Pro Silverlight 4 in C# (eBook)

Matthew MacDonald is an author,educator, and MCSD developer who has a passion for emerging technologies. He isthe author of more than a dozen books about .NET programming. In a dimly-remembered past life, he studied English literature and theoretical physics.

Title Page 1
Copyright Page 2
Contents at a Glance 4
Table of Contents 5
About the Author 21
About the Technical Reviewer 22
Acknowledgments 23
Introduction 24
Understanding Silverlight 24
Silverlight System Requirements 26
Silverlight vs. Flash 26
Silverlight and WPF 28
The Evolution of Silverlight 29
About This Book 30
What You Need to Use This Book 31
The Silverlight Toolkit 31
Code Samples 32
Feedback 32
The Last Word 32
Chapter 1: Introducing Silverlight 33
Silverlight Design Tools 33
Visual Studio vs. Expression Blend 33
Understanding Silverlight Websites 34
Creating a Stand-Alone Silverlight Project 35
Creating a Simple Silverlight Page 38
Adding Event-Handling Code 40
Testing a Silverlight Application 42
Creating an ASP.NET-Hosted Silverlight Project 44
ASP.NET Controls That Render Silverlight Content 47
Mixing ASP.NET Controls and Silverlight Content 48
Silverlight Compilation and Deployment 48
Compiling a Silverlight Application 48
Deploying a Silverlight Application 50
Silverlight Core Assemblies 52
Silverlight Add-on Assemblies 53
Assembly Caching 54
The HTML Entry Page 56
Sizing the Silverlight Content Region 58
Silverlight Parameters 58
Alternative Content 60
Creating a Friendly Install Experience 60
The Mark of the Web 62
The Last Word 63
Chapter 2: XAML 64
XAML Basics 65
XAML Namespaces 66
Core Silverlight Namespaces 66
Design Namespaces 67
Custom Namespaces 68
The Code-Behind Class 69
Naming Elements 70
Properties and Events in XAML 70
Simple Properties and Type Converters 72
Complex Properties 73
Attached Properties 75
Nesting Elements 76
Events 79
The Full Eight Ball Example 80
XAML Resources 81
The Resources Collection 81
The Hierarchy of Resources 82
Accessing Resources in Code 84
Organizing Resources with Resource Dictionaries 85
Element-to-Element Binding 87
One-Way Binding 87
Two-Way Binding 88
The Last Word 90
Chapter 3: Layout 91
The Layout Containers 91
The Panel Background 93
Borders 95
Simple Layout with the StackPanel 96
Layout Properties 98
Alignment 99
Margins 100
Minimum, Maximum, and Explicit Sizes 102
The WrapPanel and DockPanel 104
The WrapPanel 104
The DockPanel 105
The Grid 107
Fine-Tuning Rows and Columns 109
Nesting Layout Containers 110
Spanning Rows and Columns 112
The GridSplitter 113
Coordinate-Based Layout with the Canvas 116
Layering with ZIndex 118
Clipping 118
Custom Layout Containers 120
The Two-Step Layout Process 120
MeasureOverride() 121
ArrangeOverride() 122
The UniformGrid 123
Sizing Pages 128
Scrolling with the ScrollViewer 130
Scaling with the Viewbox 132
Full-Screen Mode 134
The Last Word 136
Chapter 4: Dependency Properties and Routed Events 137
Dependency Properties 137
Defining and Registering a Dependency Property 138
Dynamic Value Resolution 140
Attached Properties 141
The WrapBreakPanel Example 142
Routed Events 145
The Core Element Events 145
Event Bubbling 148
Handled (Suppressed) Events 150
An Event Bubbling Example 150
Mouse Handling 153
Right-Clicks 153
Mouse Movements 154
The Mouse Wheel 154
Capturing the Mouse 156
A Mouse Event Example 157
Mouse Cursors 160
Keyboard Handling 161
Key Presses 161
Key Modifiers 164
Focus 165
The Command Model 166
Building a Command 167
Connecting a Command 168
The Last Word 170
Chapter 5: Elements 171
The Silverlight Elements 171
Static Text 175
Font Properties 176
Font Embedding 179
Underlining 180
Runs 181
Wrapping Text 182
Trimming Text 183
Images 183
Image Sizing 184
Image Errors 185
Content Controls 185
The Content Property 187
Aligning Content 189
Buttons 190
The HyperlinkButton 190
The ToggleButton and RepeatButton 191
The CheckBox 191
The RadioButton 192
Tooltips and Pop-Ups 193
Customized Tooltips 193
The Popup 195
Items Controls 197
The ListBox 197
The ComboBox 199
The TabControl 200
Text Controls 201
The TextBox 202
The PasswordBox 204
The AutoCompleteBox 204
