Customer Reviews

Pro WPF in C# 2010

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have the first and second edition of this book (Pro WPF: Windows Presentation Foundation in .NET 3.0, Pro WPF in C# 2008), so I was hesitant in buying this version. I had not destroyed the Pro WPF in C# 2008 book, like I did Pro WPF: Windows Presentation Foundation in .NET 3.0, so I didn't really need a new copy of the book. I am glad that I did buy it because there are plenty of new features covered in this version making it worth the purchase, at least to me. This version of the book has also been reorganized. Chapters have been moved and renamed to fit new functionality.

Here is what is new in this release:
--New DataGrid, Calendar, WebBrowser, Ribbon (separate download), and DatePicker controls
--Visual State Manager
--Easing Functions
--Cached Composition (Bitmap caching)
--Windows 7 taskbar and multitouch support

Matthew has added content for all the topics listed above,

Some of the highlights of the book I like:
--The coverage of animation easing.
--The new Windows 7 taskbar coverage.
--His in-depth coverage of printing.
--His Custom Elements chapter.
--The new chapter on Application Add-Ins.
--The chapter on using ClickOnce with WPF.
--Everything is gone into in depth. This is not a brush over the topic book.
--The usability of the code makes the book all that much more valuable.

The book focuses on WPF only. It has a few pages on LINQ, but that i s about it as far as the rest of the .NET 3.5 framework goes. In other words, the book does not cover how to best use WPF in relationship to WCF, WF, or LINQ. This does not take anything away from the book because Matthew does not claim that the book does this. I only mention it because his ASP.NET 3.5 book does go into LINQ application integration.

The downloadable code is very well organized and is very usable.

I highly recommend this book to anyone getting into WPF with .NET 4.0.

This is a highly impressive book for getting one up to speed on anything and everything one needs to know about developing in WPF. If you are a WPF developer or aspiring developer, you are most likely at a disservice if this isn't on your desk.

One of the most important things is that time after time, difficult or complex subjects were excellently elucidated. I have Matthew's books for Pro .NET 2.0 Windows Forms and Custom Controls, and Pro ASP.NET 3.5, but despite my appreciation of these works (and how much he taught me from them), I thought there were a number of times that he failed to simply and quickly elucidate a subject. Important points were buried in pages of code (please note: not a judgment on those whole books, just parts of them). For the bulk of this book that I have examined and read, this is NOT the case. I was sort of expecting, for a bulky book like this (size wise), that the quality would be less than excellent. NOT so! You're understanding will be thoroughly enriched. No work is perfect by any stretch, but to have as many goodies as there are in this book, all in one book, it's a must have.

Bests:
The index is perhaps the largest index I have ever seen for a book like this, at a whopping 81 (large) pages. It almost invalidates the need for computer searching of the text. This makes it a TERRIFIC resource, coupled with the fact that Matthew covered almost everything there is to cover (at least in a small manner).

Chapters on Resources - ch 10: you've gotta thoroughly understand resources as the foundation for Styles and Templates; another book on WPF that I appreciate much, didn't even talk about ResourceDictionaries, dissapointingly. Styles (ch 11), Templates (ch 17), and then Custom Controls (ch 18) (all of these flow into one another) were what I needed to understand much better, and this really took me to the next level. He even illustrates advanced concepts like overriding the measuring and arrangement of a panel.

An excellent resource for WPF development.

I'd like to say that it is a super book on latest WPF techniques for both tutorial and reference. It may be the most comprehensive book that readers can read from cover to cover, or refer any topic randomly.

The only suggestion I'd like to say is: Since the book is titled as "Pro", should it include some design patterns specific to WPF, such as MVP, MVVM, etc?

I recommend this book for any developers who are serious about WPF programming.

Review of Pro WPF in C# 2010.
I have been programming for 50 years in more languages, and read more programming books than I care to remember. The last 20 years I have worked in C++, mostly in MFC. I suddenly got the urge to learn C# and WPF. Help! So I bought three books all proclaiming to be the best. Then I went back and learned some C#; just the basics, mind you. Then I went into the WPF. All of the books had extensive explanations and example programs in xaml. But only MacDonald's had many explanations and examples in C# code behind. MacDonald's book gives encyclopedic coverage of WPF. I hope he didn't leave anything out, because if there was any more to WPF, it would be too big to handle. Since I was more interested in writing my programs in C# code behind than in xaml, I studied almost exclusively MacDonald's book and worked with his examples. His examples are simple and easy to modify to see how you would do what you intend your program to do. It was fun trying to convert some of the exclusive xaml examples to pure C# examples that do the same thing. It would be nice to have some all C# examples.
If you're serious about WPF, get and work with Pro WPF in C# 2010. It's a serious book. But WPF requires work and study. In a month or two you will be up and running. You also will need to know at least the basics of C#.
Lawrence S Green
Pro WPF in C# 2010: Windows Presentation Foundation in .NET 4

I have been really impressed with the APress series of books on Windows .Net programming. I've moved from programming in .Net 2.0 in C++, to programming Windows Forms in C#, to now programming WPF in C#. All of the books I've purchased in this series have been well written and provided a good set of examples to work from and build larger applications.

I decided to try purchasing my latest book in the series (Pro WPF in C# 2010 in .Net 4). I figured it would prevent me from having to lug around a huge book everywhere. That was a really big mistake!

