How to: Hit Test Using Geometry as a Parameter

This example shows how to perform a hit test on a visual object using a Geometry as a hit test parameter.

Example

The following example shows how to set up a hit test using GeometryHitTestParameters for the HitTest method. The Point value that is passed to the OnMouseDown method is used to create a Geometry object in order to expand the range of the hit test.

// Respond to the mouse button down event by setting up a hit test results callback.
public void OnMouseDown(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
{
    // Retrieve the coordinate of the mouse position.
    Point pt = e.GetPosition((UIElement)sender);

    // Expand the hit test area by creating a geometry centered on the hit test point.
    EllipseGeometry expandedHitTestArea = new EllipseGeometry(pt, 10.0, 10.0);

    // Clear the contents of the list used for hit test results.
    hitResultsList.Clear();

    // Set up a callback to receive the hit test result enumeration.
    VisualTreeHelper.HitTest(myControl, null,
        new HitTestResultCallback(MyHitTestResultCallback),
        new GeometryHitTestParameters(expandedHitTestArea));

    // Perform actions on the hit test results list.
    if (hitResultsList.Count > 0)
    {
        ProcessHitTestResultsList();
    }
}

The IntersectionDetail property of GeometryHitTestResult provides information about the results of a hit test that uses a Geometry as a hit test parameter. The following illustration shows the relationship between the hit test geometry (the blue circle) and the rendered content of the target visual object (the red square).

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Intersection between hit test geometry and target visual object

The following example shows how to implement a hit test callback when a Geometry is used as a hit test parameter. The result parameter is cast to a GeometryHitTestResult in order to retrieve the value of the IntersectionDetail property. The property value allows you to determine if the Geometry hit test parameter is fully or partially contained within the rendered content of the hit test target. In this case, the sample code is only adding hit test results to the list for visuals that are fully contained within the target boundary.

// Return the result of the hit test to the callback.
public HitTestResultBehavior MyHitTestResultCallback(HitTestResult result)
{
    // Retrieve the results of the hit test.
    IntersectionDetail intersectionDetail = ((GeometryHitTestResult)result).IntersectionDetail;

    switch (intersectionDetail)
    {
        case IntersectionDetail.FullyContains:

            // Add the hit test result to the list that will be processed after the enumeration.
            hitResultsList.Add(result.VisualHit);

            return HitTestResultBehavior.Continue;

        case IntersectionDetail.Intersects:

            // Set the behavior to return visuals at all z-order levels.
            return HitTestResultBehavior.Continue;

        case IntersectionDetail.FullyInside:

            // Set the behavior to return visuals at all z-order levels.
            return HitTestResultBehavior.Continue;

        default:
            return HitTestResultBehavior.Stop;
    }
}

Note:
The HitTestResult callback should not be called when the intersection detail is Empty.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Hit Test Geometry in a Visual

Concepts

Hit Testing in the Visual Layer