Ellipsis at start of string in WPF ListView

Unfortunately, this is not possible in WPF today, as you can see from the documentation.

(I used to work at Microsoft on WPF, this was a feature we unfortunately did not get around to doing -- not sure if it's planned for a future version)

I implemented (copied) the above TextBlockTrimmer code and it worked great for loading but the TextBlock.Text would not update afterwards, if bound to a View Model property that changed. What I found that worked was to

1. Define a DependencyProperty called TextBlockText in TextBlockTrimmer, similar to the EllipsisPosition property above, including an OnTextBlockTextChanged() method.
2. In the OnTextBlockTextChanged() method, set _originalText to newValue before calling TrimText().
3. Bind the TextBlockText property to the View Model property (called SomeText in the XAML below)

4. Bind the TextBlock.Text property to the TextBlockTrimmer.TextBlockText property in the XAML:

   <controls:TextBlockTrimmer EllipsisPosition="Middle" TextBlockText="{Binding SomeText, Mode=OneWay}"
       <TextBlock Text="{Binding TextBlockText, RelativeSource={RelativeSource Mode=FindAncestor, AncestorType={x:Type controls:TextBlockTrimmer}}}" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"/>
   </controls:TextBlockTrimmer>
   

It also worked if I bound both TextBlockTrimmer.TextBlockText and TextBlock.Text to SomeText (but doing so bugs me).

I was facing the same problem and wrote an attached property to solve this (or to say, provide this feature). Donate my code here:

USAGE

<controls:TextBlockTrimmer EllipsisPosition="Start">
    <TextBlock Text="Excuse me but can I be you for a while"
               TextTrimming="CharacterEllipsis" />
</controls:TextBlockTrimmer>

Don't forget to add a namespace declaration at your Page/Window/UserControl root:

xmlns:controls="clr-namespace:Hillinworks.Wpf.Controls"

TextBlockTrimmer.EllipsisPosition can be Start, Middle (mac style) or End. Pretty sure you can figure out which is which from their names.

CODE

TextBlockTrimmer.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Markup;

namespace Hillinworks.Wpf.Controls
{
    enum EllipsisPosition
    {
        Start,
        Middle,
        End
    }

    [DefaultProperty("Content")]
    [ContentProperty("Content")]
    internal class TextBlockTrimmer : ContentControl
    {
        private class TextChangedEventScreener : IDisposable
        {
            private readonly TextBlockTrimmer _textBlockTrimmer;

            public TextChangedEventScreener(TextBlockTrimmer textBlockTrimmer)
            {
                _textBlockTrimmer = textBlockTrimmer;
                s_textPropertyDescriptor.RemoveValueChanged(textBlockTrimmer.Content,
                                                            textBlockTrimmer.TextBlock_TextChanged);
            }

            public void Dispose()
            {
                s_textPropertyDescriptor.AddValueChanged(_textBlockTrimmer.Content,
                                                         _textBlockTrimmer.TextBlock_TextChanged);
            }
        }

        private static readonly DependencyPropertyDescriptor s_textPropertyDescriptor =
            DependencyPropertyDescriptor.FromProperty(TextBlock.TextProperty, typeof(TextBlock));

        private const string ELLIPSIS = "...";

        private static readonly Size s_inifinitySize = new Size(double.PositiveInfinity, double.PositiveInfinity);

        public EllipsisPosition EllipsisPosition
        {
            get { return (EllipsisPosition)GetValue(EllipsisPositionProperty); }
            set { SetValue(EllipsisPositionProperty, value); }
        }

        public static readonly DependencyProperty EllipsisPositionProperty =
            DependencyProperty.Register("EllipsisPosition",
                                        typeof(EllipsisPosition),
                                        typeof(TextBlockTrimmer),
                                        new PropertyMetadata(EllipsisPosition.End,
                                                             TextBlockTrimmer.OnEllipsisPositionChanged));

        private static void OnEllipsisPositionChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
        {
            ((TextBlockTrimmer)d).OnEllipsisPositionChanged((EllipsisPosition)e.OldValue,
                                                             (EllipsisPosition)e.NewValue);
        }

        private string _originalText;

        private Size _constraint;

        protected override void OnContentChanged(object oldContent, object newContent)
        {
            var oldTextBlock = oldContent as TextBlock;
            if (oldTextBlock != null)
            {
                s_textPropertyDescriptor.RemoveValueChanged(oldTextBlock, TextBlock_TextChanged);
            }

            if (newContent != null && !(newContent is TextBlock))
                // ReSharper disable once LocalizableElement
                throw new ArgumentException("TextBlockTrimmer access only TextBlock content", nameof(newContent));

            var newTextBlock = (TextBlock)newContent;
            if (newTextBlock != null)
            {
                s_textPropertyDescriptor.AddValueChanged(newTextBlock, TextBlock_TextChanged);
                _originalText = newTextBlock.Text;
            }
            else
                _originalText = null;

