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Separator

Separators are simplistic controls that render a line between surrounding controls.

Note

This topic extends the Control Basics topic with additional information specific to the control types described below. Please refer to the base topic for more generalized concepts that apply to all controls, including this one.

Control Implementations

There are separate separator concept control implementations based on the usage context.

Ribbon Contexts

Separator controls are not generally specifically used in ribbon contexts, since other controls like RibbonGroup and RibbonControlGroup have built-in separators.

Ribbon Control Group Separators

The RibbonControlGroup.SeparatorMode property uses a RibbonControlGroupSeparatorMode enumeration value to help the control group determine its behavior in rendering separators around itself. Its default behavior is to never render surrounding separators when the parent RibbonGroup is using a stacking layout, but to show surrounding separators when the parent RibbonGroup is using a multi-row layout and neighboring controls allow separators.

Tip

When the parent RibbonGroup is in a multi-row layout and the control group contains edit controls such as a font family and font size Combobox, it is ideal to set the separator mode to Never. Edit controls already have well-defined borders and don't require an extra separator to properly surround them from other neighboring controls.

See the RibbonControlGroupSeparatorMode enumeration documentation for details on numerous other mode options that can be used to achieve special behavior.

Toolbar Contexts

Use the BarSeparator control to implement a separator within a toolbar context.

Screenshot

A separator in a toolbar

Specification Details
Base class Native Separator.
Has key No.
Has label No.
Has image No.
Has popup No.
Is checkable No.
Variant sizes None.
Command support None.
Key tip support None.
Ribbon QAT support None.
UI density support None.
MVVM Library VM BarSeparatorViewModel class. 
xmlns:bars="http://schemas.actiprosoftware.com/winfx/xaml/bars"
...
<bars:StandaloneToolBar>
	<bars:BarButton Key="Undo" />
	<bars:BarButton Key="Redo" />
	<bars:BarSeparator />
	<bars:BarButton Key="Cut" />
	<bars:BarButton Key="Copy" />
	<bars:BarButton Key="Paste" />
	...
</bars:StandaloneToolBar>

Use the BarMenuSeparator control to implement a separator within a menu context.

Screenshot

A separator in a menu

Specification Details
Base class Native Separator.
Has key No.
Has label No.
Has image No.
Has popup No.
Is checkable No.
Variant sizes None.
Command support None.
Key tip support None.
Ribbon QAT support None.
UI density support None.
MVVM Library VM BarSeparatorViewModel class. 
xmlns:bars="http://schemas.actiprosoftware.com/winfx/xaml/bars"
...
<bars:BarContextMenu>
	<bars:BarMenuItem Key="Undo" />
	<bars:BarMenuItem Key="Redo" />
	<bars:BarSeparator />
	<bars:BarMenuItem Key="Cut" />
	<bars:BarMenuItem Key="Copy" />
	<bars:BarMenuItem Key="Paste" />
	...
</bars:BarContextMenu>

Separators Surrounding Menu Galleries

By default, separators will automatically be rendered around menu galleries when there are neighboring menu items. This feature can be disabled by setting the RibbonGallery/BarComboBox.AreSurroundingSeparatorsAllowedOnMenu or BarMenuGallery.AreSurroundingSeparatorsAllowed property to false.

MVVM Support

The optional companion MVVM Library defines a BarSeparatorViewModel class that is intended to be used as a view model for separators.

This view model class maps over to the appropriate view controls described above based on usage context and configure all necessary bindings between the view models and the view controls.

Tip

See the MVVM Support topic for more information on how to use the library's view models and view templates to create and manage your application's bars controls with MVVM techniques.