Designing XAML Apps
using Blend for Visual
Studio 2013
Fons Sonnemans
@fonssonnemans
Topics
Blend
Layout Controls
Basic Controls
AppBar & CommandBar
Animation
Behaviors
Styling & Templating
Data Binding
Fons Sonnemans
•Software Development Consultant• Programming Languages
• Clipper, Smalltalk, Visual Basic, C#
• Platforms• Windows Forms, ASP.NET (Web Forms, MVC), XAML
(Silverlight, Windows Phone, Windows 8)
• Databases• MS SQL Server, Oracle
• Role• Trainer, Coach, Advisor, Architect, Designer, App Developer
•More info: www.reflectionit.nl
Device Window
Visual Studio versus Blend
Visual Studio
• Code Editing
• XAML Editing • IntelliSense
• Formatting (Ctrl+E, D)
• Code Snippets (new in VS2013)
• Debugging
• Project Properties
• TFS Explorer
• Data Binding• IntelliSense
• including Path (new in VS2013)
• Set Build Actions
Blend
• UI Design
• Guides
• Animations
• Styling & Templating
• Visual States
• Data Binding
• TFS Check in/out
In-Box ControlsButton
Checkbox Radio Button
Hyperlink Combo Box
Context Menu Flyout
List BoxFlip View
App Bar
Panning Indicator
Grid View
List View Semantic Zoom
Text Box
Progress Ring Progress Bar
Clear ButtonSpell Checking
Password Reveal Button
Rating Radio Button
Scroll Bar
Toggle Switch Tooltip
<Layout Controls />
Layout Controls
Canvas Simplest, placement relative to two edges Not scalable Supports the following attached properties
Canvas.Top, Canvas.Left, Canvas.Zindex
StackPanel Horizontal or vertical stacking
Grid Uses rows and columns Flexible Positioning (similar to tables in HTML) Supports the following attached properties
Grid.Column, Grid.Row, Grid.Columnspan, Grid.Rowspan
More Border, ScrollViewer, Viewbox, VariableSizedWrapGrid
Canvas
Is a Drawing Surface
Children have fixed positions relative to top-left-corner
<Canvas Width="250" Height="200" Background="Gray">
<Rectangle Canvas.Top="25" Canvas.Left="25" Width="200" Height="150" Fill="Yellow" />
</Canvas>
The Canvas
The Rectangle
XAML - Attached Properties
Top & Left properties only make sense inside a Canvas<Canvas Width="250" Height="200" Background="Gray">
<Rectangle Canvas.Top="25" Canvas.Left="25" Width="200" Height="150" Fill="Yellow" />
</Canvas>
XAML - Attached Properties
=
<Rectangle Canvas.Top="25" Canvas.Left="25"/>
Rectangle rectangle = new Rectangle();rectangle.SetValue(Canvas.TopProperty, 25);rectangle.SetValue(Canvas.LeftProperty, 25);
=Rectangle rectangle = new Rectangle();Canvas.SetTop(rectangle, 25);Canvas.SetLeft(rectangle, 25);
XAML - Syntax XAML is Case-Sensitive
Attribute Syntax
Property Element Syntax (<TypeName.Property>)
<Button Background="Blue" Foreground="Red"Content="This is a button"/>
<Button><Button.Background>
<SolidColorBrush Color="Blue"/></Button.Background><Button.Foreground>
<SolidColorBrush Color="Red"/></Button.Foreground><Button.Content>
This is a button</Button.Content>
</Button>
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc189036(VS.95).aspx
StackPanel
The StackPanel will place its children in either a column (default) or row. This is controlled by the Orientation property.
<StackPanel Orientation="Vertical"><Button Content="Button" /><Button Content="Button" />
</StackPanel>
Nested Stackpanels<StackPanel HorizontalAlignment="Center"
VerticalAlignment="Center"><StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" Margin="0,0,0,12">
<TextBlock Text="Username" FontSize="48" Width="240"TextAlignment="Right" Margin="0,0,20,0"/>
<TextBox FontSize="48" Width="300"/></StackPanel><StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" Margin="0,0,0,12">
<TextBlock Text="Password" Margin="0,0,20,0" FontSize="48"Width="240" TextAlignment="Right"/>
<PasswordBox Margin="0" FontSize="48" Width="300"/></StackPanel><Button Content="Login" HorizontalAlignment="Left"
Margin="257,0,0,0" FontSize="48"/></StackPanel>
Grid The Grid is a powerful layout container.
