I want to create a simple image viewer in WPF that will enable the user to:

  • Pan (by mouse dragging the image).
  • Zoom (with a slider).
  • Show overlays (rectangle selection for example).
  • Show original image (with scroll bars if needed).

Can you explain how to do it?

I didn't find a good sample on the web. Should I use ViewBox? Or ImageBrush? Do I need ScrollViewer?


Solution 1:

After using samples from this question I've made complete version of pan & zoom app with proper zooming relative to mouse pointer. All pan & zoom code has been moved to separate class called ZoomBorder.

ZoomBorder.cs

using System.Linq;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Input;
using System.Windows.Media;

namespace PanAndZoom
{
  public class ZoomBorder : Border
  {
    private UIElement child = null;
    private Point origin;
    private Point start;

    private TranslateTransform GetTranslateTransform(UIElement element)
    {
      return (TranslateTransform)((TransformGroup)element.RenderTransform)
        .Children.First(tr => tr is TranslateTransform);
    }

    private ScaleTransform GetScaleTransform(UIElement element)
    {
      return (ScaleTransform)((TransformGroup)element.RenderTransform)
        .Children.First(tr => tr is ScaleTransform);
    }

    public override UIElement Child
    {
      get { return base.Child; }
      set
      {
        if (value != null && value != this.Child)
          this.Initialize(value);
        base.Child = value;
      }
    }

    public void Initialize(UIElement element)
    {
      this.child = element;
      if (child != null)
      {
        TransformGroup group = new TransformGroup();
        ScaleTransform st = new ScaleTransform();
        group.Children.Add(st);
        TranslateTransform tt = new TranslateTransform();
        group.Children.Add(tt);
        child.RenderTransform = group;
        child.RenderTransformOrigin = new Point(0.0, 0.0);
        this.MouseWheel += child_MouseWheel;
        this.MouseLeftButtonDown += child_MouseLeftButtonDown;
        this.MouseLeftButtonUp += child_MouseLeftButtonUp;
        this.MouseMove += child_MouseMove;
        this.PreviewMouseRightButtonDown += new MouseButtonEventHandler(
          child_PreviewMouseRightButtonDown);
      }
    }

    public void Reset()
    {
      if (child != null)
      {
        // reset zoom
        var st = GetScaleTransform(child);
        st.ScaleX = 1.0;
        st.ScaleY = 1.0;

        // reset pan
        var tt = GetTranslateTransform(child);
        tt.X = 0.0;
        tt.Y = 0.0;
      }
    }

    #region Child Events

        private void child_MouseWheel(object sender, MouseWheelEventArgs e)
        {
            if (child != null)
            {
                var st = GetScaleTransform(child);
                var tt = GetTranslateTransform(child);

                double zoom = e.Delta > 0 ? .2 : -.2;
                if (!(e.Delta > 0) && (st.ScaleX < .4 || st.ScaleY < .4))
                    return;

                Point relative = e.GetPosition(child);
                double absoluteX;
                double absoluteY;

                absoluteX = relative.X * st.ScaleX + tt.X;
                absoluteY = relative.Y * st.ScaleY + tt.Y;

                st.ScaleX += zoom;
                st.ScaleY += zoom;

                tt.X = absoluteX - relative.X * st.ScaleX;
                tt.Y = absoluteY - relative.Y * st.ScaleY;
            }
        }

        private void child_MouseLeftButtonDown(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
        {
            if (child != null)
            {
                var tt = GetTranslateTransform(child);
                start = e.GetPosition(this);
                origin = new Point(tt.X, tt.Y);
                this.Cursor = Cursors.Hand;
                child.CaptureMouse();
            }
        }

        private void child_MouseLeftButtonUp(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
        {
            if (child != null)
            {
                child.ReleaseMouseCapture();
                this.Cursor = Cursors.Arrow;
            }
        }

        void child_PreviewMouseRightButtonDown(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
        {
            this.Reset();
        }

        private void child_MouseMove(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
        {
            if (child != null)
            {
                if (child.IsMouseCaptured)
                {
                    var tt = GetTranslateTransform(child);
                    Vector v = start - e.GetPosition(this);
                    tt.X = origin.X - v.X;
                    tt.Y = origin.Y - v.Y;
                }
            }
        }

        #endregion
    }
}

MainWindow.xaml

<Window x:Class="PanAndZoom.MainWindow"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        xmlns:local="clr-namespace:PanAndZoom"
        Title="PanAndZoom" Height="600" Width="900" WindowStartupLocation="CenterScreen">
    <Grid>
        <local:ZoomBorder x:Name="border" ClipToBounds="True" Background="Gray">
            <Image Source="image.jpg"/>
        </local:ZoomBorder>
    </Grid>
</Window>

MainWindow.xaml.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Data;
using System.Windows.Documents;
using System.Windows.Input;
using System.Windows.Media;
using System.Windows.Media.Imaging;
using System.Windows.Navigation;
using System.Windows.Shapes;

namespace PanAndZoom
{
    public partial class MainWindow : Window
    {
        public MainWindow()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }
    }
}

Solution 2:

The way I solved this problem was to place the image within a Border with it's ClipToBounds property set to True. The RenderTransformOrigin on the image is then set to 0.5,0.5 so the image will start zooming on the center of the image. The RenderTransform is also set to a TransformGroup containing a ScaleTransform and a TranslateTransform.

