WPF 4 Unleashed

Adam Nathan is a principal software development engineer for Microsoft Visual Studio, the latest version of which has been transformed into a first-class WPF application. Adam was previously the founding developer and architect for Popfly, Microsoft’s first product built on Silverlight, named one of the 25 most innovative products of 2007 by PCWorld Magazine. Having started his career on Microsoft’s Common Language Runtime team, Adam has been at the core of .NET and WPF technologies since the very beginning.   Adam’s books have been considered required reading by many inside Microsoft and throughout the industry. He is the author of the best-selling WPF Unleashed (Sams, 2006) that was nominated for a 2008 Jolt Award, Silverlight 1.0 Unleashed (Sams, 2008), and .NET and COM: The Complete Interoperability Guide (Sams, 2002); a coauthor of ASP.NET: Tips, Tutorials, and Code (Sams, 2001); and a contributor to books including .NET Framework Standard Library Annotated Reference, Volume 2 (Addison-Wesley, 2005) and Windows Developer Power Tools (O’Reilly, 2006). Adam is also the creator of PINVOKE.NET and its Visual Studio add-in. You can find him online at www.adamnathan.net, or @adamnathan on Twitter.

Introduction     1

Who Should Read This Book?      2

Software Requirements     3

Code Examples     4

How This Book Is Organized     4

Part I: Background     4

Part II: Building a WPF Application     4

Part III: Controls     5

Part IV: Features for Professional Developers     5

Part V: Rich Media     5

Part VI: Advanced Topics     6

Conventions Used in This Book     6

 

Part I Background

Chapter 1: Why WPF, and What About Silverlight?      9

A Look at the Past      10

Enter WPF     11

The Evolution of WPF     14

Enhancements in WPF 3.5 and WPF 3.5 SP1     15

Enhancements in WPF 4     16

What About Silverlight?      18

Summary     19

 

Chapter 2: XAML Demystified     21

XAML Defined     23

Elements and Attributes     24

Namespaces      26

Property Elements     29

Type Converters     30

Markup Extensions     32

Children of Object Elements .      35

The Content Property     35

Collection Items     36

More Type Conversion     38

Mixing XAML with Procedural Code     40

Loading and Parsing XAML at Runtime     40

Compiling XAML     43

Introducing XAML2009     48

Full Generics Support     49

Dictionary Keys of Any Type     50

Built-In System Data Types     50

Instantiating Objects with Non-Default Constructors     51

Getting Instances via Factory Methods     51

Event Handler Flexibility     52

Defining New Properties     53

Fun with XAML Readers and Writers     53

Overview     53

The Node Loop     56

Reading XAML     57

Writing to Live Objects      61

Writing to XML     63

XamlServices     64

XAML Keywords     67

Summary     70

Complaint 1: XML Is Too Verbose to Type     71

Complaint 2: XML-Based Systems Have Poor Performance     71

 

Chapter 3: WPF Fundamentals     73

A Tour of the Class Hierarchy     73

Logical and Visual Trees     75

Dependency Properties     80

A Dependency Property Implementation     81

Change Notification     83

Property Value Inheritance     85

Support for Multiple Providers     87

Attached Properties     89

Summary     93

 

Part II Building a WPF Application

Chapter 4: Sizing, Positioning, and Transforming Elements     97

Controlling Size     98

Height and Width     98

Margin and Padding     100

Visibility     102

Controlling Position     103

Alignment     103

Content Alignment     104

FlowDirection     105

Applying Transforms     106

RotateTransform     108

ScaleTransform.      109

SkewTransform.      112

TranslateTransform     112

MatrixTransform     112

Combining Transforms     113

Summary     114

 

Chapter 5: Layout with Panels     115

Canvas     116

StackPanel     118

WrapPanel     120

DockPanel     122

Grid     125

Sizing the Rows and Columns     130

Interactive Sizing with GridSplitter     132

Sharing Row and Column Sizes     134

Comparing Grid to Other Panels     136

Primitive Panels     137

TabPanel     137

ToolBarPanel     138

ToolBarOverflowPanel     138

ToolBarTray .      138

UniformGrid.      138

SelectiveScrollingGrid.      138

Handling Content Overflow     139

Clipping     139

Scrolling     141

Scaling     143

Putting It All Together: Creating a Visual Studio—Like Collapsible, Dockable, Resizable Pane     147

