Shared components are built-in UI surfaces that the Workspace runtime exposes for reuse in custom pages. Each monitor in Security Desk has its own set of shared components: the tile canvas, the dashboard area, and the properties panel. Instead of recreating these surfaces, a custom page retrieves them from the monitor and hosts them directly.

Shared components are only available in Security Desk. The collections exist in Config Tool but are empty.

Use shared components when your custom page needs to include one of Security Desk's core UI areas. Examples include:

• Building a custom monitoring page that displays tiles alongside a custom side panel
• Creating a page that embeds the dashboard widget area within a custom layout
• Adding the properties panel to a custom page so operators see contextual metadata for the selected tile content

1. Security Desk creates shared component instances during startup, one per monitor for each type
2. Per-monitor components are stored in Monitor.SharedComponents. Application-wide components are stored in Workspace.SharedComponents. All three built-in types (TileCanvas, DashboardPane, MetadataPane) are per-monitor.
3. When a page activates, it retrieves a shared component from the monitor's collection by type identifier
4. The page places the SharedComponent wrapper into a ContentControl in its view
5. The page calls Connect() to render the shared component inside the host control
6. When the page deactivates, it calls Disconnect() and clears the host control
7. The shared component remains in the collection and other pages can retrieve and connect it

The collection is read-only. Modules retrieve and host existing shared components but do not register or unregister them.

SharedComponent represents a built-in UI surface that can be hosted in a page. Set it as the Content of a ContentControl in your page view, then use these methods:

Access shared components through Monitor.SharedComponents for per-monitor components or Workspace.SharedComponents for application-wide components. Use Monitor.SharedComponents for TileCanvas, DashboardPane, and MetadataPane.

The SharedComponents static class in Genetec.Sdk.Workspace.SharedComponents defines the available types:

Retrieve and connect shared components during page activation. Disconnect during deactivation.

In the page view XAML, define a host control:

<UserControl
    x:Class="SampleTilePageView"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
  <Grid>
    <ContentControl x:Name="TilesHost" />
  </Grid>
</UserControl>

In the page class, connect the shared component when the page activates and disconnect when it deactivates. For details on creating pages and views, see About pages.

This example uses TilePage, which provides tile layout management through its Pattern and States properties:

using System.Linq;
using Genetec.Sdk.Workspace.Pages;
using Genetec.Sdk.Workspace.SharedComponents;
using Monitor = Genetec.Sdk.Workspace.Monitors.Monitor;

public class SampleTilePage : TilePage
{
    private SharedComponent m_tileCanvas;
    private SampleTilePageView m_view;

    protected override void OnActivated(Monitor monitor)
    {
        m_tileCanvas = monitor.SharedComponents[SharedComponents.TileCanvas].FirstOrDefault();

        if (m_tileCanvas == null)
            return;

        m_view.TilesHost.Content = m_tileCanvas;
        m_tileCanvas.Connect();
    }

    protected override void OnDeactivated(Monitor monitor)
    {
        m_tileCanvas?.Disconnect();
        m_view.TilesHost.Content = null;
        m_tileCanvas = null;
    }
}

A custom page can host the dashboard widget area. Retrieve SharedComponents.DashboardPane from the monitor and connect it to a host control in your page view.

<UserControl
    x:Class="SampleDashboardPageView"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
  <Grid>
    <ContentControl x:Name="DashboardHost" />
  </Grid>
</UserControl>

using System.Linq;
using Genetec.Sdk.Workspace.Pages;
using Genetec.Sdk.Workspace.SharedComponents;
using Monitor = Genetec.Sdk.Workspace.Monitors.Monitor;

public class SampleDashboardPage : Page
{
    private SharedComponent m_dashboard;
    private SampleDashboardPageView m_view;

    protected override void OnActivated(Monitor monitor)
    {
        m_dashboard = monitor.SharedComponents[SharedComponents.DashboardPane].FirstOrDefault();

        if (m_dashboard == null)
            return;

        m_view.DashboardHost.Content = m_dashboard;
        m_dashboard.Connect();
    }

    protected override void OnDeactivated(Monitor monitor)
    {
        m_dashboard?.Disconnect();
        m_view.DashboardHost.Content = null;
        m_dashboard = null;
    }
}

A custom page can host the properties panel alongside tiles. Retrieve SharedComponents.MetadataPane from the monitor and connect it to a host control alongside a TileCanvas.

<UserControl
    x:Class="SamplePageWithPropertiesView"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml">
  <Grid>
    <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
      <ColumnDefinition Width="*" />
      <ColumnDefinition Width="300" />
    </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
    <ContentControl
        x:Name="TilesHost"
        Grid.Column="0" />
    <ContentControl
        x:Name="PropertiesHost"
        Grid.Column="1" />
  </Grid>
</UserControl>

using System.Linq;
using Genetec.Sdk.Workspace.Pages;
using Genetec.Sdk.Workspace.SharedComponents;
using Monitor = Genetec.Sdk.Workspace.Monitors.Monitor;

public class SamplePageWithProperties : TilePage
{
    private SharedComponent m_tileCanvas;
    private SharedComponent m_metadata;
    private SamplePageWithPropertiesView m_view;

    protected override void OnActivated(Monitor monitor)
    {
        m_tileCanvas = monitor.SharedComponents[SharedComponents.TileCanvas].FirstOrDefault();

        m_metadata = monitor.SharedComponents[SharedComponents.MetadataPane].FirstOrDefault();

        if (m_tileCanvas != null)
        {
            m_view.TilesHost.Content = m_tileCanvas;
            m_tileCanvas.Connect();
        }

        if (m_metadata != null)
        {
            m_view.PropertiesHost.Content = m_metadata;
            m_metadata.Connect();
        }
    }

    protected override void OnDeactivated(Monitor monitor)
    {
        m_tileCanvas?.Disconnect();
        m_view.TilesHost.Content = null;
        m_tileCanvas = null;

        m_metadata?.Disconnect();
        m_view.PropertiesHost.Content = null;
        m_metadata = null;
    }
}

Each monitor has one instance of each shared component type. The type indexer returns a collection, so use FirstOrDefault() to retrieve the instance. To retrieve a specific instance by its unique identifier, use the two-key indexer:

Guid typeId = SharedComponents.TileCanvas;
Guid componentId = new Guid("COMPONENT-UNIQUE-ID");

SharedComponent component = monitor.SharedComponents[typeId, componentId];