Foundation Expression Blend 2 building applications in WPF and Silverlight ; [create fantastic rich media applications in Microsoft Expression Blend 2 ; move your applications to the Web using WPF and Silverlight ; add video and advanced 3D to your deskto

In this book, you'll: Learn the Blend 2 and Visual Studio 2008 development environments Create designs using Blend 2's unique tools Use XAML and C# to add interactivity to your designs Publish your Rich Media Applications to the Web using Silverlight The only real tool available for creating Rich Media Applications, web-based animations, and games has been Flash—until now! WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) and Silverlight have opened the door of Rich Media Application development to Microsoft .NET developers. With Microsoft's new Blend 2 and Visual Studio 2008, you can now create compelling Rich Media Applications complete with animations and even 3D! This book shows you how to take full advantage of Blend's new interface, together with and Silverlight's vastly improved designer-developer workflow, guiding you through every step of development from downloading and installing of the development environment through creating finished, functional projects. You'll learn how to create simple drawing applications with the InkCanvas, make tabbed and scrollable interfaces, as well as build fully featured media players, photo galleries, and interactive 3D designs. Each chapter discusses major WPF and Silverlight features, provides a hands-on tutorial, and explains how that feature is implemented in the real world. In the end, you will have a collection of impressive WPF and Silverlight applications that can be added to your portfolio. Whether you're an experienced .NET or web developer, or you're just starting out, this book will provide you with all you need to create Rich Media Applications with Expression Blend 2. Foundation Expression Blend 2......Page 1 CONTENTS AT A GLANCE......Page 7 CONTENTS......Page 9 ABOUT THE AUTHOR......Page 15 ABOUT THE TECHNICAL REVIEWER......Page 17 ABOUT THE COVER IMAGE DESIGNER......Page 19 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 21 Who this book is for......Page 23 What WPF/Blend is and what C# and XAML are......Page 24 Online resources......Page 25 Layout conventions......Page 26 SETTING UP THE WPF DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT......Page 29 Downloading and installing Visual Studio 2008 Professional......Page 31 Downloading and installing Microsoft Silverlight Tools Alpha Refresh for Visual Studio 2008 Beta 2......Page 36 Downloading and installing Blend 2......Page 37 Creating your first WPF project......Page 42 Summary......Page 49 A new way of working......Page 51 Your first WPF application: “Hello World!”......Page 55 Getting to know Solution Explorer......Page 57 Time for Blend 2!......Page 58 Making the “Hello World!” application more exciting......Page 66 Summary......Page 79 THE BLEND 2 INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT......Page 81 The Blend 2 toolbar......Page 82 The Direct Selection tool......Page 83 The Pen/Pencil tools......Page 84 The Camera Orbit tool......Page 85 The Brush Transform tool......Page 86 The shape tools: Rectangle, Ellipse, and Line......Page 88 Layout controls......Page 89 The Asset Library......Page 90 The Objects and Timeline panel......Page 93 The Project panel......Page 94 The Properties panel......Page 95 Blend development views and Workspaces......Page 109 The XAML view......Page 110 Workspaces......Page 111 Creating 3D objects in Blend......Page 114 Summary......Page 116 C# and the .NET Framework......Page 119 Why C#?......Page 120 XAML......Page 124 Summary......Page 125 LAYOUT ELEMENTS......Page 127 The Grid......Page 128 The Canvas......Page 133 The WrapPanel......Page 135 The DockPanel......Page 136 The ScrollViewer......Page 138 The Border......Page 139 The ViewBox......Page 140 Summary......Page 142 Playback modes......Page 145 Independent mode......Page 146 Switching between playback modes......Page 147 Creating your first MediaElement project......Page 148 Blend 2’s Make a Button feature......Page 154 Creating the stop Button......Page 158 Creating the pause Button......Page 160 Creating the video toggle Button......Page 162 Summary......Page 166 CONTROLTEMPLATES, STYLES, AND CUSTOM USERCONTROLS......Page 169 A Button ControlTemplate......Page 170 Styles......Page 175 Overriding default Styles for controls......Page 177 Adding your Button Style to your ResourceDictionary......Page 180 Replacing text with an image via your Button Style......Page 181 Using your Style and ControlTemplate on multiple Button controls......Page 183 Wiring up the home Button......Page 186 Custom UserControls......Page 188 Summary......Page 192 Creating an EventAndEventHandlers project......Page 195 DragEnter......Page 198 DragOver......Page 200 Drop......Page 201 Mouse events......Page 204 Summary......Page 214 OBSERVABLECOLLECTIONS AND THE DATA FACTORY......Page 217 Creating the ObservableCollection project......Page 218 Creating the ObservableCollection with an Abstract factory pattern......Page 219 Opening ObservableCollection in Blend 2......Page 225 Doing something with the selected image......Page 229 Summary......Page 232 WPF AND 3D......Page 235 Blend and the 3D image......Page 236 Working with Electric Rain’s ZAM 3D......Page 240 Working with Viewport3Ds in Blend 2......Page 248 Creating a flyby animation......Page 251 Importing and working with OBJ files......Page 255 Using the 3D Tools library......Page 261 Building a new 3DMediaElementProject......Page 262 Wiring up the buttons in Visual Studio 2008......Page 265 Making the video 3D with 3D Tools......Page 266 Summary......Page 272 DependencyProperties demystified......Page 275 Creating the project......Page 277 Styling the Rectangles and then turning them into a Button control......Page 278 Registering the custom DependencyProperties......Page 283 Adding an icon image to the project......Page 286 Making the custom UserControl functional......Page 289 Summary......Page 293 CASE STUDY A: 3DIMAGEPROJECT......Page 295 Adding images to the project......Page 296 Creating the ImageFactory......Page 298 Styling the application and creating the DataSource......Page 303 Making use of the DataSource......Page 305 Creating viewing choices......Page 308 Wiring up the RadioButton controls......Page 312 Spinning the box......Page 314 Summary......Page 318 CASE STUDY B: 3DTIEFIGHTERPROJECT......Page 321 Importing a model from ZAM 3D......Page 322 Creating the 3DTieFighterProject......Page 323 Cleaning the XAML......Page 324 Creating the buttons......Page 325 Creating the Storyboard animations......Page 327 Styling the background......Page 330 Adding descriptive text to a 3D plane......Page 331 Coding the text in Visual Studio......Page 332 Summary......Page 335 CASE STUDY C: SILVERLIGHTPAGINGSYSTEMPROJECT......Page 337 Creating the SilverlightPagingSystemProject......Page 338 Setting up various page properties......Page 339 Creating the navigation buttons......Page 341 Creating the content Canvas container and the content pages......Page 344 Creating the functionality in Visual Studio......Page 347 Summary......Page 350 Creating the SilverlightVideoPlayerProject......Page 353 Creating the functionality in Visual Studio 2008......Page 357 Summary......Page 359 References......Page 361 Tutorials......Page 362 Professional WPF/Silverlight development resources......Page 363 INDEX......Page 365