Summary      157

 

Chapter 6: Input Events: Keyboard, Mouse, Stylus, and Multi-Touch     159

Routed Events     159

A Routed Event Implementation     160

Routing Strategies and Event Handlers     161

Routed Events in Action     162

Attached Events     165

Keyboard Events     168

Mouse Events     170

MouseEventArgs     171

Drag and Drop     172

Capturing the Mouse     173

Stylus Events     174

StylusDevice     174

Events     175

Multi-Touch Events     176

Basic Touch Events     177

Manipulation Events for Panning, Rotating, and Zooming     180

Commands     188

Built-In Commands     189

Executing Commands with Input Gestures     192

Controls with Built-In Command Bindings     193

Summary     194

 

Chapter 7: Structuring and Deploying an Application     195

Standard Windows Applications     195

The Window Class     196

The Application Class     199

Showing a Splash Screen     205

Creating and Showing Dialogs     206

Persisting and Restoring Application State     209

Deployment: ClickOnce Versus Windows Installer     210

Navigation-Based Windows Applications     211

Pages and Their Navigation Containers     212

Navigating from Page to Page     214

Passing Data Between Pages     219

Gadget-Style Applications     223

XAML Browser Applications     224

Limited Feature Set     226

Integrated Navigation      228

Deployment      229

Loose XAML Pages     231

Summary     232

 

Chapter 8: Exploiting Windows 7     233

Jump Lists     233

JumpTask     234

JumpPath     241

Taskbar Item Customizations     245

Using a Taskbar Item Progress Bar     246

Adding an Overlay to the Taskbar Item     247

Customizing the Thumbnail Content     247

Adding Thumb Buttons to the Taskbar Thumbnail     248

Aero Glass     249

TaskDialog     253

Summary     256

 

Part III Controls

Chapter 9: Content Controls     261

Buttons     263

Button     264

RepeatButton     265

ToggleButton     265

CheckBox     266

RadioButton     266

Simple Containers     268

Label     268

ToolTip     269

Frame     271

Containers with Headers     272

GroupBox     273

Expander     273

Summary     274

 

Chapter 10: Items Controls     275

Common Functionality     276

DisplayMemberPath     277

ItemsPanel     278

Controlling Scrolling Behavior     280

Selectors     281

ComboBox     282

ListBox     287

ListView     290

TabControl     291

DataGrid     292

Menus     298

Menu     298

ContextMenu     301

Other Items Controls     302

TreeView     302

ToolBar     304

StatusBar     307

Summary     308

 

Chapter 11: Images, Text, and Other Controls     309

The Image Control      309

Text and Ink Controls      311

TextBlock     313

TextBox     315

RichTextBox     316

PasswordBox     316

InkCanvas     316

Documents     318

Creating Flow Documents     318

Displaying Flow Documents     329

Adding Annotations     331

Range Controls     334

ProgressBar     335

Slider     335

Calendar Controls     336

Calendar     336

DatePicker     338

Summary     339

 

Part IV Features for Professional Developers

Chapter 12: Resources     343

Binary Resources     343

Defining Binary Resources     344

Accessing Binary Resources     345

Localizing Binary Resources     350

Logical Resources     351

Resource Lookup     355

Static Versus Dynamic Resources     355

Interaction with System Resources     360

Summary     362

 

Chapter 13: Data Binding     363

Introducing the Binding Object     363

Using Binding in Procedural Code     363

Using Binding in XAML     365

Binding to Plain .NET Properties     367

Binding to an Entire Object     369

Binding to a Collection     370

Sharing the Source with DataContext     374

Controlling Rendering     375

String Formatting     375

Using Data Templates     378

Using Value Converters     381

Customizing the View of a Collection     386

Sorting     386

Grouping     388

Filtering     392

Navigating     392

Working with Additional Views     394

Data Providers     396

XmlDataProvider     397

ObjectDataProvider     401

Advanced Topics     403

Customizing the Data Flow     403

Adding Validation Rules to Binding     405

Working with Disjoint Sources     409

Putting It All Together: The Pure-XAML Twitter Client     412

Summary     414

 

