NOT development time) if we knew that the anticipated SL3 rtm was the end of July for example.

Re: Re: Re: Layout cycle detected. Layout could not complete.

Dave Relyea — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 20:09:12 GMT

Well, the beta came out for MIX.

Re: Re: Re: Layout cycle detected. Layout could not complete.

snelldl — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 19:54:44 GMT

Exactly. I've been hoping to hear something from someone on the SL team about what the timeline is for SL3 rtm, but haven't seen anybody brave enough (or stupid enough) to venture a guess.

Re: Re: Layout cycle detected. Layout could not complete.

ThatRickGuy — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 19:51:28 GMT

snelldl:
Have you tried it with sl3 beta?

Nope, but as soon as SL3 comes out of beta, I'll be pushing for more buy in from management. It's hard enough to get the brass to get on board with a new technology, let alone trying to justify a new beta technology.Glad to hear that the issue got fixed though.

-Rick

Re: Re: Layout cycle detected. Layout could not complete.

ThatRickGuy — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 19:47:55 GMT

So here's what I came up with as a working solution:

XAML

<UserControl x:Class="CustomTextBox.TextBox1H"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" 
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" 
    Width="100" Height="22" xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" mc:Ignorable="d">
	<UserControl.Resources>
		<LinearGradientBrush x:Key="TextBoxBrush" EndPoint="0.5,1" StartPoint="0.5,0">
			<GradientStop Color="#FFA3AEB9"/>
			<GradientStop Color="#FF8399A9" Offset="0.375"/>
			<GradientStop Color="#FF718597" Offset="0.375"/>
			<GradientStop Color="#FF617584" Offset="1"/>
		</LinearGradientBrush>
	</UserControl.Resources>
    <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="White">

    	<TextBox Margin="0,0,0,0" BorderBrush="{StaticResource TextBoxBrush}" Text="TextBox" TextWrapping="Wrap" Visibility="Collapsed" x:Name="txtText"/>
    	<Rectangle Height="Auto" Margin="0,0,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" Fill="#FFFFFFFF" Stroke="{StaticResource TextBoxBrush}" RadiusX="1" RadiusY="1" x:Name="recBG"/>
    	<TextBlock Height="Auto" Margin="4,4,0,0" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" Text="TextBox" TextWrapping="Wrap" x:Name="lblText"/>
    	<Rectangle Height="Auto" Margin="1,1,1,1" VerticalAlignment="Stretch" Stroke="#FF99C1E2" RadiusX="0" RadiusY="0" x:Name="recMouseOver" Visibility="Collapsed"/>

    </Grid>
</UserControl>

Code behind:

 Partial Public Class TextBox1H
    Inherits UserControl

    Public Event TextChanged(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Controls.TextChangedEventArgs)
    Public Shadows Event KeyDown(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Input.KeyEventArgs)

    Public Sub New()
        InitializeComponent()
        Me.IsTabStop = True
        Me.Cursor = Cursors.IBeam
    End Sub

    Private Shadows ReadOnly Property isEnabled() As Boolean
        Get
            Return Me.txtText.Visibility = Windows.Visibility.Visible
        End Get
    End Property

    Private Sub enable()
        Me.recMouseOver.Visibility = Windows.Visibility.Collapsed
        Me.txtText.Text = Me.lblText.Text
        Me.txtText.Visibility = Windows.Visibility.Visible
        Me.recBG.Visibility = Windows.Visibility.Collapsed
        Me.lblText.Visibility = Windows.Visibility.Collapsed
    End Sub

    Private Sub disable()
        Me.lblText.Text = Me.txtText.Text
        Me.txtText.Visibility = Windows.Visibility.Collapsed
        Me.recBG.Visibility = Windows.Visibility.Visible
        Me.lblText.Visibility = Windows.Visibility.Visible
    End Sub

#Region "Textbox event handling and bubble ups"
    Private Sub txtText_GotFocus(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs) Handles txtText.GotFocus

    End Sub

    Private Sub txtText_KeyDown(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Input.KeyEventArgs) Handles txtText.KeyDown
        RaiseEvent KeyDown(Me, e)
    End Sub