            base.OnContentChanged(oldContent, newContent);
        }


        private void TextBlock_TextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            _originalText = ((TextBlock)sender).Text;
            this.TrimText();
        }

        protected override Size MeasureOverride(Size constraint)
        {
            _constraint = constraint;
            return base.MeasureOverride(constraint);
        }

        protected override Size ArrangeOverride(Size arrangeBounds)
        {
            var result = base.ArrangeOverride(arrangeBounds);
            this.TrimText();
            return result;
        }

        private void OnEllipsisPositionChanged(EllipsisPosition oldValue, EllipsisPosition newValue)
        {
            this.TrimText();
        }

        private IDisposable BlockTextChangedEvent()
        {
            return new TextChangedEventScreener(this);
        }


        private static double MeasureString(TextBlock textBlock, string text)
        {
            textBlock.Text = text;
            textBlock.Measure(s_inifinitySize);
            return textBlock.DesiredSize.Width;
        }

        private void TrimText()
        {
            var textBlock = (TextBlock)this.Content;
            if (textBlock == null)
                return;

            if (DesignerProperties.GetIsInDesignMode(textBlock))
                return;


            var freeSize = _constraint.Width
                           - this.Padding.Left
                           - this.Padding.Right
                           - textBlock.Margin.Left
                           - textBlock.Margin.Right;

            // ReSharper disable once CompareOfFloatsByEqualityOperator
            if (freeSize <= 0)
                return;

            using (this.BlockTextChangedEvent())
            {
                // this actually sets textBlock's text back to its original value
                var desiredSize = TextBlockTrimmer.MeasureString(textBlock, _originalText);


                if (desiredSize <= freeSize)
                    return;

                var ellipsisSize = TextBlockTrimmer.MeasureString(textBlock, ELLIPSIS);
                freeSize -= ellipsisSize;
                var epsilon = ellipsisSize / 3;

                if (freeSize < epsilon)
                {
                    textBlock.Text = _originalText;
                    return;
                }

                var segments = new List<string>();

                var builder = new StringBuilder();

                switch (this.EllipsisPosition)
                {
                    case EllipsisPosition.End:
                        TextBlockTrimmer.TrimText(textBlock, _originalText, freeSize, segments, epsilon, false);
                        foreach (var segment in segments)
                            builder.Append(segment);
                        builder.Append(ELLIPSIS);
                        break;

                    case EllipsisPosition.Start:
                        TextBlockTrimmer.TrimText(textBlock, _originalText, freeSize, segments, epsilon, true);
                        builder.Append(ELLIPSIS);
                        foreach (var segment in ((IEnumerable<string>)segments).Reverse())
                            builder.Append(segment);
                        break;

                    case EllipsisPosition.Middle:
                        var textLength = _originalText.Length / 2;
                        var firstHalf = _originalText.Substring(0, textLength);
                        var secondHalf = _originalText.Substring(textLength);

                        freeSize /= 2;

                        TextBlockTrimmer.TrimText(textBlock, firstHalf, freeSize, segments, epsilon, false);
                        foreach (var segment in segments)
                            builder.Append(segment);
                        builder.Append(ELLIPSIS);

                        segments.Clear();

                        TextBlockTrimmer.TrimText(textBlock, secondHalf, freeSize, segments, epsilon, true);
                        foreach (var segment in ((IEnumerable<string>)segments).Reverse())
                            builder.Append(segment);
                        break;
                    default:
                        throw new NotSupportedException();
                }

                textBlock.Text = builder.ToString();
            }
        }


        private static void TrimText(TextBlock textBlock,
                                     string text,
                                     double size,
                                     ICollection<string> segments,
                                     double epsilon,
                                     bool reversed)
        {
            while (true)
            {
                if (text.Length == 1)
                {
                    var textSize = TextBlockTrimmer.MeasureString(textBlock, text);
                    if (textSize <= size)
                        segments.Add(text);

                    return;
                }

                var halfLength = Math.Max(1, text.Length / 2);
                var firstHalf = reversed ? text.Substring(halfLength) : text.Substring(0, halfLength);
                var remainingSize = size - TextBlockTrimmer.MeasureString(textBlock, firstHalf);
                if (remainingSize < 0)
                {
                    // only one character and it's still too large for the room, skip it
                    if (firstHalf.Length == 1)
                        return;

                    text = firstHalf;
                    continue;
                }

                segments.Add(firstHalf);

                if (remainingSize > epsilon)
                {
                    var secondHalf = reversed ? text.Substring(0, halfLength) : text.Substring(halfLength);
                    text = secondHalf;
                    size = remainingSize;
                    continue;
                }

                break;
            }
        }
    }
}