Sams Teach Yourself WPF in 24 Hours [Paperback]

Rob Eisenberg (Author), Christopher Bennage (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0672329859 | ISBN-13: 978-0672329852 | Publication Date: June 29, 2008 | Edition: 1

Printed entirely in color, with helpful figures and syntax coloring to make code samples appear as they do in Visual Studio.

 

In just 24 sessions of one hour or less, you will be able to begin effectively using WPF to solve real-world problems, developing rich user interfaces in less time than you thought possible.

 

Using a straightforward, step-by-step approach, each lesson builds on a real-world foundation forged in both technology and business matters, allowing you to learn the essentials of WPF from the ground up.

 

Step-by-step instructions carefully walk you through the most common questions, issues, and tasks.

The Q&A sections, quizzes, and exercises help you build and test your knowledge.

By the Way notes present interesting pieces of information.

Did You Know? tips offer advice or teach an easier way to do something.

Watch Out! cautions advise you about potential problems and help you steer clear of disaster.

 

Learn how to...

• Use XAML to build user interfaces
• Leverage data binding to minimize tedious code
• Create visually engaging applications
• Architect and design WPF applications using proven patterns such as MVP
• Incorporate audio and video into your applications
• Customize controls with styles, templates, and animation
• Apply best practices for developing software with WPF
• Deploy WPF applications to the desktop and Web
• Take advantage of WPF’s advanced printing capabilities
• Grow as a developer by improving your overall software design skills

 

Introduction 1

Part I                   Getting Started

1      What WPF Is and Isn’t 5

2      Understanding XAML 17

3      Introducing the Font Viewer 27

4      Handling Application Layout 41

5      Using Basic Controls 59

6      Introducing Data Binding 75

Part II        Reaching the User

7      Designing an Application 93

8      Building a Text Document Editor 107

9      Getting a Handle on Events 121

10    Commands 145

11    Output 157

Part III      Visualizing Data

12    Building a Contact Manager 177

13    Presenters and Views 193

14    Resources and Styles 211

15    Digging Deeper into Data Binding 229

16    Visualizing Lists 251

Part IV       Creating Rich Experiences

17    Building a Media Viewer 267

18    Drawing with Shapes 291

19    Colors and Brushes 315

20    Transforms and Effects 331

21    Using Control Templates 347

22    Triggers 369

23    Animation 383

24    Best Practices 407

Part V         Appendixes

Appendix A: Tools and Resources 423

Appendix B: 3D Tutorial Using ZAM 3D 427

Appendix C: Project Source (downloadable) 437

Index 439

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Rob Eisenberg is vice president and cofounder of Blue Spire Consulting, Inc. (www.bluespire.com). He is a frequent blogger in the Devlicio.us (www.devlicio.us) blogging community and speaks at various community events on the subjects of WPF, Agile, and TDD. His career began in music composition, which very naturally led him into interactive media. He was drawn to the .NET Framework by the persistent recommendations of his present business partner and soon after discovered WPF. Rob has been working with WPF since the prebeta days and was among the top 20 finalists in Microsoft’s Code Master Challenge in 2006. In his spare time, he enjoys playing and teaching drums, making artisan cheese, reading, and swing dancing with his lovely wife, Anna.

Christopher Bennage is the president and cofounder of Blue Spire Consulting, Inc., a Florida-based software consulting firm specializing in .NET technologies and emphasizing personal interactions with the customer. Christopher began programming on his Texas Instrument in elementary school but fell in love with computers with the advent of the Commodore Amiga. His career has brought him through various technologies beginning with Lotus Notes, VBA, and classic ASP before eventually landing him in the marvelous world of C# and the .NET Framework. His early interest in Flash, rich user experiences, and usability led him to be an early adopter of both WPF and Silverlight. Christopher embraces the values of the Agile Software Manifesto and has been heavily influenced by Extreme Programming, Domain Driven Design, and other related practices. In his free time, Christopher is usually very distracted by a dozen different, competing creative ideas. Aside from that he can sometimes be found playing Frisbee golf, guitar, or video games. He lives in Tallahassee, Florida, with his wife, Sandra, and their two children, Adah and Ranen (soon to be three children).

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Introduction

Windows Presentation Foundation, or WPF, is Microsoft's latest framework for building sophisticated and rich user interfaces for desktop applications. WPF differs significantly from its predecessor, and yet draws on many of the concepts found existing in frameworks for both desktops and the web.

WPF enables developers to easily and quickly handle tasks that were either very difficult or impossible to accomplish in previous frameworks.

Audience and Organization

This book is intended for those who have at least some experience with general .NET development. If you have worked with WinForms or ASP.NET, you should feel comfortable with this book. The code examples provided are written in C#, but we've been careful to keep them readable for those whose primary language is Visual Basic.

