Book Image

Mastering Windows Presentation Foundation

By : Sheridan Yuen
Book Image

Mastering Windows Presentation Foundation

By: Sheridan Yuen

Overview of this book

Windows Presentation Foundation is rich in possibilities when it comes to delivering an excellent user experience. This book will show you how to build professional-grade applications that look great and work smoothly. We start by providing you with a foundation of knowledge to improve your workflow – this includes teaching you how to build the base layer of the application, which will support all that comes after it. We’ll also cover the useful details of data binding. Next, we cover the user interface and show you how to get the most out of the built-in and custom WPF controls. The final section of the book demonstrates ways to polish your applications, from adding practical animations and data validation to improving application performance. The book ends with a tutorial on how to deploy your applications and outlines potential ways to apply your new-found knowledge so you can put it to use right away.

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Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Mastering Windows Presentation Foundation
Mastering Windows Presentation Foundation
Credits
Credits
About the Author
About the Author
About the Reviewer
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
www.PacktPub.com
Customer Feedback
Customer Feedback
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
A Smarter Way of Working with WPF
A Smarter Way of Working with WPF
What is MVVM and how does it help?
Debunking the myth about code behind
Learning how to communicate again
Structuring the application code base
Summary
2
Debugging WPF Applications
Debugging WPF Applications
Utilizing the Output window
Putting Presentation Trace Sources to work
Discovering inner exceptions
Debugging data bound values
Summary
3
Writing Custom Application Frameworks
Writing Custom Application Frameworks
What is an application framework?
Encapsulating common functionality
Constructing a custom application framework
Separating the Data Access Layer
Providing services
Summary
4
Becoming Proficient with Data Binding
Becoming Proficient with Data Binding
Data binding basics
Dependency Properties
Data templates
Data binding to enumeration collections
Summary
5
Using the Right Controls for the Job
Using the Right Controls for the Job
Investigating the built-in controls
Modifying existing controls
Combining controls
Creating custom controls
Summary
6
Mastering Practical Animations
Mastering Practical Animations
Investigating timelines
Introducing key-frames
Telling stories
Easing functions
Animating along a path
Creating everyday animations
Summary
7
Creating Visually Appealing User Interfaces
Creating Visually Appealing User Interfaces
Styling applications consistently
Layering visuals
Moving away from the ordinary
Summary
8
Implementing Responsive Data Validation
Implementing Responsive Data Validation
Using validation rules - To do or not to do?
Getting to grips with validation interfaces
Annotating data
Varying levels of validation
Incorporating multiple validation techniques
Customizing the error template
Avoiding UI-based validation errors
Amalgamating validation and visuals
Summary
9
Completing That Great User Experience
Completing That Great User Experience
Providing user feedback
Utilizing multiple threads
Going the extra mile
Summary
10
Improving Application Performance
Improving Application Performance
Leveraging the power of hardware rendering
Making more efficient resources
Using the right controls for performance
Data binding
Shrinking data objects
Virtualizing collections
Handling events
Summary
11
Deploying Your Masterpiece Application
Deploying Your Masterpiece Application
Installing Windows applications
Utilizing ClickOnce functionality
Accessing application versions
Summary
12
What Next?
What Next?
Turning attention to future projects

Using validation rules - To do or not to do?

In WPF, there are two different approaches for dealing with data validation. On the one hand, we have the UI-based ValidationRule classes, the Validation.Error Attached Event and the Binding.NotifyOnValidationError and UpdateSourceExceptionFilter properties and on the other, we have two code-based validation interfaces.

While the ValidationRule classes and their related validation approach work perfectly well, they are specified in the XAML and as such, are tied to the UI. Furthermore, when using the ValidationRule classes, we are effectively separating the validation logic from the data models that they are validating and storing it in a completely different assembly.

When developing a WPF application using the MVVM methodology, we work with data, rather than UI elements and so, we tend to shy away from using the ValidationRule classes and their related validation strategy directly.

Additionally, the NotifyOnValidationError and UpdateSourceExceptionFilter...

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