Pro WPF 4.5 in C# : Windows Presentation Foundation in .NET 4.5, Fourth Edition

Microsoft's Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) provides you with a development framework for building high-quality user experiences for the Windows operating system. It blends together rich content from a wide range of sources and allows you unparalleled access to the processing power of your Windows computer. __Pro WPF 4.5 in C#__ provides a thorough, authoritative guide to how WPF really works. Packed with no-nonsense examples and practical advice you'll learn everything you need to know in order to use WPF in a professional setting. The book begins by building a firm foundation of elementary concepts, using your existing C# skills as a frame of reference, before moving on to discuss advanced concepts and demonstrate them in a hands-on way that emphasizes the time and effort savings that can be gained. Cover Contents at a Glance Contents About the Author About the Technical Reviewer Acknowledgments Introduction About This Book Chapter Overview What You Need to Use This Book Code Samples and URLs Feedback Part I: Fundamentals Chapter 1: Introducing WPF The Evolution of Windows Graphics DirectX: The New Graphics Engine Hardware Acceleration and WPF WPF: A Higher-Level API Resolution Independence WPF Units System DPI Bitmap and Vector Graphics The Architecture of WPF The Class Hierarchy WPF 4.5 The WPF Toolkit Visual Studio 2012 The Last Word Chapter 2: XAML Understanding XAML Graphical User Interfaces Before WPF The Variants of XAML XAML Compilation XAML Basics XAML Namespaces The Code-Behind Class Properties and Events in XAML Simple Properties and Type Converters Complex Properties Markup Extensions Attached Properties Nesting Elements Special Characters and Whitespace Events The Full Eight-Ball Example Using Types from Other Namespaces Loading and Compiling XAML Code-Only Code and Uncompiled XAML Code and Compiled XAML XAML Only The Last Word Chapter 3: Layout Understanding Layout in WPF The WPF Layout Philosophy The Layout Process The Layout Containers Simple Layout with the StackPanel Layout Properties Alignment Margin Minimum, Maximum, and Explicit Sizes The Border The WrapPanel and DockPanel The WrapPanel The DockPanel Nesting Layout Containers The Grid Fine-Tuning Rows and Columns Layout Rounding Spanning Rows and Columns Splitting Windows Shared Size Groups The UniformGrid Coordinate-Based Layout with the Canvas Z-Order The InkCanvas Layout Examples A Column of Settings Dynamic Content A Modular User Interface The Last Word Chapter 4: Dependency Properties Understanding Dependency Properties Defining a Dependency Property Registering a Dependency Property Adding a Property Wrapper How WPF Uses Dependency Properties Shared Dependency Properties Attached Dependency Properties Property Validation The Validation Callback The Coercion Callback The Last Word Chapter 5:Routed Events Understanding Routed Events Defining, Registering, and Wrapping a Routed Event Sharing Routed Events Raising a Routed Event Handling a Routed Event Event Routing The RoutedEventArgs Class Bubbling Events Handling a Suppressed Event Attached Events Tunneling Events WPF Events Lifetime Events Input Events Keyboard Input Handling a Key Press Focus Getting Key State Mouse Input Mouse Clicks Capturing the Mouse Drag-and-Drop Multitouch Input The Levels of Multitouch Support Raw Touch Manipulation Inertia The Last Word Part II: Deeper Into WPF Chapter 6: Controls The Control Class Background and Foreground Brushes Fonts Mouse Cursors Content Controls The Content Property Aligning Content The WPF Content Philosophy Labels Buttons Tooltips Specialized Containers The ScrollViewer The GroupBox The TabItem The Expander Text Controls Multiple Lines of Text Text Selection Spell Checking The PasswordBox List Controls The ListBox The ComboBox Range-Based Controls The Slider The ProgressBar Date Controls The Last Word Chapter 7: The Application The Application Life Cycle Creating an Application Object Deriving a Custom Application Class Application Shutdown Application Events Application Tasks Showing a Splash Screen Handling Command-Line Arguments Accessing the Current Application Interacting Between Windows Single-Instance Applications Assembly Resources Adding Resources Retrieving Resources Resource-Aware Classes Pack URIs Resources in Other Assemblies Content Files Localization Building Localizable User Interfaces Preparing an Application for Localization Managing the Translation Process The Last Word Chapter 8: Element Binding Binding Elements Together The Binding Expression Binding Errors Binding