Implementing Toast Notifications in WPF
When to Use This Skill
Use this skill whenever the user needs to:
- Display temporary, non-intrusive notifications in WPF applications
- Show status messages (save successful, operation completed, errors)
- Implement notification alerts that auto-dismiss after a timeout
- Create native Windows OS notifications or custom in-app toasts
- Display severity-based messages (Info, Success, Warning, Error)
- Add interactive action buttons to notifications (Reply, Undo, OK)
- Show transient feedback that doesn't block user workflow
- Implement global or window-scoped notifications
Component Overview
SfToastNotification is a non-UI control (no XAML required) that displays toast notifications in WPF applications. It supports three display modes:
- Default Mode: Native Windows OS notifications (Windows 10+)
- Window Mode: In-app notifications constrained to window boundaries
- Screen Mode: Global overlay notifications across the screen
Key Characteristics:
- Code-only implementation (no XAML markup needed)
- Static API for showing/closing toasts
- Multiple severity levels with built-in visual styling
- Customizable animations, placement, and templates
- Interactive action buttons with callbacks
- Full template customization support
Documentation and Navigation Guide
Reference Files
- getting-started.md: Basic setup, NuGet installation, lifecycle management
- display-modes.md: Default/Window/Screen modes, bootstrapper setup, mode comparison
- severity-and-variants.md: Severity levels, visual variants, AccentBrush customization
- placement-and-animations.md: 8 placements, animation types, animation reference
- action-buttons.md: Action buttons, callbacks, CloseOnClick, custom templates
- template-customization.md: TitleTemplate, ContentTemplate, CloseButtonTemplate customization
Quick Start Example
Basic Information Toast
using System.Windows;
using Syncfusion.UI.Xaml.SfToastNotification;
namespace ToastDemo
{
public partial class MainWindow : Window
{
public MainWindow()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void ShowToast_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
// Simple toast with title and message
SfToastNotification.Show(this, new ToastOptions
{
Mode = ToastMode.Screen,
Title = "Welcome",
Message = "Hello! This is your first toast notification."
});
}
}
}Error Toast with Action Buttons
// Error toast with Retry and Dismiss actions
SfToastNotification.Show(this, new ToastOptions
{
Title = "Operation Failed",
Message = "Unable to save your changes. Please try again.",
Severity = ToastSeverity.Error,
Mode = ToastMode.Screen,
Actions = new List<ToastAction>
{
new ToastAction("Retry")
{
Callback = () => RetryOperation(),
CloseOnClick = true
},
new ToastAction("Dismiss")
{
CloseOnClick = true
}
}
});Common Patterns
Native OS Notification
Initialize at startup via WindowsToastBootstrapper.Initialize(), then set Mode = ToastMode.Default.
Key Properties
- Title: Bold text at top (string)
- Message: Main body text (string)
- Mode: Display mode - Default (native OS), Window, or Screen
- Severity: Visual severity - None, Info, Success, Warning, Error
- Duration: Auto-close timeout (default: 6 seconds)
- PreventAutoClose: Disable auto-close (bool)
- Placement: Screen position (8 options: TopLeft, TopCenter, etc.)
- Variant: Visual variant - Text, Outlined, Filled
- AccentBrush: Custom color accent (Brush)
- ShowAnimationType: Show animation (FadeIn, Zoom, Slide, Flip, etc.)
- CloseAnimationType: Hide animation (FadeOut, etc.)
- Actions: Interactive action buttons (List)
- Id: Unique identifier for management (string)