WPF Recipes in C# 2008: A Problem-Solution Approach (Expert's Voice in .NET) [Paperback]

Sam Noble (Author), Sam Bourton (Author), Allen Jones (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1430210842 | ISBN-13: 978-1430210849 | Publication Date: September 24, 2008 | Edition: 1

The Windows Presentations Foundation (WPF) technology was first launched a year ago as an extension to the .NET 2.0 Framework. Since then it’s enjoyed great success, and been adopted widely, creating a large audience. A new, improved WPF version has just been released as part of the .NET 3.5 Framework and additional extensions to its toolkit are expected this summer to complete the package.

WPF Recipes in C# 2008 provides readers with everything they need to start coding successfully with WPF and .NET 3.5. The lead author, Allen Jones, has drawn on his years of experience in the software industry coupled with the understanding that comes from creating previous successful Recipe books (for both C# and VB 2005) to design a wide selection of ready-to-run code examples that will help readers get to grips with WPF quickly, illustrate lesser known techniques clearly, and help readers overcome the common pitfalls that beset all programmers when they begin to learn a new language.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Allen Jones has over 15 years experience covering a wide range of IT disciplines in a variety of sectors; however, his true passion has always been software development. Allen is currently Chief Architect at SmithBayes, a UK-based software firm that develops high-end strategic decision support software derived from technology used in Formula 1 motor racing.

Sam Bourton is a technologist with 9 years commercial experience as a software designer and developer, across a wide variety of industries including e-commerce, telephony, and Formula 1 Racing. He has been using the .Net Framework since the the very first Beta, and .Net 3.0 and the Windows Presentation Foundation since the early CTP’s. He has a passion for design patterns, application architecture and best-practice methodologies.

Sam Noble is a computer science graduate turned software developer. At Reading University he specialised in 3D graphics programming, artificial neural networks and compiler design. Sam has 18 months experience developing sophisticated strategic visualization tools using .Net 3.0 and WPF.

Product Details

• Paperback: 760 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (September 24, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1430210842
• ISBN-13: 978-1430210849
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #256,750 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book rocks!, October 3, 2008

By 

James Thomas Tomasko (Fremont, Ca United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: WPF Recipes in C# 2008: A Problem-Solution Approach (Expert's Voice in .NET) (Paperback)

This book has what is very hard to find with such new material as WPF... good working examples. I truely believe the the chapter on user and owner controls more than pays for the book, although the book offers much more.
Apress rates this book Beginner-Intermediate. For me, I don't think I could have understood this book 6 months ago, but after working with WPF for about a year now I find it extremely easy to read and very informative.

I found direct answers to problems that I have had over my last 6 week project, and know that if this book was out last month I could have cut 2 weeks out of that project with ease.

Back to user controls (again, this is not the only good about the book... it just what I'm focusing on right now). The chapter offers not only good examples, but insight from the authors on how to make your new control work well with others that would want to restyle it. Another section shows you how to know if your in delevopment mode so as to change it's look when in Blend if required. All in all a pretty thourgh coverage.

One thing I'd like to say, as I think this might bug some people. There is a fair amount of duplicate code in the book, as there are times that the same code really does express more than one idea, and can be reused in other sections (or even the same section at times.)

I actually agree with the author's desision to duplicate the code instead of referencing me to other sections in the book. I can keep my train of thought where it should be, and don't have to keep flipping back a few chapters as in some other books. Even with the dupicate code, there are other functions added if appropriate.

Of the examples I have read, I find them to be concise, and to accurately portray the idea the authors are describing. They do not attempt to be more than they need to be, but are strong enough to cover more than the bare minimium.

Congratulations on a job well done.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very well written, organized, and comprehensive, September 24, 2008

By 

Techie Evan - See all my reviews

This review is from: WPF Recipes in C# 2008: A Problem-Solution Approach (Expert's Voice in .NET) (Paperback)

This very well written and organized book provides comprehensive coverage of WPF features. The authors get down to business right away, assuming that most readers already know basic WPF concepts such as Dependency Property, Attached Property, etc. because they don't waste time explaining many such building block concepts, and yet a few of the recipes are surprisingly beginner-ish material. Of the 200+ recipes, the ones that I thought gave me the most bang for my buck are those contained in Chapters 11 (Creating Animation), 7 (Working With Text, Documents, and Printing), 4 (Creating User and Custom Controls) and 5 (Data Binding), either because they covered materials not found many where else, or they clarified some concepts for me. For example, the Animation Recipes discussed concepts not even covered in the very well-received "Practical WPF Graphics Programming" book by Jack Xu. The recipes in Chapters 6 (Working With Styles, Templates, Skins and Themes), 8 (Multithreading), and 10 are good, and the remaining recipes in Chapters 1 (Building and Debugging WPF Applications), 2 (Working With Windows, Forms, and Layout Management), 3 (Using Standard Controls), 9 (Working With 2D Graphics), 12 (Dealing With Multimedia and User Input) and 13 (Migrating and Windows Forms Interoperability) cover materials easily found in other books. Another positive, however, is that some chapters contain bonus nuggets of information on things you can do to make your code play nicer with designer tools like Expression Blend. Overall, I think the authors did a great job!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Recipes are too simple, March 28, 2010

By 

mdd4696 (Buffalo, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: WPF Recipes in C# 2008: A Problem-Solution Approach (Expert's Voice in .NET) (Paperback)

I have this book in addition to Pro WPF in C# 2008. I think the recipes in this book are too simple to be useful. Looking through it 90% of the tips are things that are easy to figure out on your own if you have a basic understanding of WPF. Whenever I have had a moderate to difficult problem I have not found a solution in this book. Most of the time I find better solutions faster using Google, Stack Overflow and MSDN.

If you already own a WPF book you are happy with, I would not recommend buying this one. You probably have a sufficient foundation with it to solve most of the problems in this book yourself.