Modes Creating Bindings with Code Retrieving Bindings in Code Multiple Bindings Binding Updates Binding Delays Binding to Objects That Aren’t Elements Source RelativeSource DataContext The Last Word Chapter 9: Commands Understanding Commands The WPF Command Model The ICommand Interface The RoutedCommand Class The RoutedUICommand Class The Command Library Executing Commands Command Sources Command Bindings Using Multiple Command Sources Fine-Tuning Command Text Invoking a Command Directly Disabling Commands Controls with Built-in Commands Advanced Commands Custom Commands Using the Same Command in Different Places Using a Command Parameter Tracking and Reversing Commands The Last Word Chapter 10: Resources Resource Basics The Resources Collection The Hierarchy of Resources Static and Dynamic Resources Nonshared Resources Accessing Resources in Code Application Resources System Resources Resource Dictionaries Creating a Resource Dictionary Using a Resource Dictionary Sharing Resources Between Assemblies The Last Word Chapter 11: Styles and Behaviors Style Basics Creating a Style Object Setting Properties Attaching Event Handlers The Many Layers of Styles Automatically Applying Styles by Type Triggers A Simple Trigger An Event Trigger Behaviors Getting Support for Behaviors Understanding the Behavior Model Creating a Behavior Using a Behavior Design-Time Behavior Support in Blend The Last Word Part III: Drawing and Animation Chapter 12: Shapes, Brushes, and Transforms Understanding Shapes The Shape Classes Rectangle and Ellipse Sizing and Placing Shapes Scaling Shapes with a Viewbox Line Polyline Polygon Line Caps and Line Joins Dashes Pixel Snapping Using Brushes The SolidColorBrush The LinearGradientBrush The RadialGradientBrush The ImageBrush A Tiled ImageBrush The VisualBrush The BitmapCacheBrush Using Transforms Transforming Shapes Transforming Elements Transparency Making an Element Partially Transparent Using Opacity Masks The Last Word Chapter 13: Geometries and Drawings Paths and Geometries Line, Rectangle, and Ellipse Geometries Combining Shapes with GeometryGroup Fusing Geometries with CombinedGeometry Drawing Curves and Lines with PathGeometry Using the Geometry Mini-Language Clipping with Geometry Drawings Displaying a Drawing Exporting Clip Art The Last Word Chapter 14: Effects and Visuals Visuals Drawing Visuals Wrapping Visuals in an Element Hit Testing Complex Hit Testing Effects BlurEffect DropShadowEffect ShaderEffect The WriteableBitmap Class Generating a Bitmap Writing to a WriteableBitmap Using More-Efficient Pixel Writing The Last Word Chapter 15: Animation Basics Understanding WPF Animation Timer-Based Animation Property-Based Animation Basic Animation The Animation Classes Animations in Code Simultaneous Animations Animation Lifetime The Timeline Class Storyboards The Storyboard Event Triggers Overlapping Animations Synchronized Animations Controlling Playback Monitoring Progress Animation Easing Using an Easing Function Easing In and Easing Out Easing Function Classes Creating a Custom Easing Function Animation Performance Desired Frame Rate Bitmap Caching The Last Word Chapter 16: Advanced Animation Animation Types Revisited Animating Transforms Animating Brushes Animating Pixel Shaders Key-Frame Animation Discrete Key-Frame Animations Easing Key Frames Spline Key-Frame Animations Path-Based Animation Frame-Based Animation Storyboards in Code Creating the Main Window Creating the Bomb User Control Dropping the Bombs Intercepting a Bomb Counting Bombs and Cleaning Up The Last Word Part IV: Templates and Custom elements Chapter 17: Control Templates Understanding Logical Trees and Visual Trees Understanding Templates The Chrome Classes Dissecting Controls Creating Control Templates A Simple Button Template Bindings Triggers That Change Properties Triggers That Use Animation Organizing Template Resources Refactoring the Button Control Template Applying Templates with Styles Applying Templates Automatically Working with User-Selected Skins Building More Complex Templates Nested Templates Modifying the Scrollbar Exploring the Control Template Examples Visual States The Last Word Chapter 18: Custom Elements Understanding Custom Elements in WPF Building a Basic User Control Defining Dependency Properties Defining Routed Events Adding Markup Using the Control Supporting Commands Taking a Closer Look at User Controls Creating a Lookless Control Refactoring the Color Picker Code Refactoring the Color Picker Markup Streamlining the Control Template Supporting Visual States Starting the FlipPanel Class Choosing Parts and States The Default Control Template