Professional WPF Programming: .NET Development with the Windows Presentation Foundation

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.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments ix Introduction xix Chapter 1: Overview of Windows Presentation Foundation 1 A Brief History of the Windows API 2 Platform Evolution 2 Introducing .NET Framework 3.0 3 Meet Windows Presentation Foundation 3 Guiding Design Principles 3 Architecture 5 XAML 15 Declarative vs. Imperative 15 Visual Design Tools 18 XamlPad 18 Microsoft Expression Blend 19 Visual Designer for Windows Presentation Foundation 20 Electric Rain ZAM 3D 21 Mobiform Aurora 22 Summary 23 Chapter 2: WPF and .NET Programming 25 Getting Started 26 Required Installations 26 Types of WPF Applications 26 My First WPF Application 27 WPF Development Concepts 29 XAML 29 The Application Object 30 Creating the User Interface 32 Handling Events 35 Working with Controls 41 Triggers 51 Language Support 58 Deployment 61 Summary 61 Chapter 3: Anatomy of a WPF-Enabled Application 63 Project Composition 63 App.Manifest 66 AssemblyInfo.cs 66 Resources.resx 68 Settings.settings 68 MyApp.xaml 70 .NET Framework 3.0 Windows Application 71 Window1.xaml 72 XAML Browser Application 73 Page1.xaml 73 WCF Service Library 75 Class1.cs 75 WPF Custom Control Library 78 UserControl1.xaml 79 Summary 82 Chapter 4: Building a Rich UI with Microsoft Expression Blend — Part I 83 Overview 84 The Design Environment 85 Workspace Panels 86 The Artboard 87 Configuring the Environment 88 Project Structure 90 Adding a New Project File 90 Building and Deploying a Project 91 Creating Vector Objects 91 Shapes 92 Paths 93 Manipulating Objects with the Properties Panel 94 The Transform Panel 94 The Brushes Panel 95 Opacity, Transparency, and Visibility 97 Manipulating Text 98 Managing Layouts 99 UI Layout Panels 100 Other Layout Controls 103 Nesting Layout Panels 103 Animation 104 Timeline Sub-Panel 104 Keyframes 105 Animate an Object’s Property 106 Motion Paths 106 Triggers 107 Creating Controls 108 Templates 110 Styles 111 States 112 Importing Audio/Video Media 113 Summary 113 Chapter 5: Building a Rich UI with Microsoft Expression Blend — Part II 115 Expression Blend Workflow 116 Code Editing with Visual Studio 2005 117 Handling User Input 118 Keyboard and Mouse Classes 118 Events and Event Handling 118 Positioning 120 Hit Testing 124 The WPF Animation API 135 Animation Classes 135 Creating a Dynamic Animation Procedurally with Code 135 Programmatic Animation 139 Interacting with Storyboards 143 WPF Drawing API 145 Geometry 145 Shapes 146 Brushes 149 Summary 153 Chapter 6: Special Effects 155 Brushes 156 SolidColorBrush 156 GradientBrush 162 ImageBrush 165 DrawingBrush 167 VisualBrush 169 Bitmap Effects 171 Transformations 175 TranslateTransform 178 ScaleTransform 180 SkewTransform 183 RotateTransform 186 Opacity Masks 188 Putting It All Together — Combining Effects 191 Bouncing Ball with Reflection Example 191 Animated Image Viewer Example 197 Summary 203 Chapter 7: Custom Controls 205 Overview 206 Control Base Classes 207 The UserControl Class 207 Creating a User Control 207 Data Binding in WPF 217 Binding Markup Extensions 217 Binding Modes 217 Data Templates 219 Data Conversions 221 Creating and Editing Styles 222 Specifying a Style’s Target Type 223 Inheriting and Overriding Styles 224 Style Triggers 226 Customizing Existing Controls with Templates 228 Summary 231 Chapter 8: Using WPF in the Enterprise 233 WPF Application Models 234 Standalone Applications 235 Browser-Based Applications 238 Security Considerations 247 State Management 248 Application Object 248 Isolated Storage 250 State Management Example 252 Navigation 258 Elements of Navigation 258 Structured Navigation 259 Navigation Topologies 269 Application Localization 286 Automatic Layout Guidelines 287 Using Grids for Flexibility 289 Localization Attributes and Comments 290 WPF Deployment Models 291 Building Applications 292 Deploying Standalone Windows Applications 294 Deploying XAML Browser Applications 295 Deploying the .NET Framework 3.0 Runtime 296 Summary 298 Chapter 9: Security 299 WPF Security Model 299 Trusted Versus Express Applications 300 Core OS Security 300 LUA 301 Virtualization 301 Sandboxing 301 Cryptography Next Generation 302 CLR Security 302 Code Access Security 303 The Critical Code Methodology 311 Verification 313 Microsoft Internet Explorer Security 313 Zone Restrictions 313 XBAP Sandbox Workarounds 314 XAML Browser Application Security 315 ClickOnce Security 323 Trusted Publishers 323 Personal Certificate File 324 .NET 3.0 Security Utilities 327 Summary 328 Chapter 10: WPF and Win32 Interop 329 Win32 User Interface Overview 330 How WPF and HWNDs Interoperate 330 Using Win32 HWNDs Inside of WPF 331 Hosting a Win32 Button in WPF 332 Using WPF in Win32 Applications 335 Adding Windows Forms Controls to WPF 337 Adding Your WindowsFormsHost in Code 337 Adding Your HwndHost in XAML 339 Adding ActiveX Controls to WPF 339 Adding the ActiveX Control in XAML 344 Adding WPF Controls to Windows Forms 345 Affecting Control Properties 349 Summary 351 Chapter 11: Advanced Development Concepts 353 WPF Architecture 354 Core Subsystems 356 WPF Threading Model 359 Desktop Window Manager 360 The WPF Framework 361 Dispatcher Object 362 DependencyObject/DependencyProperty 362 Application 363 Freezable 364 Visual 364 UIElement 370 FrameworkElement 371 Control 371 A Deeper Look at XAML 373 XAML Under the Hood 373 Manipulating XAML On-the-Fly 378 Deconstructing Window1.xaml 382 x:Class 383 XAML Markup Extensions 385 XAML and Custom Types 386 WPF Multithreading 388 Single-Threaded Application Model 388 Thread Affinity and DispatcherObject 389 WPF Dispatcher 390 Working with Single-Threaded Applications 391 Asynchronous Threading 393 Windows Communication Foundation 397 Service Orientation 397 WCF Architecture 398 WCF Fundamentals 399 Building a WCF Service 402 Windows Workflow Foundation 409 Workflow Defined 410 WF Architecture 411 WF Fundamentals 411 Summary 427 Index 429