Illustrated WPF

Content at a Glance

Table of Contents

About the Author

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Audience, Source Code, and Contact Information

1 Introduction to WindowsPresentation Foundation

What Is Windows Presentation Foundation?

The Path to the Screen

Games and DirectX

Windows Forms

Rendering Under WPF

Documents and Fonts

Graphics and Animation

Styles and Control Templates

Separating Visual Design from Coding

WPF Prefers Vector Graphics

Bitmap Images

Bitmap Images and Screen Size

Vector Graphics

System DPI Independence and WPF Units

XAML Browser Applications (XBAPs)

The Other Parts of .NET

Silverlight

Summary

2 Overview of WPF Programming

What Is an API?

A Simple WPF Program

Creating the Simple Program

Just the Facts

Step-by-Step

The Compilation Process

The Application and Window Classes

The Window Class

The Components of a Visual Window

Creating a Window

Important Properties of a Window

WindowStyle

Content

Summary

3 WPF Architecture and Applications

Using Visual Studio to Create a WPF Program

Source Code Generated by the Template

What Is XAML?

Logical Trees and Visual Trees

The Compilation Process

How the Files Are Used

The WPF Architecture

More About the Window Class

SolidColorBrushes

Creating Colors

Gradient Brushes

Linear Gradient Brushes

RadialGradientBrushes

The Application Class

Handling Application Events

Application Lifetime Events

UI Elements Contain Content

The Class Inheritance Hierarchy

Summary

4 XAML

A Tree of Objects

Using XamlPad

Creating the UI Structure

XAML Trees

Object Element Syntax

The Syntax of Elements

Attribute Syntax

Empty Elements

More About Object Element Syntax

The Default Content Property

Type Converters for Attributes

Property Element Syntax

Attached Property Syntax

Reviewing the XAML Syntax Forms

Top-Level Elements

Code-Behind and Object Names

Namespaces

The Syntax of Namespaces

Using Classes from Other Namespaces

Example Using Namespaces

Markup Extensions

Example Creating a Markup Extension

White Space

Special Characters

Summary

5 Layout

Layout in WPF

Chapter Conventions

The Layout Process

Setting the Requested Size of Elements

Alignment

Content Alignment

Visibility

Padding and Margins

Panels

The StackPanel

The WrapPanel

The DockPanel

The Grid

Items Spanning Cells

Sizing Rows and Columns

Absolute Sizing

Automatic Sizing

Proportional Sizing

Splitter Bars

Shared Size Groups

The Canvas

Z-Order on a Canvas

The UniformGrid

Summary

6 Content and Controls

Liberating Content

Source Code Conventions

The Image Element

Displaying an Image Using Code

The ContentControls

The Label Control

The Button Control

The CheckBox and RadioButton Controls

Grouping RadioButtons

The ScrollViewer

The Window Class

Window Ownership

Modal Dialog Boxes

The MessageBox Dialog Box

The HeaderedContentControls

The GroupBox Element

The Expander Control

ItemsControl Elements

The ListBox Control

Checking the Selection

Notification of Changed Selection

Multiple Selections

The ComboBox Control

Selecting and Entering Items

Summary

7 Dependency Properties

Properties and a New Paradigm

Looking at an Example

Determining the Value of a Property

The Infrastructure of a Dependency Property

Creating a Custom Dependency Property

Example: Creating a Dependency Property

Attached Properties

The Structure of an Attached Property

Creating an Attached Property

Summary

8 Data Binding

What Is Data Binding?

The Binding Object

Binding Direction

Triggers

Data Converters

Multiple Bindings on an Element

More Fun with Multiple Bindings

Deleting Bindings

Binding to Nonelements

Data Contexts

Bindings and ItemsControls

Summary

9 Routing Events and Commands

What Is an Event?

Event Handlers: Syntax and Semantics

What Are Routed Events?

Handling Routed Events

Bubbling Example

Checking for Tunneling

Commands

Built-in Commands and Support

The RoutedCommand Class

Creating Custom Commands

Routing Commands

Summary

10 Other Controls and Elements

The TextBox Control

Menus

Adorning the MenuItem

Other Content As the Menu Header

Attaching Commands to Menu Items

Context Menus

ToolBars

StatusBars

ToolTips

Controls That Work with Ranges

The ProgressBar

The Slider

Summary

11 Resources

Two Types of Resources

The ResourceDictionary

StaticResources and DynamicResources

Assembly Resources

Accessing Assembly Resources from the Code

Pack URIs

Summary

12 Styles

What Are Styles?

Named Styles

Targeted Styles

Comparing Named and Targeted Styles

EventSetters

The Collections in a Style

Property Triggers

MultiTriggers

Other Types of Triggers

Summary

13 Control Templates

Separating Appearance from Behavior

Developing a Simple Control Template

The ContentPresenter Class

Template Binding

ControlTemplate Triggers

Summary

14 Page Navigation Programs

Types of Navigation

The Components of a Navigation Program

Frames

Journal Options in Frames

Navigating Programmatically

Passing Data to a Page

Getting Data Back from a Page

XAML Browser Applications

Creating an XBAP Application

Deploying and Running

Summary

15 More Data Binding

Data Templates

Views

Filtering in a View

Sorting in a View

Grouping in a View

Summary

16 Trees, Tabs, and Other Controls

The TreeView Control

The HierarchicalDataTemplate

Using Event Handlers with TreeViews

Binding Other Controls to a TreeView

The TabControl

The Calendar Control

The DatePicker Control

Summary

17 Text and Documents

Text in WPF

An Overview of Flow Documents

The Components of a Flow Document

The Hosting Controls

The Content of a Flow Document

Tables and Lists

Embedded Flow Documents

The TextBlock Element

Summary

18 Graphics in WPF

Graphics in WPF

Transforms

The RotateTransform

Using LayoutTransform vs. RenderTransform

The TranslateTransform

The SkewTransform

The ScaleTransform

BitmapEffects

Brushes

LinearGradientBrushes

Shapes

The Geometry Classes

The Simple Geometry Classes

The PathGeometry Class

The LineSegment and the PolyLineSegment

The ArcSegment

Combining Geometries

Path Markup Syntax

Filling Geometries

Drawings

The DrawingImage Class

The DrawingBrush Class

Summary

19 Animation

What Is Animation?

Animation Object Basics

The AnimationClock Class

Storyboards

Storyboards in Markup

Other Variations on Animation

Keyframe Animations

Linear Keyframe Animation

Spline Interpolation Animations

Discrete Keyframe Animation

Path Animations

Summary

20 Audio and Video

Overview of Audio

SystemSounds

SoundPlayer

SoundPlayerAction

MediaPlayer

MediaElement

Video

Summary

Index