Using the FlipPanel Using a Different Control Template Creating Custom Panels The Two-Step Layout Process The Canvas Clone A Better Wrapping Panel Custom-Drawn Elements The OnRender() Method Evaluating Custom Drawing Creating a Custom-Drawn Element Creating a Custom Decorator The Last Word Part V: Data Chapter 19: Data Binding Binding to a Database with Custom Objects Building a Data Access Component Building a Data Object Displaying the Bound Object Updating the Database Change Notification Binding to a Collection of Objects Displaying and Editing Collection Items Inserting and Removing Collection Items Binding to the ADO.NET Objects Binding to a LINQ Expression Improving Performance in Long Lists Virtualization Item Container Recycling Cache Length Deferred Scrolling Validation Validation in the Data Object Custom Validation Rules Reacting to Validation Errors Getting a List of Errors Showing a DifferenError Indicator Validating Multiple Values Data Providers The ObjectDataProvider The XmlDataProvider The Last Word Chapter 20: Formatting Bound Data Data Binding Redux Data Conversion Using the StringFormat Property Introducing Value Converters Formatting Strings with a Value Converter Creating Objects with a Value Converter Applying Conditional Formatting Evaluating Multiple Properties List Controls List Styles The ItemContainerStyle A ListBox with Check Boxes or Radio Buttons Alternating Item Style Style Selectors Data Templates Separating and Reusing Templates Using More Advanced Templates Varying Templates Template Selectors Templates and Selection Changing Item Layout The ComboBox The Last Word Chapter 21: Data Views The View Object Retrieving a View Object Navigating with a View Creating a View Declaratively Filtering, Sorting, and Grouping Filtering Collections Filtering the DataTable Sorting Grouping Live Shaping The Last Word Chapter 22: Lists, Trees, and Grids The ListView Creating Columns with the GridView Creating a Custom View The TreeView Creating a Data-Bound TreeView Binding a DataSet to a TreeView Just-in-Time Node Creation The DataGrid Resizing and Rearranging Columns Defining Columns Formatting and Styling Columns Formatting Rows Displaying Row Details Freezing Columns Selection Sorting Editing The Last Word Part VI: Windows, Pages, and Rich Controls Chapter 23: Windows The Window Class Showing a Window Positioning a Window Saving and Restoring Window Location Window Interaction Window Ownership The Dialog Model Common Dialog Boxes Nonrectangular Windows A Simple Shaped Window A Transparent Window with Shaped Content Moving Shaped Windows Resizing Shaped Windows Putting It All Together: A Custom Control Template for Windows Programming the Windows Taskbar Using Jump Lists Changing the Taskbar Icon and Preview The Last Word Chapter 24: Pages and Navigation Page-Based Navigation Page-Based Interfaces Creating a Simple Page-Based Application with NavigationWindow The Page Class Hyperlinks Hosting Pages in a Frame Hosting Pages in Another Page Hosting Pages in a Web Browser The Page History A Closer Look at URIs in WPF Navigation History Maintaining Custom Properties The Navigation Service Programmatic Navigation Navigation Events Managing the Journal Adding Custom Items to the Journal Using Page Functions XAML Browser Applications Creating an XBAP Deploying an XBAP Updating an XBAP XBAP Security Full-Trust XBAPs Combination XBAP/Stand-Alone Applications Coding for Different Security Levels Embedding an XBAP in a Web Page The WebBrowser Control Navigating to a Page Building a DOM Tree Scripting a Web Page with .NET Code The Last Word Chapter 25: Menus, Toolbars, and Ribbons Menus The Menu Class Menu Items The ContextMenu Class Menu Separators Toolbars and Status Bars The ToolBar The StatusBar Ribbons Adding the Ribbon The Application Menu Tabs, Groups, and Buttons Rich Tooltips Keyboard Access with KeyTips Ribbon Sizing The Quick Access Toolbar The Last Word Chapter 26: Sound and Video Playing WAV Audio The SoundPlayer The SoundPlayerAction System Sounds The MediaPlayer The MediaElement Playing Audio Programmatically Handling Errors Playing Audio with Triggers Playing Multiple Sounds Changing Volume, Balance, Speed, and Position Synchronizing an Animation with Audio Playing Video Video Effects Speech Speech Synthesis Speech Recognition The Last Word Chapter 27: 3-D Drawing 3-D Drawing Basics The Viewport 3-D Objects The Camera Deeper into 3-D Shading and Normals More Complex Shapes Model3DGroup Collections Materials Revisited Texture Mapping Interactivity and Animations Transforms Rotations A Flyover The Trackball Hit Testing 2-D Elements on 3-D Surfaces