Silverlight Prism: How to change the shell layout for a new page?

Question

I am new to Silverlight/Prism, so not sure how a new layout page would be rendered. I've got the Shell working like a master page, but I want to have several pages in the application with a different layout master. So, how do I get another (shell) or layout page to arrange different regions? Thanks for any conceptual feedback!

Answer 1

Treating Prism regions like Master pages seems to always lead to confusion. It is not designed (like ASP.Net) to potentially render a new shell around every page that appears. That was created for a Browser -> Server -> Browser model where the page is recreated on every request.

To implement a master page style scenario all you are really doing is providing a choice of outer shells that have the same region names defined, but in different visuals or positions. Changing the shell via an element/region in the root visual will cause all the child regions to repopulate in their new homes.

Personally I treat Silverlight more like I would a desktop application and less like a website. I dropped the idea of Master pages (as it feels backwards) and just use dynamic styling for overall changes.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Have you considered having your Shell view contain either a ContentControl or a ItemsControl so that you can programmatically load different views. These different views could then contain regions or whatever you wanted.

I'd also remember that PRISM is likened to a buffet, you can pick and choose which parts to use. Once you look at ItemsControl and ContentControl consider what regions offer.

Answer 3

The following thread deals with a similar situation. I hope it is useful.

• http://compositewpf.codeplex.com/Thread/View.aspx?ThreadId=671911.

Thanks, Damian.