WPF menu like control showing when clicking a control ;) How?

Question

I have an application that connects to a server. In the status bar I show the connection status, and on a click I want to open a "menu like" subcontrol over the status showing control where more detailed connection information is shown (like: user name, server name, ping delay, disconnect / reconnect button).

This should basically look like an inverse menu - and when the user clicks outside of that area, the outside click should be suppressed (not triggering anything), but the detail info box should disappear.

I am a little at a loss here - first time I am to do something like that in WPF.

• Which control would be advisable as base here? So far I have a custom control for the status bar - but basically it renders as a text box. Note tha the popup is not a menu - it should show a detailed view of the control, so I do not think I can reuse any existing control.

• any Hints how to accomplish this?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Two controls to look into:
1. Expander (this could work, but be carefull, it can shift your other controls
2. Button with template. Make a controltemplate for a button that includes a Popup item. This item can then be bound to a set of triggers/events in the button or in the wider form. I hope this helps :)