In this book, you'll:

• Learn the Blend 2 and Visual Studio 2008 development environments
• Create designs using Blend 2's unique tools
• Use XAML and C# to add interactivity to your designs
• Publish your Rich Media Applications to the Web using Silverlight

The only real tool available for creating Rich Media Applications, web-based animations, and games has been Flash—until now! WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) and Silverlight have opened the door of Rich Media Application development to Microsoft .NET developers. With Microsoft's new Blend 2 and Visual Studio 2008, you can now create compelling Rich Media Applications complete with animations and even 3D!

This book shows you how to take full advantage of Blend's new interface, together with and Silverlight's vastly improved designer-developer workflow, guiding you through every step of development from downloading and installing of the development environment through creating finished, functional projects. You'll learn how to create simple drawing applications with the InkCanvas, make tabbed and scrollable interfaces, as well as build fully featured media players, photo galleries, and interactive 3D designs.

Each chapter discusses major WPF and Silverlight features, provides a hands-on tutorial, and explains how that feature is implemented in the real world. In the end, you will have a collection of impressive WPF and Silverlight applications that can be added to your portfolio.

Whether you're an experienced .NET or web developer, or you're just starting out, this book will provide you with all you need to create Rich Media Applications with Expression Blend 2.

Welcome to Foundation Expression Blend 2: Building Applications in WPF and Silverlight! I am very excited about this book, as I love Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Silverlight, and I have a passion for teaching them both. Throughout the course of the book, I am going to take you step by step from being a novice in Blend/WPF/Silverlight to being a skilled prac- tioner, able to create your own dynamic Rich Media Applications with animations, stunning effects, and even 3D objects. As well as these innovative tools from Microsoft, you will also use some third-party applications that will really make your creations visually stunning. Because this technology is so new, only a handful of people in the world know how to develop in it, and those who can are compensated very well and are highly sought after. It’s a rapidly expanding market, and more and more companies are looking for Silverlight and WPF developers—if you have those skills, then you’ll be a developer in demand! To give you an www. identitymine. Expression Blend was Microsoft's first entry into the web application and design space; the first time they trod on Adobe Flash's toes. They got a lot of things right, and started to carve out a market, but they didn't get the crossover numbers they wanted. Blend 2 is where they put that right. It is a huge improvement over Blend. This book details everything a designer or developer needs to know to start developing web applications in Blend.