Pan & Zoom Image

Question

I want to create a simple image viewer in WPF that will enable the user to:

• Pan (by mouse dragging the image).
• Zoom (with a slider).
• Show overlays (rectangle selection for example).
• Show original image (with scroll bars if needed).

Can you explain how to do it?

I didn't find a good sample on the web. Should I use ViewBox? Or ImageBrush? Do I need ScrollViewer?

Answer 1

After using samples from this question I've made complete version of pan & zoom app with proper zooming relative to mouse pointer. All pan & zoom code has been moved to separate class called ZoomBorder.

ZoomBorder.cs

using System.Linq;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Input;
using System.Windows.Media;

namespace PanAndZoom
{
  public class ZoomBorder : Border
  {
    private UIElement child = null;
    private Point origin;
    private Point start;

    private TranslateTransform GetTranslateTransform(UIElement element)
    {
      return (TranslateTransform)((TransformGroup)element.RenderTransform)
        .Children.First(tr => tr is TranslateTransform);
    }

    private ScaleTransform GetScaleTransform(UIElement element)
    {
      return (ScaleTransform)((TransformGroup)element.RenderTransform)
        .Children.First(tr => tr is ScaleTransform);
    }

    public override UIElement Child
    {
      get { return base.Child; }
      set
      {
        if (value != null && value != this.Child)
          this.Initialize(value);
        base.Child = value;
      }
    }

    public void Initialize(UIElement element)
    {
      this.child = element;
      if (child != null)
      {
        TransformGroup group = new TransformGroup();
        ScaleTransform st = new ScaleTransform();
        group.Children.Add(st);
        TranslateTransform tt = new TranslateTransform();
        group.Children.Add(tt);
        child.RenderTransform = group;
        child.RenderTransformOrigin = new Point(0.0, 0.0);
        this.MouseWheel += child_MouseWheel;
        this.MouseLeftButtonDown += child_MouseLeftButtonDown;
        this.MouseLeftButtonUp += child_MouseLeftButtonUp;
        this.MouseMove += child_MouseMove;
        this.PreviewMouseRightButtonDown += new MouseButtonEventHandler(
          child_PreviewMouseRightButtonDown);
      }
    }

    public void Reset()
    {
      if (child != null)
      {
        // reset zoom
        var st = GetScaleTransform(child);
        st.ScaleX = 1.0;
        st.ScaleY = 1.0;

        // reset pan
        var tt = GetTranslateTransform(child);
        tt.X = 0.0;
        tt.Y = 0.0;
      }
    }

    #region Child Events

        private void child_MouseWheel(object sender, MouseWheelEventArgs e)
        {
            if (child != null)
            {
                var st = GetScaleTransform(child);
                var tt = GetTranslateTransform(child);

                double zoom = e.Delta > 0 ? .2 : -.2;
                if (!(e.Delta > 0) && (st.ScaleX < .4 || st.ScaleY < .4))
                    return;

                Point relative = e.GetPosition(child);
                double absoluteX;
                double absoluteY;

                absoluteX = relative.X * st.ScaleX + tt.X;
                absoluteY = relative.Y * st.ScaleY + tt.Y;

                st.ScaleX += zoom;
                st.ScaleY += zoom;

                tt.X = absoluteX - relative.X * st.ScaleX;
                tt.Y = absoluteY - relative.Y * st.ScaleY;
            }
        }

        private void child_MouseLeftButtonDown(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
        {
            if (child != null)
            {
                var tt = GetTranslateTransform(child);
                start = e.GetPosition(this);
                origin = new Point(tt.X, tt.Y);
                this.Cursor = Cursors.Hand;
                child.CaptureMouse();
            }
        }

        private void child_MouseLeftButtonUp(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
        {
            if (child != null)
            {
                child.ReleaseMouseCapture();
                this.Cursor = Cursors.Arrow;
            }
        }

        void child_PreviewMouseRightButtonDown(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
        {
            this.Reset();
        }

        private void child_MouseMove(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
        {
            if (child != null)
            {
                if (child.IsMouseCaptured)
                {
                    var tt = GetTranslateTransform(child);
                    Vector v = start - e.GetPosition(this);
                    tt.X = origin.X - v.X;
                    tt.Y = origin.Y - v.Y;
                }
            }
        }

        #endregion
    }
}

MainWindow.xaml

<Window x:Class="PanAndZoom.MainWindow"
        xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
        xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
        xmlns:local="clr-namespace:PanAndZoom"
        Title="PanAndZoom" Height="600" Width="900" WindowStartupLocation="CenterScreen">
    <Grid>
        <local:ZoomBorder x:Name="border" ClipToBounds="True" Background="Gray">
            <Image Source="image.jpg"/>
        </local:ZoomBorder>
    </Grid>
</Window>

MainWindow.xaml.cs

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Data;
using System.Windows.Documents;
using System.Windows.Input;
using System.Windows.Media;
using System.Windows.Media.Imaging;
using System.Windows.Navigation;
using System.Windows.Shapes;

namespace PanAndZoom
{
    public partial class MainWindow : Window
    {
        public MainWindow()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }
    }
}