    Private Sub txtText_LostFocus(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs) Handles txtText.LostFocus
        disable()
    End Sub

    Private Sub txtText_TextChanged(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Controls.TextChangedEventArgs) Handles txtText.TextChanged
        RaiseEvent TextChanged(Me, e)
    End Sub
#End Region

    Private Sub TextBox1h_GotFocus(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs) Handles Me.GotFocus
        If Not isEnabled Then
            Me.txtText.SelectAll()
            enable()
            Me.txtText.Focus()
        End If
    End Sub

    Private Sub TextBox1h_MouseEnter(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Input.MouseEventArgs) Handles Me.MouseEnter
        Me.recMouseOver.Visibility = Windows.Visibility.Visible
    End Sub

    Private Sub TextBox1h_MouseLeave(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Input.MouseEventArgs) Handles Me.MouseLeave
        Me.recMouseOver.Visibility = Windows.Visibility.Collapsed
    End Sub

    Private Sub TextBox1h_MouseLeftButtonDown(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Input.MouseButtonEventArgs) Handles Me.MouseLeftButtonUp
        If Not isEnabled Then
            Me.txtText.SelectAll()
            enable()
            Me.txtText.Focus()
        End If
    End Sub

#Region "Public Properties"
    Public Property Text() As String
        Get
            Return Me.txtText.Text
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As String)
            Me.txtText.Text = value
            Me.lblText.Text = value
        End Set
    End Property

    Public Property Fill() As Brush
        Get
            Return Me.recBG.Fill
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As Brush)
            Me.recBG.Fill = value
            Me.txtText.Background = value
        End Set
    End Property

    Public Property Stroke() As Brush
        Get
            Return Me.recBG.Stroke
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As Brush)
            Me.recBG.Stroke = value
            Me.txtText.BorderBrush = value
        End Set
    End Property

    Public Property TextWrapping() As TextWrapping
        Get
            Return Me.txtText.TextWrapping
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As TextWrapping)
            Me.txtText.TextWrapping = value
        End Set
    End Property

    Public Property SelectionStart() As Integer
        Get
            Return Me.txtText.SelectionStart
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As Integer)
            Me.txtText.SelectionStart = value
        End Set
    End Property

    Public Property IsEditable() As Boolean
        Get
            Return Not Me.txtText.IsReadOnly
        End Get
        Set(ByVal value As Boolean)
            Me.txtText.IsReadOnly = Not value
        End Set
    End Property
#End Region


End Class

As long as the textbox is collapsed, it won't be counted in the "~250". So this control will display a label that looks just like a text box and leave the text box collapsed until the user clicks on the control or tabs to it.The only functional difference that I know of is that if you click and drag on a regular text box, you will begin highlighting text. With this control, clicking will correctly set the carrot position, but if the user drags the mouse, the will not get the standard highlighting. They will have to click a second time.

-Rick

Re: Re: Layout cycle detected. Layout could not complete.

Dave Relyea — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:15:46 GMT

This is fixed in the SL3 beta. Your workaround (switching between TextBlock and TextBox) is the way to go for now.

Re: Re: Layout cycle detected. Layout could not complete.

snelldl — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:15:11 GMT

Have you tried it with sl3 beta?

Re: Re: Layout cycle detected. Layout could not complete.

ThatRickGuy — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:08:46 GMT

5 months later and there is still an absurdly low limit on textboxes.

I have a situation similar to the above issues. A complex user control with multiple text boxes that gets repeated on the screen depending on the underlying data.

Not only that, but I'm no where close to the 250 mark. The issue occurs every time I hit 98 text boxes (although it will work if at 90).

At this point, I'm looking at spoofing the text box in a custom control. Have a rectangle and text block that mimics the textbox, and collapse the text box until the control catches focus or gets hit with a mouse down.

It seems ludicrous that at this point in time in SL's development, when I'm pushing hard as a developer to get my coworkers and management to adopt it that I have to make caviots of the like that haven't been seen since we were Delphi developers. I can see my self pitching this at the director of IT, "Yeah, it's a great new product, we can develop faster, we can have more robust user interfaces, and oh yeah, we can never have more than 100 text boxes on any given page."

I'm sure that pitch would get round filed in short order.

-Rick