Filter Mode 205
Custom Filtering 206
Dynamic Item Lists 208
The RichTextBox 210
Text Elements 210
Formatting Text Elements 213
Manipulating Text Elements in Code 214
Creating a Text Editor 215
Saving and Opening Rich Text Files 218
Using Hyperlinks and Elements in a RichTextBox 219
Range-Based Controls 221
The Slider 221
The ProgressBar 222
Date Controls 222
The Last Word 226
Chapter 6: The Application Model 227
The Application Class 227
Accessing the Current Application 228
Application Properties 228
Application Events 229
Application Startup 230
Initialization Parameters 230
Application Shutdown 234
Unhandled Exceptions 234
Custom Splash Screens 236
Binary Resources 241
Placing Resources in the Application Assembly 241
Programmatically Retrieving a Resource 243
Placing Resources in the Application Package 244
Placing Resources on the Web 245
Failing to Download Resources 246
Downloading Resources with WebClient 247
Class Library Assemblies 249
Using Resources in an Assembly 249
Downloading Assemblies on Demand 250
Supporting Assembly Caching 251
The Strong Key Name 252
The .extmap.xml File 253
The Last Word 255
Chapter 7: Navigation 256
Loading User Controls 257
Embedding User Controls in a Page 257
Hiding Elements 259
Managing the Root Visual 259
Retaining Page State 261
Browser History 262
Child Windows 262
Designing a ChildWindow 264
Showing a ChildWindow 265
The Frame and Page 267
Frames 267
Browser URI Integration 270
What Happens If the Page Has More Than One Frame? 271
What Happens If the Startup Page Doesn’t Include a Frame Control? 271
What About Security? 272
History Support 272
Navigation Failure 273
URI Mapping 274
Forward and Backward Navigation 275
Hyperlinks 276
Pages 277
Navigation Properties 277
State Storage 278
Navigation Methods 279
Navigation Templates 280
Custom Content Loaders 281
Authentication and Navigation 282
Creating a Custom Content Loader 283
Using the Custom Content Loader 285
The Last Word 286
Chapter 8: Shapes and Geometries 287
Basic Shapes 287
The Shape Classes 288
Rectangle and Ellipse 289
Sizing and Placing Shapes 291
Sizing Shapes Proportionately with a Viewbox 293
Line 295
Polyline 296
Polygon 297
Line Caps and Line Joins 300
Dashes 302
Paths and Geometries 304
Line, Rectangle, and Ellipse Geometries 305
Combining Shapes with GeometryGroup 306
Curves and Lines with PathGeometry 308
Straight Lines 309
Arcs 310
Bézier Curves 312
The Geometry Mini-Language 314
Clipping with Geometry 316
Exporting Clip Art 317
Expression Design 317
Conversion 319
Save or Print to XPS 319
The Last Word 322
Chapter 9: Brushes, Transforms, and Bitmaps 323
Brushes 323
The LinearGradientBrush Class 324
The RadialGradientBrush Class 327
The ImageBrush 329
Transparency 330
Opacity Masks 333
Making the Silverlight Control Transparent 334
Transforms 338
Transforming Shapes 340
Transforms and Layout Containers 342
A Reflection Effect 343
Perspective Transforms 345
The PlaneProjection Class 346
Applying a Projection 348
Pixel Shaders 349
BlurEffect 350
DropShadowEffect 350
ShaderEffect 352
The WriteableBitmap Class 353
Generating a Bitmap 353
Capturing Content from Other Elements 356
Printing 357
Printing a Single Element 358
Printing Over Multiple Pages 360
Creating a Print Preview 363
The Last Word 366
Chapter 10: Animation 367
Understanding Silverlight Animation 367
The Rules of Animation 368
Creating Simple Animations 369
The Animation Class 369
The Storyboard Class 370
Starting an Animation with an Event Trigger 371
Starting an Animation with Code 372
Configuring Animation Properties 373
From 373
To 374
By 375
Duration 375
Animation Lifetime 375
RepeatBehavior 377
Simultaneous Animations 377
Controlling Playback 378
Animation Easing 381
Using an Easing Function 381
Easing In and Easing Out 382
Easing Function Classes 384
Animation Types Revisited 387
Animating Transforms 387
Animation Perspective Projections 390
Animating Brushes 392
Animating Pixel Shaders 393
Key-Frame Animation 395
Discrete Key Frames 396
Easing Key Frames 397
Spline Key Frames 397
Animations in Code 399
The Main Page 400
The Bomb User Control 402
Dropping the Bombs 403
