WPF Control Development Unleashed: Building Advanced User Experiences

385 Pages·2009·5.33 MB·english

by  Pavan Podila

Pavan Podila
Kevin Hoffman
WPF Control
Development
U N L E A S H E D
Building Advanced User Experiences
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WPF Control Development Unleashed Editor-in-Chief
Copyright © 2010 by Pearson Education,Inc. Karen Gettman
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ISBN-13: 978-0-672-33033-9 Kristy Hart
ISBN-10: 0-672-33033-4
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
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Podila,Pavan.
WPF control development unleashed : building advanced user experiences / Copy Editor
Pavan Podila,Kevin Hoffman. Geneil Breeze
p. cm.
Indexer
ISBN 978-0-672-33033-9
1. Windows presentation foundation. 2. Application software— Brad Herriman
Development. 3. User interfaces (Computer systems) 4. Microsoft .NET
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Framework. I. Hoffman,Kevin. II. Title.
Water Crest
QA76.76.A65P64 2009
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006.7’882—dc22
2009032558
Publishing
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Contents at a Glance
Part I Thinking in WPF
1 The WPF Design Philosophy............................................................. 1
2 The Diverse Visual Class Structure.................................................... 11
3 Getting Started Writing Custom Controls.......................................... 31
4 Building Custom Panels................................................................. 49
5 Using Existing Controls................................................................. 69
6 The Power of Attached Properties.................................................... 93
Part II Adding Complex Features
7 Advanced Scrolling...................................................................... 113
8 Virtualization............................................................................. 129
9 Creating Advanced Controls and Visual Effects................................. 143
10 Control Skinning and Themes....................................................... 167
Part III Building Interactivity,3D,Animations
11 Bridging the 2D and 3D Worlds..................................................... 185
12 Custom Animations..................................................................... 203
13 Pixel Shader Effects...................................................................... 223
Part IV Bringing the Controls to the Real World
14 Events, Commands, and Focus...................................................... 243
15 Advanced Data Binding................................................................ 275
16 Control and Visual Design Tips...................................................... 295
17 Performance............................................................................... 317
18 Control Automation.................................................................... 331
Index........................................................................................ 351
Table of Contents
About the Authors........................................................................ xii
Dedications................................................................................. xiii
We Want to Hear from You!............................................................ xv
Part I Thinking in WPF
1 The WPF Design Philosophy 1
Data and Behavior.......................................................................... 2
Working with Data......................................................................... 3
Templates.................................................................................. 3
Presenters.................................................................................. 4
Binding and Converters............................................................... 4
Layout...................................................................................... 5
Styles........................................................................................ 5
Working with Behaviors................................................................... 6
The User Experience........................................................................ 8
The User Experience Benevolent Circle............................................... 9
A Note on Sample Source Code..................................................... 9
Summary..................................................................................... 10
2 The Diverse Visual Class Structure 11
Introducing the Visual Classes......................................................... 11
The DispatcherObjectClass......................................................... 12
The DependencyObjectClass...................................................... 12
The Visualand DrawingVisualClasses.......................................... 13
The FrameworkElementClass...................................................... 15
The Shape Class........................................................................ 16
The TextClasses........................................................................ 18
The ControlClass..................................................................... 19
The ContentControlClass.......................................................... 20
The ContentPresenterClass........................................................ 20
The ItemsControlClass.............................................................. 21
The UserControlClass............................................................... 22
Table of Contents v
The PanelClass......................................................................... 23
The DecoratorClass................................................................... 24
The AdornerClass..................................................................... 24
The ImageClass........................................................................ 25
The Brushes............................................................................. 25
The DataTemplate, ControlTemplate, and
ItemsPanelTemplateClasses....................................................... 27
The Viewport3DClass................................................................ 27
The MediaElementClass ............................................................ 28
The InkCanvas ......................................................................... 28
Summary..................................................................................... 29
3 Getting Started Writing Custom Controls 31
Overcoming the “Start from Scratch” Instinct.................................... 31
Using Data Transformations........................................................ 32
Find the Behavior You Want, Then Extend.................................... 34
The Power of Attached Properties................................................. 35
Custom Control Creation Checklist.............................................. 38
Thinking in Layers—The Art of Decomposition.............................. 39
Sample: Building a Circular Minute Timer......................................... 40
Enhancing and Extending the ProgressBar..................................... 40
Creating the Arc Shape............................................................... 42
Working with the ControlTemplate.............................................. 43
Summary..................................................................................... 47
4 Building Custom Panels 49
Layout Defined............................................................................. 49
How Layout Works........................................................................ 51
Working with Visual Children......................................................... 52
Creating a Custom Panel: The VanishingPointPanel............................ 56
Building a Panel with Attached Properties: WeightedPanel................... 58
Using Transformations with Layout.................................................. 63
Enter the LayoutTransform......................................................... 66
Layout Events........................................................................... 66
Summary..................................................................................... 68
vi WPF Control Development Unleashed
5 Using Existing Controls 69
Customizing Existing Controls........................................................ 70
Customizing Controls Using Properties......................................... 70
Customization Using Control Templates....................................... 70
Customization with Data Templates............................................. 71
Using a ControlTemplate and a DataTemplate................................ 71
Customizing the ItemsControl........................................................ 72
Customizing a ListBox................................................................... 74
Customizing the ItemContainerStyle............................................ 74
Customizing the ItemTemplate and the ItemsPanelTemplate............ 77
Creating a Custom ScrollBar........................................................... 78
Using Brushes to Create Advanced Visuals......................................... 82
Using the VisualTreeHelper and LogicalTreeHelper.......................... 82
Customization Sample—The Radar Screen......................................... 83
Moving Enemies in a ListBox...................................................... 84
Concentric Circles and a Sweeping Cone....................................... 85
Summary..................................................................................... 91