Chapter 14: Styles, Templates, Skins, and Themes     415

Styles     416

Sharing Styles     418

Triggers     423

Templates     430

Introducing Control Templates     431

Getting Interactivity with Triggers     432

Restricting the Target Type     434

Respecting the Templated Parent’s Properties     435

Respecting Visual States with Triggers     442

Respecting Visual States with the Visual State Manager (VSM)      447

Mixing Templates with Styles     456

Skins     458

Themes     465

Using System Colors, Fonts, and Parameters     465

Per-Theme Styles and Templates     466

Summary     470

 

Part V Rich Media

Chapter 15: 2D Graphics     475

Drawings     476

Geometries     479

Pens     489

Clip Art Example     491

Visuals     493

Filling a DrawingVisual with Content     493

Displaying a Visual on the Screen     496

Visual Hit Testing     499

Shapes     505

Rectangle     507

Ellipse     508

Line     509

Polyline     510

Polygon     511

Path     511

Clip Art Based on Shapes     512

Brushes     513

Color Brushes     513

Tile Brushes     520

Brushes as Opacity Masks     527

Effects     529

Improving Rendering Performance     532

RenderTargetBitmap     532

BitmapCache     533

BitmapCacheBrush     535

Summary     535

 

Chapter 16: 3D Graphics     537

Getting Started with 3D Graphics     538

Cameras and Coordinate Systems     542

Position     543

LookDirection     544

UpDirection     548

OrthographicCamera Versus PerspectiveCamera     551

Transform3D     554

TranslateTransform3D     556

ScaleTransform3D     557

RotateTransform3D     559

Combining Transform3Ds     562

Model3D     563

Lights     563

GeometryModel3D     571

Model3DGroup     584

Visual3D     586

ModelVisual3D     587

UIElement3D     588

Viewport2DVisual3D     590

3D Hit Testing     592

Viewport3D     593

2D and 3D Coordinate System Transformation     596

Visual.TransformToAncestor     596

Visual3D.TransformToAncestor and Visual3D.TransformToDescendant     600

Summary     605

 

Chapter 17: Animation     607

Animations in Procedural Code     608

Performing Animation “By Hand”      608

Introducing the Animation Classes     609

Simple Animation Tweaks     616

Animations in XAML     621

EventTriggers Containing Storyboards     621

Using Storyboard as a Timeline     629

Keyframe Animations     630

Linear Keyframes     631

Spline Keyframes     633

Discrete Keyframes     634

Easing Keyframes     636

Easing Functions     637

Built-In Power Easing Functions     637

Other Built-In Easing Functions     639

Writing Your Own Easing Function     640

Animations and the Visual State Manager     643

Transitions     647

Summary     651

 

Chapter 18: Audio, Video, and Speech     653

Audio     653

SoundPlayer     654

SoundPlayerAction     654

MediaPlayer     655

MediaElement and MediaTimeline     656

Video     658

Controlling the Visual Aspects of MediaElement     658

Controlling the Underlying Media     661

Speech     664

Speech Synthesis     664

Speech Recognition     667

Summary     672

 

Part VI Advanced Topics

Chapter 19: Interoperability with Non-WPF Technologies     675

Embedding Win32 Controls in WPF Applications     677

A Win32 Webcam Control     678

Using the Webcam Control in WPF     681

Supporting Keyboard Navigation     687

Embedding WPF Controls in Win32 Applications     692

Introducing HwndSource     692

Getting the Right Layout     696

Embedding Windows Forms Controls in WPF Applications     699

Embedding a PropertyGrid with Procedural Code     700

Embedding a PropertyGrid with XAML     702

Embedding WPF Controls in Windows Forms Applications     704

Mixing DirectX Content with WPF Content     708

Embedding ActiveX Controls in WPF Applications     714

Summary     718

 

Chapter 20: User Controls and Custom Controls     721

Creating a User Control     723

Creating the User Interface of the User Control     723

Creating the Behavior of the User Control     725

Adding Dependency Properties to the User Control     728

Adding Routed Events to the User Control     731

Creating a Custom Control     732

Creating the Behavior of the Custom Control     733

Creating the User Interface of the Custom Control     739

Considerations for More Sophisticated Controls     743

Summary     750

 

Chapter 21: Layout with Custom Panels     751

Communication Between Parents and Children     752

The Measure Step     752

The Arrange Step     754

Creating a SimpleCanvas     755

Creating a SimpleStackPanel     760

Creating an OverlapPanel     763

Creating a FanCanvas     768

Summary     773

 

Index     775