Programming WPF (Paperback)

by Chris Sells (Author), Ian Griffiths (Author)
Key Phrases: window text, bubble element, grid width, Setter Property, Binding Path, Color Plate (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
If you want to build applications that take full advantage of Windows Vista's new user interface capabilities, you need to learn Microsoft's Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). This new edition, fully updated for the official release of .NET 3.0, is designed to get you up to speed on this technology quickly. By page 2, you'll be writing a simple WPF application. By the end of Chapter 1, you'll have taken a complete tour of WPF and its major elements.

WPF is the new presentation framework for Windows Vista that also works with Windows XP. It's a cornucopia of new technologies, which includes a new graphics engine that supports 3-D graphics, animation, and more; an XML-based markup language, called XAML, for declaring the structure of your Windows UI; and a radical new model for controls.

This second edition includes new chapters on printing, XPS, 3-D, navigation, text and documents, along with a new appendix that covers Microsoft's new WPF/E platform for delivering richer UI through standard web browsers -- much like Adobe Flash. Content from the first edition has been significantly expanded and modified. Programming WPF includes: Scores of C# and XAML examples that show you what it takes to get a WPF application up and running, from a simple "Hello, Avalon" program to a tic-tac-toe game Insightful discussions of the powerful new programming styles that WPF brings to Windows development, especially its new model for controls A color insert to better illustrate WPF support for 3-D, color, and other graphics effects A tutorial on XAML, the new HTML-like markup language for declaring Windows UI An explanation and comparison of the features that support interoperability withWindows Forms and other Windows legacy applications

WPF represents the best of the control-based Windows world and the content-based web world. Programming WPF helps you bring it all together.

About the Author
Chris Sells is a Program Manager for the Connected Systems Division at Microsoft. He's written several books, including "Programming WPF", "Windows Forms 2.0 Programming" and "ATL Internals". In his free time, Chris hosts various conferences and makes a pest of himself on Microsoft internal product team discussion lists.

Ian Griffiths is WPF course author and instructor with Pluralsight, and a widely recognized expert on the subject. He also works as an independent consultant and is co-author of "Windows Forms in a Nutshell" and of "Mastering Visual Studio .NET" (both O'Reilly).

Product Details

• Paperback: 863 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.; 2 edition (August 28, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596510373
• ISBN-13: 978-0596510374
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (58 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #114,615 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Very Out Of Date, April 27, 2006

By	Jason Jackson "jason_lee_jackson" (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Programming Windows Presentation Foundation (Paperback)

While Avalon aka Windows Presentation Framework is still in beta, I had hoped that the code examples and references in this book would not be far out of date. I am finding that they are dramatically out of date (writing this review 04/27/2006). This is not to criticize the quality of the book or of the content; it appears to be well written. However, it was written in September 2005, and there has been at least 3 new beta releases of the framework since then. About 1/2 of the examples I have tried will not even compile, or have bad runtime errors.

The "big concepts" are mostly unchanged. However, I cannot recommend this book to anyone. Programmer to programmer, you will be better off reading examples from online sources like msdn.microsoft.com and downloading new WPF tools like "Expression". This book will find you confused with broken examples fast. I look forward to an updated version when Avalon solidifies.

18 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learn To Use WPF & XAML, October 21, 2005

By	Daniel McKinnon (Tewksbury, MA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Programming Windows Presentation Foundation (Paperback)

Wow things sure have changed since the early days of Windows programming!! The first thing that hits you as you open up '
Programming Windows Presentation Foundation' by Chris Sells and begin to learn how to program Windows for the future is how different things are compared to where they were just a few years ago when MFC was still the norm.

Gone are the confusing syntax of MFC and deciding whether to put things in the Document or View part of your application. Gone is the hard to follow API and gone are the basic graphics and simple controls that you once had!! As I went through this book I was truly astounded at how different programming in Windows will be for Vista... while daunting in HOW different this is from the past, I love that fact that Microsoft has worked to try and simplify things in that each "page" is like an application in itself. Since everything is class-based in .NET, each XAML page has its very own class associated with it that can be used to easy talk and populate the Vista page in question that you are coding.

It's quite clear that with the next generation of Windows, one of the main focus points was the graphical side of things. With WPF, there are a myriad of graphics APIs built in, and it's very easy to create shapes, animations, effects, etc. with a very simple set of code.

This is an important work, important because it is getting a taste of Avalon out to the public very early and will allow programmers to start getting familiar with it right away. The writing style is easy to follow and examples are present throughout to give the reader plenty of opportunity to see the next generation of Windows in all its glory. I was happily surprised to turn to the middle of an O'Reilly book and see COLOR pages to emphasize the kind of graphical abilities that are built in = nice touch!!

No doubt with this being a beta book that things will change as we get closer to the Vista release date, but this is a required read for anyone that will be programming on the newest generation of Windows in the future.

***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

20 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best technical books I've ever read [updated], September 30, 2007

By	Jesse Liberty "Silverlight Geek" (MA USA) - See all my reviews

I've read hundreds of technical books; this is one of the best. Period, and without exaggeration.

Sells and Griffiths combine phenomenal insight into the technology with years of practical application and an extraordinary ability to convey highly technical material in a way that is clear, concise and coherent. I wish I knew as much as they, or wrote as well; and that is not false modesty: they are the gold standard.

The second edition builds on the foundations they laid in the first, but goes well beyond. If you bought the first edition do not hesitate to buy the second; it not only updates the material, but adds at least half again as much new information and greatly expands on the insights they have to offer.

There are other books on WPF well worth owning, but this book is absolutely mandatory. If you have only enough money for one, this is the one. If you can't afford this one, then give up Starbucks and start drinking Dunkin'... 'cause you have to have this one.

On a personal note, Ian has tech-reviewed one of my books, and I can personally attest to the depth and breadth and comprehensiveness of his knowledge. He knows whereof he speaks; and I've yet to find a single instance where his understanding was shallow, let alone wrong. He brings a rigor to his writing that is not marred by pedanticism, and together, he and Chris Sells have managed that most difficult of feats: a two-author book that speaks with a single, clear voice that leaves you with few questions.

This is a six-star book; don't hesitate. In fact, stop reading my silly review and buy the book.

[NB: My opinions expressed here are my own and do not reflect those of Microsoft Corporation, O'Reilly Media or any other entity real or fictitious. Your mileage may vary. Contents are hot. Void where prohibited.]


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Updated 2/24/08

I'm working on learning Silverlight 2 very fast. And I have very limited resources: the compiler (which is changing every day), the documentation (which is changing every day) and numerous books on WPF (which is very nearly a superset of Silverlight 2).

When I read through the 3 main books on WPF I liked them all, though at the time I gave this one the nod, albeit just barely. But now I'm not reading through them, my professional life is on the line. I have real work to do on very tight deadlines and tough concepts to understand fully (concepts like Dependency Properties and Routed Events) and little time to learn them fully and viscerally.

No other book comes close. The documentation is very good, but it doesn't come close. This book is by far the best resource and it is because Chris and Ian have the ideal combination of a deep understanding of the technology and an unusual ability to convey that to their target audience (which, as far as I can tell, is me).

Writing a book that can make powerful and important concepts immediately clear, accessible and usable is uniquely valuable, and makes this book a clear candidate for Programming Book of the Decade.

-Jesse Liberty
Senior Program Manager - Silverlight Development Division
Silverlight Geek
Author
(Opinions expressed are mine alone)