Because WPF is both a broad and a deep topic, it can easily become overwhelming. Our approach in this book is to stay broad. We cover the essential concepts of the framework. Our goal is for you to feel confident building a WPF application when you are done with the book, as well as equipping you to dig deeper into any areas of the framework that interest you.

The book is organized into five parts. In each of the first four parts, we build a sample application that demonstrates the features of WPF covered in that part. Although the applications are simplified, they are designed to reflect real-world scenarios that you are likely to encounter. Each of the parts builds on its predecessor, and we recommend reading them in order. Part V concludes with information designed to help you move forward after the book.

• Part I, "Getting Started"—We build a utility for browsing the fonts installed on your system. You'll learn about the new markup language XAML that is an integral part of WPF. We also introduce you to most of the basic controls, including those that handle layout. You'll also learn about basic data binding in WPF.

• Part II, "Reaching the User"—You'll create your own rich text editor. You'll learn about the powerful new event and command systems. We also introduce you to a few more controls and show you how you can deploy your WPF applications. You also discover how to print from WPF.

• Part III, "Visualizing Data"—This part teaches you how to style an application, as well as how to use WPF's powerful graphics capabilities for visualizing the data in your applications. We also dig further into data binding and show you some options for architecting your WPF applications.

• Part IV, "Creating Rich Experiences"—You'll learn how to easily embed media in your applications. You'll see how WPF's drawing and templating APIs make it easy to create unique and visually attractive interfaces. You'll also get started with animation.

• Part V, "Appendices"—This includes a brief introduction to 3D and a list of tools, frameworks, and other resources that aid in WPF development.

Throughout the book, we use code-continuation characters: When a line of code is too long to fit on the printed page, we wrap it to the next line and precede it with a code-continuation character, like this:

public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)

Farther Up and Further In

Learning WPF is really a lot of fun. We've discovered a new joy in building user interfaces since we've begun using this technology. We believe that you'll have the same experience working through this book. Although it may take some time to become a master of WPF, it's actually quite easy to get up and running quickly. By the time you are done here, you'll be ready to start using WPF on your next project.

Now, let's get started!

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Sams; 1 edition (June 29, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0672329859
• ISBN-13: 978-0672329852
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #303,039 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Small and beautiful, July 6, 2008

By 

Agha Khan (Bellevue, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself WPF in 24 Hours (Paperback)

I believe I have every book on WPF. My first impression was 24 hours books have very little information, but it has changed my perception. The book has 24 small chapters and every chapter's information is to the point. The whole book has 4 applications and every example worth looking. I am impressed with authors. Everyone is talking about Adam Nathan's book, but this book has its own place.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Examples in this book are state of the art., December 22, 2009

By 

Wilhelm Jenner "trouling" (Spokane,WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself WPF in 24 Hours (Paperback)

Yes, it is true, you probably cannot learn WPF in 24 hours (especially if you still have a lot to learn) or even the entire technology of WPF from this book alone. I personally use many sources of information when trying to learn a technology. I don't think you can expect too much from a single book. However, this book is about as good as it gets for what it is. You can learn an extreme amount in a short period of time. Technology wise, the code examples in this book are extremely well done, applicable, and I'm impressed with how much functionality they cover. I've done the first 3 of 4 major examples as they apply more to me for my type of work. I plan on doing the 4th example because I think there is a lot to learn but it's not priority now.
As you progress through the book from beginning to end the code gets more complex and there is a separation between the documentation and explanations vs. code examples. Before you are finished, you feel like you are at the 10K foot level looking down and you are so far abstracted from the details. The book is good but again, I think there is too much material to cover and that is all you expect before you just have to dig into the code for yourself. If you take the time implement and figure out the code, what it does and understand the details, you will be well rewarded. It is really good clean code that demonstrates leading edge applications with rich functionality. While reading it, I sometimes wonder if these guys are just good coders that made a book. I buy 2 to 6 technical books a year and for what I do, this is possible the best one I've read in last 20 years (partly because WPF technology delivers a lot for me as well).

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars To the point, clear, consise, and the right background!, August 8, 2008

By 

Picky Shopper "cook" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself WPF in 24 Hours (Paperback)

The first 6 chapters in this book are the best introduction to WPF I've come across in any book on the topic. Its starts at square one and moves very logically and clearly along. If you're looking for basics that will help you understand the layout panels, binding data, WPF architecture from a real world work need perspective, this is a great book to have. The authors do a great job of showing you the ropes and explaining the background of the WPF architecture in a way that clarifies why you would use this control over that one, or this panel instead of this one. Very good conceptual model for both designers and developers!