The Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) provides developers with a unified programming model to build dynamic, data-driven desktop applications for Windows. It was first released in 2006 along with .NET 3.0. It is part of the .NET Framework itself.
WPF is a graphical subsystem, for rendering rich user interfaces (UIs), and is a resolution-independent framework that uses a vector-based rendering engine in the Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML) to create stunning user interfaces. It supports a broad set of features that includes application models, controls, layouts, graphics, resources, security, and more.
The runtime libraries for it to execute have been included with Windows since Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. If you are using Windows XP with SP2/SP3 and Windows Server 2003, you can optionally install the necessary libraries.
To begin learning the different recipes of WPF, you should have a clear understanding of the basic foundations. In this chapter, we will start with the architecture and syntaxes, and will guide you in creating a building block.