Professional WPF Programming: .NET Development with the Windows Presentation Foundation (Wrox Professional Guides) [Paperback]

Chris Andrade (Author), Shawn Livermore (Author), Mike Meyers (Author), Scott Van Vliet (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0470041803 | ISBN-13: 978-0470041802 | Publication Date: May 7, 2007 | Edition: 1

Professional WPF Programming

If you want to learn how to build killer user interfaces for Windows and the web, then this book is for you. It arms you with the tools and code you'll need to effectively utilize the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). From creating appealing graphics and animated structures to enhancing performance and security, you'll be programming in no time.

First you'll explore the WPF framework and learn how to develop basic applications with ASP.NET or Visual Basic(r). Next you'll discover how to build more sophisticated WPF interfaces using Microsoft(r) ExpressionBlend and then progress to more advanced programming techniques.

Throughout the book, you'll find best practices for enterprise architectures using the WPF and its underlying technology. All this will help you quickly learn how to develop next-generation applications on the .NET 2.0 platform using the WPF.

What you will learn from this book

• How to write applications with identical UIs on both Windows and the web
• Tips for collaborating design and code development with Microsoft(r) Expression Blend
• All about the object models, built-in server controls, HTML markup, code-behind, and the coordinative structure of each file
• How to migrate Win32 applications to WPF
• Techniques for integrating special effects and custom controls into an application
• Advanced development concepts, including building workflows and a WCF service

Who this book is for

This book is for experienced .NET developers who want to begin creating WPF web and desktop applications.

Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working programmers to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Professional WPF Programming

If you want to learn how to build killer user interfaces for Windows and the web, then this book is for you. It arms you with the tools and code you'll need to effectively utilize the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). From creating appealing graphics and animated structures to enhancing performance and security, you'll be programming in no time.

First you'll explore the WPF framework and learn how to develop basic applications with ASP.NET or Visual Basic®. Next you'll discover how to build more sophisticated WPF interfaces using Microsoft® ExpressionBlend and then progress to more advanced programming techniques.

Throughout the book, you'll find best practices for enterprise architectures using the WPF and its underlying technology. All this will help you quickly learn how to develop next-generation applications on the .NET 2.0 platform using the WPF.

What you will learn from this book

• How to write applications with identical UIs on both Windows and the web

• Tips for collaborating design and code development with Microsoft® Expression Blend

• All about the object models, built-in server controls, HTML markup, code-behind, and the coordinative structure of each file

• How to migrate Win32 applications to WPF

• Techniques for integrating special effects and custom controls into an application

• Advanced development concepts, including building workflows and a WCF service

Who this book is for

This book is for experienced .NET developers who want to begin creating WPF web and desktop applications.

Wrox Professional guides are planned and written by working programmers to meet the real-world needs of programmers, developers, and IT professionals. Focused and relevant, they address the issues technology professionals face every day. They provide examples, practical solutions, and expert education in new technologies, all designed to help programmers do a better job.

About the Author

Chris Andrade is a Principal with Novera Consulting, a Microsoft Certified Partner specializing in enterprise architecture and development with .NET and Microsoft server technology. Chris devotes most of his time to assisting companies in applying Microsoft technologies to improve their business processes and operations. Chris has worked within a diverse range of business verticals, including automotive, healthcare, and mortgage. Chris also takes active participation within the local developer community, speaking and presenting along the west coast whenever possible.

Shawn Livermore (MCAD, MCSD, PMP) [shawnlivermore.blogspot.com] has been architecting and developing Microsoft-based solutions for nearly a decade. Shawn has been consulting as an enterprise and solutions architect for Fortune 500 clientele within highly visible enterprise implementations. His range of technical competence stretches across platforms and lines of business, but he specializes in Microsoft .NET enterprise application architectures and Microsoft server-based product integrations. Shawn lives in the Southern California area with his beautiful wife Shantell and amazing daughter Elexzandreia. Shawn also enjoys beating his friend Jason at air hockey, basketball, baseball, football, arcade games, cards, billiards, ping pong, shuffleboard, trivia, golf, racquetball, dirt bike races, crosscountry skiing... and pretty much any other sport in existence. Shawn would like to once again remind Jason, “Who’s your daddy?”