First, the code samples in the book are stored as bit-mapped images at very low quality. Because of this, it is almost impossible to read some portions of the code well enough to attempt the examples on my own. In addition, there are many of the code samples that have missing portions of the code. What I mean is that the bit-mapped image of the code has large white sections where the code is blanked out, so you can't even try to imaging what the code is supposed to be.

Second, there are numerous typos in the book that make it very difficult to read and understand. As I read more Kindle books, I'm getting used to typos in the text. When I'm reading a leisure book, I'm fine with there being some typos. I can usually still understand what's being said. When you are using a book like a textbook, the text needs to be absolutely clear with as few typos as possible. There were too many to count.

Third, while the table of context at the front of the book has hyperlinks, the index at the back of the book does not. It doesn't even list page numbers like a print copy would. I am happy that Amazon decided to finally allow true page numbers instead of their cryptic locations, however neither really help me in an index of terms with no references. It's sure nice to see all the topics in the book, but the index is absolutely useless without hyperlinks or page/location references.

Lastly, and this goes back to the first comment, the Kindle software doesn't include any way to zoom in on text to view it better other than by changing the points size of the font. That's great for text that's "kindle-ized", but if there are pictures in the book (in this case the code examples and charts), there's almost no way to read the text in them or properly view figures in the book without being able to zoom in on the image.

My overall opinion is that the book is a great book and you will learn a lot from it. Don't even think about buying the Kindle Edition of the book!

This is an OK book on WPF, with many basic concepts clearly explained and the author even digged into some implementation details to clarify how things actually work under the covers.

However, it failed in two important aspects:

1. It has many toy sample projects to illustrate particular techniques, which is fine. But it would have been much much more useful if a large sample application (e.g with data entry forms that access a backend database and some graphical charts) had been developed over the course of the book. Many coworkers (all highly experienced WinForms developer) have told me they
have only a very vague idea of how to write commercial WPF apps after reading this book.

2. Many important WPF concepts are either mentioned in passing or broken into several disjoint sections in different chapters.
One example is Data Binding, it's introduced in Chapter 8, and then further explained in Chapter 19-21. In my opinion, such an important concept is best covered in detail in a single chapter (or maybe two ajacent chapters). Even after re-reading these chapters, I still don't have a clear understanding of exactly how databinding works in WPF. Eventually I picked up Charles Petzold's classic "Application = Code + Markup", which clearly explained databinding in a single chapter (23), and is the best one-stop-shop for learning WPF databinding. Petzold really knows how to write about convoluted concepts like this.

Another example is keyboard focus, the author just threw in the FocusManager.IsFocusScope property without even attempting to explain what is a focus scope. I found the MSDN article "Focus Overview" a much better source of info on this subject.

I was fortunate enough to get a review copy of "Pro WPF in C# 2010: Windows Presentation Foundation in .NET 4", Matthew McDonald, Apress Publishing. I have already read almost everything Matthew has written on Smart Client (we used to call it "Windows") development, so I was looking forward to diving into the text. And it doesn't disappoint.

Pro WPF is not a light read. If it's in the framework, Matthew covers it. This makes it a very good reference book, but a bit daunting as a straight read. Working through the code samples in each chapter helps to really sink in the information. The code samples (also available as a download from Apress) are well written and succinct, and do a great job illustrating the points of each chapter.

If you haven't done WPF development, you will discover that it requires a concerted effort to become an effective resource in WPF. (Of course, you could just go about writing Windows Forms styled apps in WPF, but that would be silly.) "Pro WPF in C# 2010" does a great job of explaining and illustrating these differences.

If you are already experienced in WPF, but need to upgrade your skills to what's new in .NET 4, each chapter has a highlight of what's new in .NET 4. (This is my favorite feature, since I have "Pro WPF in C# 2008"). It's a great way to quickly get detailed information on the new features without having to scour each of the chapters.

In the end, the only issue that I have with this edition is there were more typos than I expected in the new content. Those will certainly get resolved with the next edition, but if that's my only complaint, than I have to rate it as a "must read".

WPF is said to have a steep learning curve. I believe it. That's why I bought "Windows Presentation Foundation Unleashed" and "Teach Yourself WPF in 24 Hours". Both had great reviews here on Amazon.

Those books are both good, but I found this book to be the best of them. It's a LOT easier to follow along, especially in the beginning if you're a beginner. The writing style is overall better I think too. I'm not 100% finished with it yet, but I know for sure it'll be staying nearby for reference. Extremely satisfied with this book, and definitely recommend it.

Happy coding!

For new or experienced developers if you can only have one book to read and reference, this is your book. It discusses not only the history and basics of WPF but takes you even farther with styles, animations, custom templates, data binding and so much more.
I have access to the Pro WPF in C# 2008 book and I still opted to get this book because of the new material and because the other copy gets borrowed so much.
Most IT books are dry, bland and boring this one however isn't. Matthew MacDonald is one of the best writers I've seen for doing these types of books and I now seek his books out specifically for that reason. He has a talent for presenting the material in such a way that you don't really think of reading it as work so much as just waiting for that "light bulb" moment that you know he's about to lead you to.
Some people will argue that books are dead when you can find all that info on the internet for free. My rebuttal is that sometimes you just need a good desk reference that you can trust, has the answers and explains those answers well. With this book as your guide you won't go wrong.

The book is very thorough, very detailed, and offers many code examples. And not only are the code examples in this book very nice, they are also available through the publishers website for download. Every single chapter has its own WPF demo application that you can load into Visual Studio or Blend and view or edit until your hearts content. This was a very helpful part of the learning process for me. Buy with confidence.