6 The Power of Attached Properties 93
Overview of Attached Properties...................................................... 93
Building the UseHover Attached Property...................................... 95
Using Attached Properties as Extension Points.................................. 100
Data Templates....................................................................... 102
Property Abstraction................................................................ 102
Layout Animations.................................................................. 102
Constraining Panels................................................................. 102
Application Services................................................................. 102
UI Helper Objects.................................................................... 103
Implementing Drag and Drop with Attached Properties..................... 103
Summary................................................................................... 111
Part II Adding Complex Features
7 Advanced Scrolling 113
The Anatomy of a Scrollbar........................................................... 113
The Magic of IScrollInfo............................................................... 115
Responding to User-Requested Horizontal and Vertical Scrolling...... 116
Table of Contents vii
Controlling the Bounds for the Track and Thumb......................... 116
Managing the Location of the Thumb......................................... 116
Logical Scrolling...................................................................... 117
Building a Custom Panel with Custom Scrolling............................... 117
Creating the Layout Logic......................................................... 117
Adding the Scrolling Functionality............................................. 119
Animated Scrolling...................................................................... 122
Taking Scrolling to the Next Step................................................... 123
Scrolling Without IScrollInfo......................................................... 124
Summary................................................................................... 127
8 Virtualization 129
Virtualization Distilled................................................................. 129
Building Blocks of UI Virtualization............................................ 130
UI Virtualization in WPF.............................................................. 131
Component Interaction............................................................ 132
A Deeper Look at the ItemContainerGenerator............................. 133
Making Our Own Virtualized Control: The StaggeredPanel............. 135
Deferred Scrolling.................................................................... 139
Container Recycling................................................................. 140
Virtualization in 3D................................................................. 140
Summary................................................................................... 142
9 Creating Advanced Controls and Visual Effects 143
Lasso Selection Using the InkCanvas.............................................. 143
Building a Dock Slide Presenter...................................................... 146
Docking and Undocking Controls.............................................. 149
Building a Transition Abstraction: The TransitionContainer................ 154
Handling Transitions................................................................ 157
Applying a Transition............................................................... 159
Implementing Popular Visual Effects.............................................. 161
Reflection............................................................................... 161
Drop Shadows......................................................................... 163
Opacity Masks........................................................................ 164
Gloss Effects........................................................................... 164
Summary................................................................................... 166
viii WPF Control Development Unleashed
10 Control Skinning and Themes 167
Introduction to Skins and Themes.................................................. 168
Resource Lookups in WPF......................................................... 168
Building Default Styles............................................................. 169
Using Resources in Default Styles................................................... 170
Creating Theme-Specific Styles...................................................... 172
Enabling Runtime Skinning.......................................................... 174
Using the ApplyTemplate Override............................................. 177
Control Customization Through Property Exposure.......................... 182
Summary................................................................................... 183
Part III Building Interactivity,3D,Animations
11 Bridging the 2D and 3D Worlds 185
A Brief Introduction to 3D Worlds.................................................. 185
Using the Viewport3D Element...................................................... 186
Embedding a Viewport3D Element............................................. 189
Mapping 2D Visuals on 3D Surfaces ............................................... 192
Getting Interactive with ModelUIElement3D and
ContainerUIElement3D.......................................................... 196
2D Bounds of a 3D Object............................................................ 198
Hints on Layout in 3D............................................................. 200
Interactive 2D-on-3D Surfaces.................................................... 200
Summary................................................................................... 201
12 Custom Animations 203
Procedural Animations................................................................. 203
Animating Using the DispatcherTimer........................................ 204
Animating Using CompositionTarget.Rendering........................... 204
Animating with Storyboards.......................................................... 206
Simple Type-Based Animations (From, To, and By)........................ 206
Keyframe Animations............................................................... 207
Using Storyboards with Parallel Timelines.................................... 208
Using Path-Based Animations.................................................... 211
Creating Custom Animations........................................................ 212
Creating the 3D Surfaces........................................................... 219
Table of Contents ix
Animating Within the DrawingContext.......................................... 220
Summary................................................................................... 221
13 Pixel Shader Effects 223
New and Improved Bitmap Effects ................................................. 224
Working with Shaders.................................................................. 224
Setting Up the Environment...................................................... 224
An Overview of HLSL............................................................... 225
Writing Custom Shaders............................................................... 228
Grayscale Shader..................................................................... 228
Building a Parameterized Shader: TwirlEffect................................ 231
Animating the Shader Effects..................................................... 235
Effect Mapping for GUI Interaction and Eventing......................... 235
Multi-Input Shaders................................................................. 239
A Useful Tool.......................................................................... 242
Summary................................................................................... 242
Part IV Bringing the Controls to the Real World
14 Events,Commands,and Focus 243
Routed Events............................................................................. 243
Routed Events, Event Triggers, and Property Mirrors...................... 245
Attached Events...................................................................... 246
Class Handlers........................................................................ 249
Weak Events Using Weak References........................................... 250
Implementing the Weak Event Pattern........................................ 251
Subclassing the Weak Event Manager.......................................... 252
Delivering Events Via the IWeakEventListener.............................. 254
Commands................................................................................ 255
Routed Commands.................................................................. 259
Commands Versus Events......................................................... 259
Request Requery...................................................................... 261
The ICommandSource Interface................................................. 262
Focus Management...................................................................... 266
Logical and Keyboard Focus...................................................... 266
Focus-Related Events and Properties............................................ 267
Keyboard Navigation................................................................ 271
Summary................................................................................... 273