It acts as a placeholder for visual elements
You specify the rows and columns, and those define the cells.
The placement of an element in the Grid is specified using attached properties that are set on the children of the Grid:
Supports different types of row and column sizes in one Grid: Pixel size: Fixed value in pixels Auto size: The cell has the size of it’s contents Star size: whatever space is left over from fixed- and auto-sized columns is allocated to
all of the columns with star-sizing
<Image Grid.Column="3" Source="demo.png" Stretch="None"/>
Layout Properties
<Basic Controls />
TextBox Normal
Multi Line
Border & Colors
<TextBox Text="Hello World" TabIndex="4" />
<TextBox Text="Hello World" Height="200"AcceptsReturn="True" />
<TextBox Text="Hello World"BorderThickness="3"BorderBrush="Black"SelectionHighlightColor="Blue"Background="LightGray" />
TextBox No Clear Button (“Blend default”)
InputScope
<TextBox Text="Hello World"TextWrapping="Wrap" />
<TextBox InputScope="Search" />
Image
Supports BMP, JPG, TIF and PNG
Source property External, starts with ‘http://’
App
Referenced Class Library
Local storage
<Image Source="http://www.server.com/Images/Windows8.png" />
<Image Source="/MyImages/Windows8.png" />
<Image Source="ms-appx:///ClassLibrary1/MyImages/Windows8.jpg" />
<Image Source="ms-appdata:///local/MyFolder/Windows8.jpg" />
<AppBar vs
CommandBar />AppBarButton, AppBarToggleButton,
AppBarSeparator
AppBar CommandBar
Properties Foreground Background IsSticky IsOpen Children
Events Opened Closed
Properties Foreground Background IsSticky IsOpen PrimaryCommands SecondaryCommands
Events Opened Closed
AppBarButtons• Windows 8.1 introduces new controls for XAML that let you
more easily create app bar command buttons that reflect the
proper design guidelines and behaviors: the AppBarButton,
AppBarToggleButton, and AppBarSeparator controls.
• App bar buttons differ from standard buttons in several ways:• Their default appearance is a circle instead of a rectangle.
• You use the Label and Icon properties to set the content instead of the
Content property. The Content property is ignored.
• The button's IsCompact property controls its size.
AppBarButtons
• FontIcon• The icon is based on a
glyph from the specified font family.
• BitmapIcon• The icon is based on a
bitmap image file with the specified Uri.
• PathIcon• The icon is based on
Path data.
• SymbolIcon• The icon is based on a
predefined list of glyphs from the Segoe UI Symbol font.
AppBarButtons Links
• Images & Paths (Vectors)
• http://modernuiicons.com
• http://thenounproject.com
• http://www.thexamlproject.com
• http://www.syncfusion.com/downloads/metrostudio
• Symbols
• http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/jj841126.aspx
• http://www.geekchamp.com/icon-explorer/introduction
• http://www.fontello.com/
• http://fontastic.me
<Resources />
Resources Reusable objects such as data, styles and templates.
Assigned a unique key (x:Key) so you can reference to it.
Every element has a Resources property. Nesting Support
All static resources are loaded on page load Resource is loaded even if not used
31
Convert to New Resource…
Resources in Blend
Menu Window - Resources Shows all resources of all open XAML documents Link to Resource Dictionary Edit Resource Rename Resource Move Resource Delete Resource Apply Resource by Drag & Drop
33
Merged Resources
Store resources in external files
Declare once, use many times
Makes XAML shorter and easier to read
Can be stored in external assemblies
34
<Animations &
Storyboards />
Key Frame Concept
XAML supports key frames
A key frame defines an objects target value on a moment in an animation.
A key frame has an interpolation method.