Intercepting a Bomb 407
Counting Bombs and Cleaning Up 408
Encapsulating Animations 410
Page Transitions 410
The Base Class 412
The Wipe Transition 413
Frame-Based Animation 415
Animation Performance 419
Desired Frame Rate 419
Hardware Acceleration 420
Enabling Hardware Acceleration 421
Bitmap Caching 421
Evaluating Hardware Acceleration 424
The Last Word 425
Chapter 11: Sound, Video, and Deep Zoom 426
Supported File Types 426
The MediaElement 427
Controlling Playback 428
Handling Errors 429
Playing Multiple Sounds 429
Changing Volume, Balance, and Position 430
Playing Video 434
Client-Side Playlists 435
Server-Side Playlists 435
Progressive Downloading and Streaming 436
Adaptive Streaming 438
Advanced Video Playback 439
Video Encoding 439
Encoding in Expression Encoder 440
Markers 442
Adding Markers with Expression Encoder 442
Using Markers in a Silverlight Application 444
VideoBrush 447
Video Effects 448
Webcam and Microphone Input 454
Accessing a Capture Device 454
Basic Webcam Support 456
Recording Audio Snippets 459
Deep Zoom 463
Creating a Deep Zoom Image Set 465
Using a Deep Zoom Image Set in Silverlight 469
The Last Word 472
Chapter 12: Styles and Behaviors 473
Styles 473
Defining a Style 474
Applying a Style 475
Dynamic Styles 476
Style Inheritance 476
Organizing Styles 478
Automatically Applying Styles by Type 478
Behaviors 480
Getting Support for Behaviors 480
Triggers and Actions 481
Creating an Action 481
Connecting an Action to an Element 483
Design-Time Behavior Support in Blend 485
Creating a Targeted Trigger 487
Creating a Behavior 491
Finding More Behaviors 494
The Last Word 496
Chapter 13: Templates and Custom Controls 497
Template Basics 497
Creating a Template 498
Reusing Control Templates 499
The ContentPresenter 500
Template Bindings 501
Setting Templates Through Styles 502
Reusing Colors 504
The Parts and States Model 504
Understanding States with the Button Control 506
Showing a Focus Cue 510
Transitions 511
The Default Transition 512
From and to Transitions 513
Transitioning to a Steady State 514
Custom Transition 515
Understanding Parts with the Slider Control 516
Creating Templates for Custom Controls 520
Planning the FlipPanel Control 521
Creating the Solution 522
Starting the FlipPanel Class 522
Adding the Default Style with Generic.xaml 524
Choosing Parts and States 526
Starting the Default Control Template 528
The FlipButton Control 529
Defining the State Animations 530
Wiring Up the Elements in the Template 532
Using the FlipPanel 534
Using a Different Control Template 535
The Last Word 537
Chapter 14: Browser Integration 538
Interacting with HTML Elements 539
Getting Browser Information 540
The HTML Window 541
Popup Windows 542
Inspecting the HTML Document 543
Manipulating an HTML Element 545
Inserting and Removing Elements 548
Changing Style Properties 549
Handling JavaScript Events 550
Code Interaction 552
Calling Browser Script from Silverlight 553
Calling Silverlight Methods from the Browser 553
Instantiating Silverlight Objects in the Browser 555
Combining Silverlight and HTML Content 557
Sizing the Silverlight Control to Fit Its Content 557
Placing the Silverlight Control Next to an HTML Element 559
Securing HTML Interoperability 561
The Last Word 563
Chapter 15: ASP.NET Web Services 564
Building Web Services for Silverlight 564
Creating a Web Service 564
Adding a Service Reference 566
Calling the Web Service 568
Configuring the Web Service URL 571
Using a Busy Indicator 572
Web Service Data Types 574
Custom Data Classes 574
Web Service Type Sharing 576
Identifying Your Data Classes 576
Sharing the Code 577
More Advanced Web Services 581
Cross-Domain Web Service Calls 581
Monitoring the Network Connection 583
Using ASP.NET Platform Services 585
Duplex Services 587
Configuring the Service 587
The Interfaces 588
The Service 590
The Client 590
The Last Word 592
Chapter 16: Data Binding 593
Binding to Data Objects 593
Building a Data Object 594
Displaying a Data Object with DataContext 595
Storing a Data Object as a Resource 597
Null Values and Failed Bindings 598
Editing with Two-Way Bindings 598
Change Notification 600