I then handled the MouseWheel event on the image to implement zooming

private void image_MouseWheel(object sender, MouseWheelEventArgs e)
{
    var st = (ScaleTransform)image.RenderTransform;
    double zoom = e.Delta > 0 ? .2 : -.2;
    st.ScaleX += zoom;
    st.ScaleY += zoom;
}

To handle the panning the first thing I did was to handle the MouseLeftButtonDown event on the image, to capture the mouse and to record it's location, I also store the current value of the TranslateTransform, this what is updated to implement panning.

Point start;
Point origin;
private void image_MouseLeftButtonDown(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
{
    image.CaptureMouse();
    var tt = (TranslateTransform)((TransformGroup)image.RenderTransform)
        .Children.First(tr => tr is TranslateTransform);
    start = e.GetPosition(border);
    origin = new Point(tt.X, tt.Y);
}

Then I handled the MouseMove event to update the TranslateTransform.

private void image_MouseMove(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
    if (image.IsMouseCaptured)
    {
        var tt = (TranslateTransform)((TransformGroup)image.RenderTransform)
            .Children.First(tr => tr is TranslateTransform);
        Vector v = start - e.GetPosition(border);
        tt.X = origin.X - v.X;
        tt.Y = origin.Y - v.Y;
    }
}

Finally don't forget to release the mouse capture.

private void image_MouseLeftButtonUp(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
{
    image.ReleaseMouseCapture();
}

As for the selection handles for resizing this can be accomplished using an adorner, check out this article for more information.

Solution 3:

The answer was posted above but wasn't complete. here is the completed version:

XAML

<Window
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
x:Class="MapTest.Window1"
x:Name="Window"
Title="Window1"
Width="1950" Height="1546" xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" xmlns:Controls="clr-namespace:WPFExtensions.Controls;assembly=WPFExtensions" mc:Ignorable="d" Background="#FF000000">

<Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot">
    <Grid.RowDefinitions>
        <RowDefinition Height="52.92"/>
        <RowDefinition Height="*"/>
    </Grid.RowDefinitions>

    <Border Grid.Row="1" Name="border">
        <Image Name="image" Source="map3-2.png" Opacity="1" RenderTransformOrigin="0.5,0.5"  />
    </Border>

</Grid>

Code Behind

using System.Linq;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Input;
using System.Windows.Media;

namespace MapTest
{
    public partial class Window1 : Window
    {
        private Point origin;
        private Point start;

        public Window1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            TransformGroup group = new TransformGroup();

            ScaleTransform xform = new ScaleTransform();
            group.Children.Add(xform);

            TranslateTransform tt = new TranslateTransform();
            group.Children.Add(tt);

            image.RenderTransform = group;

            image.MouseWheel += image_MouseWheel;
            image.MouseLeftButtonDown += image_MouseLeftButtonDown;
            image.MouseLeftButtonUp += image_MouseLeftButtonUp;
            image.MouseMove += image_MouseMove;
        }

        private void image_MouseLeftButtonUp(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
        {
            image.ReleaseMouseCapture();
        }

        private void image_MouseMove(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
        {
            if (!image.IsMouseCaptured) return;

            var tt = (TranslateTransform) ((TransformGroup) image.RenderTransform).Children.First(tr => tr is TranslateTransform);
            Vector v = start - e.GetPosition(border);
            tt.X = origin.X - v.X;
            tt.Y = origin.Y - v.Y;
        }

        private void image_MouseLeftButtonDown(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
        {
            image.CaptureMouse();
            var tt = (TranslateTransform) ((TransformGroup) image.RenderTransform).Children.First(tr => tr is TranslateTransform);
            start = e.GetPosition(border);
            origin = new Point(tt.X, tt.Y);
        }

        private void image_MouseWheel(object sender, MouseWheelEventArgs e)
        {
            TransformGroup transformGroup = (TransformGroup) image.RenderTransform;
            ScaleTransform transform = (ScaleTransform) transformGroup.Children[0];

            double zoom = e.Delta > 0 ? .2 : -.2;
            transform.ScaleX += zoom;
            transform.ScaleY += zoom;
        }
    }
}

I have some source code demonstrating this Jot the sticky note app.