A Key Frame target can be a: Double (X, Y, Height, Width, Opacity, Angle, etc.) Color (Fill, Stroke, etc.) Object (Visibility, Text, etc)
Storyboards
Creating a storyboard in Expression Blend
37
Storyboards
The Storyboard object has interactive methods to Begin, Pause, Resume, and Stop an animation.
public void ButtonStart_Click(object sender, MouseEventArgs e) {if (myStoryboard.GetCurrentState() == ClockState.Stopped) {
myStoryboard.Begin();}
}
public void ButtonPause_Click(object sender, MouseEventArgs e) {myStoryboard.Pause();
}
public void ButtonResume_Click(object sender, MouseEventArgs e) {myStoryboard.Resume();
}
public void ButtonStop_Click(object sender, MouseEventArgs e) {myStoryboard.Stop();
}
<Behaviors />
Behaviors
ShowMessageBox Actionpublic class ShowMessageAction : DependencyObject, IAction {
#region Text Dependency Property
public string Text {get { return (string)GetValue(TextProperty); }set { SetValue(TextProperty, value); }
}
public static readonly DependencyProperty TextProperty =DependencyProperty.Register("Text",
typeof(string),typeof(ShowMessageAction),new PropertyMetadata(string.Empty));
#endregion Text Dependency Property
public object Execute(object sender, object parameter) {#pragma warning disable 4014
new MessageDialog(this.Text).ShowAsync();#pragma warning restore
return null;}
}
Links:• http://reflectionit.nl/Blog/2013/windows-8-xaml-tips-creating-blend-behaviors
• http://blendbehaviors.net/
<Styling and
Templating />
Styling and Templating
XAML = UI flexibility
Customize the look of an application without changing it’s behavior Styling = Small Visual Changes on an Element (Font, Background Color, etc.)
Templating = Replacing Element’s entire Visual Tree
Styling
<Page.Resources><Style x:Key="HollandButtonStyle" TargetType="Button">
<Setter Property="Background" Value="#FFFF9E00"/><Setter Property="FontSize" Value="24"/><Setter Property="FontStyle" Value="Italic"/>
</Style></Page.Resources>
<Grid><Button Content="Button"
Style="{StaticResource HollandButtonStyle}"/></Grid>
Implicit Styling
If you omit the Style’s Key and specify only the TargetType, then the Style is automatically applied to all elements of that target type within the same scope (it is implicitly applied).
This is typically called a typed style as opposed to a named style.<Style TargetType="TextBox">
<Setter Property="FontFamily" Value="Arial Black"/><Setter Property="FontSize" Value="16"/>
</Style>
BasedOn Styling<Page.Resources>
<Style x:Key="HollandButtonStyle" TargetType="Button"><Setter Property="Background" Value="#FFFF9E00"/><Setter Property="FontSize" Value="24"/><Setter Property="FontStyle" Value="Italic"/>
</Style><Style x:Key="GermanButtonStyle"
TargetType="Button"BasedOn="{StaticResource HollandButtonStyle}">
<Setter Property="Background" Value="White"/><Setter Property="Foreground" Value="Black"/>
</Style></Page.Resources>
<Grid ><Button Content="Button"
Style="{StaticResource GermanButtonStyle}"/><Button Content="Button"
Style="{StaticResource HollandButtonStyle}"/></Grid>
Templating
Data Binding
Data Binding Data binding is the process that establishes a connection, or
binding, between the UI and the business object which allows data to flow between the two
Enable clean view/model separation and binding Change UI presentation without code-behind modifications
Every binding has a source and a target Source is the business object or another UI element Target is the UI element
Binding Expressions can be one way or two way and supports validation & converters
Element to Element Binding Element binding is performed in the same manner as
Data Binding with one addition: the ElementNameproperty. ElementName defines the name of the binding source element.
<Grid><TextBlock Text="{Binding Value, ElementName=mySlider}"
FontSize="32"/><Slider x:Name="mySlider" Maximum="10" Value="6" />
</Grid>
Data Window – Sample Data
Recap & Questions
@fonssonnemans
fonssonnemans
reflectionit.nl/blog
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