Mike Meyers is president of Novera Consulting Inc, a software development and consulting firm specializing in custom application development utilizing the .NET platform and Microsoft server technology. Based in Orange County, California, Mike’s company is focused on providing solutions based on Microsoft platforms and technology to companies spanning multiple industries. Mike has worked in a number of industries, including mortgage, healthcare, and various ecommerce ventures as developer, architect, and project manager. When he’s not writing code, Mike is active mountain biking in southern California, hiking with his four-legged Labrador Dakota or playing music with friends.

Scott Van Vliet is an accomplished Solutions Architect who has spent the past decade delivering successful Microsoft-based solutions to his clients. Currently a Senior Manager with Capgemini, a worldwide leader in technology consulting services, Scott has managed, architected, and developed solutions for companies across the globe. He is also the Microsoft Delivery Leader for Capgemini’s Telecom, Media & Entertainment practice, providing technical and engagement leadership on all Microsoft-based projects. Scott can be reached via his Web site at http://www.scottvanvliet.com/.

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Wrox; 1 edition (May 7, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470041803
• ISBN-13: 978-0470041802
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #540,548 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Should be called Introduction to Expression Blend for Designers, April 18, 2009

By 

Travis Parks (Howard, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Professional WPF Programming: .NET Development with the Windows Presentation Foundation (Wrox Professional Guides) (Paperback)

I am a developer who spends most of his time in the user interface hooking up controls to data sources. I have worked with .NET Forms for a good deal of my career. My primary interest in learning WPF is to see how to achieve what I do in Forms using WPF. If Wrox intended this book to be specifically oriented toward designers they should have named it accordingly. Someone like myself who could care less about how pretty a form looks and more about functionality is not going to find this information useful.

What I want to know is: how to create common controls like a data grid view? how do I do data binding? localization? element interaction? minimal styling? While some of these things are touched on, the depth is limited. True professionals want details, not skimmings. I am not proud to have this book on my shelf.

Outside of the lack of detail and information, there are regular grammatical errors that should have been caught by a competent reviewer. Obviously, the amount of care put into the production of this book was small. I have had good luck with Wrox in the past, but this book fails the test.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars 1.5 stars for a read-it-once lackluster guide, October 14, 2010

By 

WatermarkSD (Agoura Hills, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Professional WPF Programming: .NET Development with the Windows Presentation Foundation (Wrox Professional Guides) (Paperback)

I'm only here reading these reviews now because of my own bad experience, and find that others have similar views.

Wrox USUALLY has great books, to the point that I didn't even bother reading reviews - I just saw they had a book on Professional WPF and I bought it sight unseen. This book has ruined that trust for me and Wrox.

Another reviewer said: "Anybody wanting to understand WPF technology needs to first understand the WPF learning curve is very steep and requires a good OOP background to grasp the fundamentals". I completely agree - and this book is not it. Yes, WPF is a very difficult topic, and one that needs detailed descriptions and examples on how to do things in a new way. It touches on Blend (albeit 2 versions old as of now), and has some general points of what to to... but never enough to apply the knowledge to anything else. It's like a general help file that tells you not much more than the obvious. I find myself searching for actual examples after reading the book.

Because this technology is moving so rapidly (4 releases of Silverlight (basically WPF lite) alone in 3 years is a tough target to write a book on. Things are constantly changing. And maybe (in the books defense) that is the major problem here. But the bottom line is I bought and read the book, and don't even feel like I need to keep it around since there are not really good examples and reference to gleam from.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A transition from WinForms to WPF... probably not, May 12, 2010

By 

William E. Diehl - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Professional WPF Programming: .NET Development with the Windows Presentation Foundation (Wrox Professional Guides) (Paperback)

Most Wrox books I've bought have hit the mark on the subject I wanted to learn. Unfortunately this is not one of those books. I find myself digging through MSDN and online examples way, way too much to compensate for what isn't in this book (or covered enough).

I mean... I got the gist of what's going on with WPF, but I felt starved for serious details. Because it was a starting point for things I later discovered from other sources I give it a 3. But there's just too many tap-and-leave subjects in the book for me to get a serious grasp on what it is I want to do with my software. I don't think I'm alone.