Windows Presentation Foundation Unleashed

Windows® Presentation Foundation Unleashed

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Windows® Presentation Foundation Unleashed

Introduction

Thank you for picking up Windows Presentation Foundation Unleashed! To avoid unsatisfied

customers, I want to clarify that this is not a book about Microsoft PowerPoint (which many people

Ever since WPF was publicly announced in 2003 (with the code name of "Avalon"), it has gotten

considerable (and deserved) attention for the ways in which it revolutionizes the process of creating

software—especially for Windows programmers used to Windows Forms and GDI. It's relatively easy

to create fun, useful, and shareable WPF samples that demonstrate all kinds of techniques that are

difficult to accomplish in other technologies. But WPF is quite a departure from previous technologies

in terms of its programming model, underlying concepts, and basic terminology. Even viewing the

source code for WPF (by cracking open its components with a tool like .NET Reflector) is a confusing

experience because the code you're looking for often doesn't reside where you'd expect. When you

combine all of this with the fact that there are often several ways to accomplish any task, you arrive at a

conclusion shared by many: WPF has a very steep learning curve.

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complex topic. As WPF was developed, it was obvious that there would be no shortage of WPF books in

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To answer the questions most people have when learning the technology, and to show how

commonly desired tasks are accomplished

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To be an authoritative source, thanks to input from members of the WPF team who designed,

implemented, and tested the technology

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To be clear about where the technology falls short, rather than selling the technology as the

answer to all problems

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To be an easily navigated reference that you can constantly come back to

I hope you find this book to exhibit all of these attributes.

Who Should Read This Book?

This book is for software developers who are interested in user interfaces. Regardless of whether you're

in a web browser, anyone interested in alternatives to Adobe Flash might find this book interesting. And

although the more lightweight and cross-platform Windows Presentation Foundation Everywhere

(WPF/E) technology does not have significant coverage in this book, many of the same concepts in this

book will apply to WPF/E once it is released.

Although this book's content is not optimized for graphic designers, reading this book can be a great

way to understand more of the "guts" behind a product like Microsoft Expression Blend.

To summarize, this book

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Covers everything you need to know about Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML),

the new XML-based language for creating declarative user interfaces that can be easily restyled

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Examines the WPF feature areas in incredible depth: controls, layout, resources, data binding,

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Explains how to develop and deploy all types of applications, including navigation-based

other non-WPF technologies

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Explains how to exploit new Windows Vista features in WPF applications, and how to go

beyond certain limitations of WPF

This book doesn't cover every last bit of WPF. (In particular, XML Paper Specification [XPS]

documents are only given a small bit of attention.) WPF's surface area is so large that I don't believe any

single book can. But I think you'll be pleased with the breadth and depth achieved by this book.

Examples in this book appear in XAML and C#, plus C++/CLI for interoperability discussions. XAML

is used heavily for a number of reasons: It's often the most concise way to express source code, it can

often be pasted into tools like XamlPad (in the Windows SDK) to see instant results without any

compilation, WPF-based tools generate XAML rather than procedural code, and XAML is applicable no

matter what .NET language you use, such as Visual Basic instead of C#. Whenever the mapping

between XAML and a language like C# is not obvious, examples are shown in both representations.

Software Requirements

Visual Studio 2005.

The following software is required:

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The .NET Framework 3.0, which is installed by default starting with Windows Vista. For earlier

versions of Windows, you can download it for free from http://msdn.com.

In addition, the following software is recommended:

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The Windows Software Development Kit (SDK), specifically the .NET tools it includes. This is

also a free download from http://msdn.com.

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Visual Studio 2005 or later, which can be a free Express edition downloaded from

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WPF design and development.

The source code for examples in this book can be downloaded via www.samspublishing.com or

www.adamnathan.net/wpf.

How This Book Is Organized

This book is arranged into five main parts, representing the progression of feature areas that you

typically need to understand to use WPF effectively. But if you're dying to jump ahead and learn about a

topic such as 3D or animation, the book is set up to allow for nonlinear journeys as well. The following

sections provide a summary of each part.

Part I: Background

The book introduces WPF by comparing it to alternative technologies and helping you make decisions

about when WPF is appropriate for your needs. Chapter 2 explores XAML in great depth, giving you the

Part II: Building a WPF Application

Part II equips you with the knowledge to assemble and deploy a traditional-looking application

(although some fancier effects like transforms, non-rectangular windows, and Aero glass are also

covered). It begins by introducing WPF's implementation of controls you'd expect to have available,

plus a few that you might not expect. It then devotes two chapters to arranging such controls (and other

elements) in a user interface. Chapter 7 ends this part by examining several different ways to take WPF-

based user interfaces and package and deploy complete applications. This not only includes traditional

standalone Windows applications, but also applications that are more like web pages.

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Chapter 4: Introducing WPF's Controls

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Chapter 5: Sizing, Positioning, and Transforming Elements

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Chapter 8: Resources

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Chapter 9: Data Binding

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Chapter 10: Styles, Templates, Skins, and Themes

Part IV: Going Beyond Today's Applications with Rich Media

This part of the book covers the features in WPF that typically get the most attention. The support for

2D and 3D graphics, animation, video, and more enable you to create a stunning experience. These

features—and the way they are exposed—set WPF apart from previous systems. WPF lowers the barrier

to incorporating such content in your software, so you might try some of these features that you never

would have dared to in the past!

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Chapter 11: 2D Graphics

controls is greatly reduced.

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Chapter 15: Interoperability with Win32, Windows Forms, and ActiveX

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Chapter 16: User Controls and Custom Controls

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Chapter 17: Layout with Custom Panels

Conventions Used in This Book

Various typefaces in this book identify terms and other special items. These typefaces include the

following:

Typeface Meaning

Italic Italic is used for new terms or phrases when they are initially defined, and occasionally for

emphasis.