The Last Word Part VII: Documents and Printing Chapter 28: Documents Understanding Documents Flow Documents Understanding Flow Elements Formatting Content Elements Constructing a Simple Flow Document Using Block Elements Using Inline Elements Interacting with Elements Programmatically Text Justification Read-Only Flow Document Containers Zooming Creating Pages and Columns Loading Documents from a File Printing Editing a Flow Document Loading a File Saving a File Formatting Selected Text Getting Individual Words Fixed Documents Annotations Understanding the Annotation Classes Enabling the Annotation Service Creating Annotations Examining Annotations Reacting to Annotation Changes Storing Annotations in a Fixed Document Customizing the Appearance of Sticky Notes The Last Word Chapter 29: Printing Basic Printing Printing an Element Transforming Printed Output Printing Elements Without Showing Them Printing a Document Manipulating the Pages in a Document Printout Custom Printing Printing with the Visual Layer Classes Custom Printing with Multiple Pages Print Settings and Management Maintaining Print Settings Printing Page Ranges Managing a Print Queue Printing Through XPS Creating an XPS Document for a Print Preview Writing to an In-Memory XPS Document Printing Directly to the Printer via XPS Asynchronous Printing The Last Word Part VIII: Additional Topics Chapter 30: Interacting with Windows Forms Assessing Interoperability Mixing Windows and Forms Adding Forms to a WPF Application Adding WPF Windows to a Windows Forms Application Showing Modal Windows and Forms Showing Modeless Windows and Forms Enabling Visual Styles for Windows Forms Controls Creating Windows with Mixed Content Understanding WPF and Windows Forms “Airspace” Hosting Windows Forms Controls in WPF Using WPF and Windows Forms User Controls Hosting WPF Controls in Windows Forms Access Keys, Mnemonics, and Focus Property Mapping The Last Word Chapter 31: Multithreading Understanding the Multithreading Model The Dispatcher The DispatcherObject The BackgroundWorker A Simple Asynchronous Operation Creating the BackgroundWorker Running the BackgroundWorker Tracking Progress Supporting Cancellation The Last Word Chapter 32: The Add-in Model Choosing Between MAF and MEF Understanding the Add-in Pipeline How the Pipeline Works The Add-in Folder Structure Preparing a Solution That Uses the Add-in Model Creating an Application That Uses Add-Ins The Contract The Add-in View The Add-In The Add-in Adapter The Host View The Host Adapter The Host More Add-Ins Interacting with the Host Visual Add-Ins The Last Word Chapter 33: ClickOnce Deployment Understanding Application Deployment The ClickOnce Installation Model ClickOnce Limitations Setting Up a Simple ClickOnce Publication Setting the Publisher and Production Starting the Publish Wizard Understanding the Deployed File Structure Installing a ClickOnce Application Updating a ClickOnce Application Additional ClickOnce Options Publish Version Updates File Associations Publish Options The Last Word Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X, Y Z Microsoft's Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) provides you with a development framework for building high-quality user experiences for the Windows operating system. It blends together rich content from a wide range of sources and allows you unparalleled access to the processing power of your Windows computer. Pro WPF 4.5 in C# provides a thorough, authoritative guide to how WPF really works. Packed with no-nonsense examples and practical advice you'll learn everything you need to know in order to use WPF in a professional setting. The book begins by building a firm foundation of elementary concepts, using your existing C# skills as a frame of reference, before moving on to discuss advanced concepts and demonstrate them in a hands-on way that emphasizes the time and effort savings that can be gained. What you'll learn Understand the fundamentals of WPF programming from XAML to controls and data flow. Develop realistic application scenarios to see navigation, localization and deployment in action. Explore the advanced user interface controls that WPF provides. Learn to manage documents from within WPF: Text layout, printing, and document packaging are all covered. Use graphics and multimedia to add punch to your applications Who this book is for This book is designed for developers encountering WPF for the first time in their professional lives. A working knowledge of C# and the basic architecture of .NET is helpful to follow the examples easily, but all concepts will be explained from the ground up