Building a Data Service 601
Calling a Data Service 605
Binding to a Collection of Objects 607
Displaying and Editing Collection Items 607
Inserting and Removing Collection Items 612
Binding to a LINQ Expression 612
Master-Details Display 615
Validation 618
Error Notifications 619
The BindingValidationFailed Event 621
The Validation Class 623
Creating Data Objects with Built-in Validation 623
Data Formatting and Conversion 627
String Formatting 628
Value Converters 630
Formatting Strings with a Value Converter 630
Creating Objects with a Value Converter 633
Applying Conditional Formatting 635
Data Templates 637
Separating and Reusing Templates 639
More Advanced Templates 640
Changing Item Layout 641
The Last Word 642
Chapter 17: Data Controls 643
Better Data Forms 644
The Goal: Data Class Markup 644
The Label 645
The DescriptionViewer 647
The ValidationSummary 649
Data Annotations 651
Raising Annotation Errors 652
The Annotation Attributes 653
Required 654
StringLength 654
Range 654
RegularExpression 655
CustomValidation 657
The DataGrid 659
Creating a Simple Grid 660
How Columns Are Resized and Rearranged 662
Defining Columns 663
The DataGridCheckBoxColumn 665
The DataGridTemplateColumn 665
Formatting and Styling Columns 666
Controlling Column Width 668
Formatting Rows 670
Row Details 673
Freezing Columns 674
Selection 675
Sorting 676
DataGrid Editing 677
Editing with Templates 677
Validation and Editing Events 679
The PagedCollectionView 681
Sorting 682
Filtering 682
Grouping 683
Paging 686
The TreeView 689
Filling a TreeView 689
A Data-Bound TreeView 689
The Last Word 692
Chapter 18: File Access 693
Isolated Storage 694
The Scope of Isolated Storage 694
What to Put in Isolated Storage 695
Using Isolated Storage 695
Opening an Isolated Store 695
File Management 696
Writing and Reading Data 697
Requesting More Space 699
Storing Objects with XmlSerializer 701
Storing Application Settings 704
Accessing Files Outside of Isolated Storage 705
Reading Files with OpenFileDialog 706
Writing Files with SaveFileDialog 708
Transmitting Files with a Web Service 708
The File Service 709
The Silverlight Client 711
Dragging and Dropping Files 714
The Last Word 718
Chapter 19: Multithreading 719
Understanding Multithreading 719
The Goals of Multithreading 720
The DispatcherTimer 721
The Thread Class 721
Marshaling Code to the User Interface Thread 723
Creating a Thread Wrapper 726
Creating the Worker Class 727
Using the Thread Wrapper 729
Cancellation Support 731
The BackgroundWorker 732
Creating the BackgroundWorker 733
Running the BackgroundWorker 734
Tracking Progress 736
Supporting Cancellation 738
The Last Word 740
Chapter 20: Networking 741
Interacting with the Web 742
Cross-Domain Access 742
HTML Scraping 744
REST and Other Simple Web Services 749
Using Network Credentials 753
Processing Different Types of Data 753
XML 753
Services That Return XML Data 754
Navigating Over an XDocument 757
Querying an XDocument with LINQ 759
Services That Require XML Data 761
Services That Return SOAP Data 764
Services That Return JSON Data 764
RSS 767
Sockets 770
Understanding Sockets and TCP 770
The Policy Server 772
The Policy File 773
The PolicyServer Classes 774
The PolicyConnection Classes 776
The Messaging Server 777
The Messenger Client 781
Connecting to the Server 782
Sending Messages 784
Receiving Messages 785
Local Connections 786
Sending a Message 787
Receiving a Message 788
The Last Word 789
Chapter 21: Out-of-Browser Applications 790
Understanding Out-of-Browser Support 791
Creating an Out-of-Browser Application 792
Installing an Out-of-Browser Application 794
Customizing Icons 797
Tracking Application State 798
Removing and Updating an Application 802
Silent Installation 803
Out-of-Browser Application Features 804
The WebBrowser Control 804
Showing HTML Content 806
The WebBrowserBrush 807
Interacting with JavaScript Code 807
Notification Windows 808
Controlling the Main Window 811
Elevated Trust 813
Installing an Elevated Trust Application 814
The Abilities of an Elevated Trust Application 817
Window Customization 818
File Access 825
COM 827
The Last Word 831
Index 832