Pro WPF, Apress
Microsoft .NET Framework, ASP.NET, Visual C# (CSharp, C Sharp, C-Sharp) Developer Training, Visual Studio
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C# Online.NET Book Review
Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) provides a foundation for building applications and high fidelity experiences in Windows Vista, blending together application UI, documents, and media content, while exploiting the full power of your computer. The functionality extends to the support for Tablet and other forms of input, a more modern imaging and printing pipeline, accessibility and UI automation infrastructure, data driven UI and visualization, as well as the integration points for weaving the application experience into the Windows shell.
Since WPF is brand new to the majority of us, a good book can flatten out the learning curve. Weighing in at nearly 1,000 pages, this book covers a wide horizon of WPF topics in sufficient depth and detail to allow the reader to actually achieve something in each topical area. The book has some guidance to offer on virtually every WPF feature. And, the book makes an excelllent WPF reference.
My favorite chapters of the book include Chapter 2 on eXtensible Application Markup Language (XAML) how to get the most out of XAML, Chapter 20 on custom printing, Chapter 24 on creating custom elements by extension, Chapter 23 on 3-D drawing, and Chapter 26 on ClickOnce deployment. The index is impressive and very useful.
The author's style is very readable. The author wrote so that each chapter builds on those which come before. This makes it hard for the beginner to skip a few chapters; but, a newbie should probably being reading straight through anyway.
A book this large will have errors, but typos are infrequent and seldom impact the understanding of the passage. Consult the publishers Web site for any corrections to text and source code.
The book deals with Windows applications; so, browser applications like Silverlight are not covered. Also, for information on Expression Blend, one would need a book written specifically to that subject when a decent one becomes available.
All of the source code examples are in the C# language. And, examples are plentiful.
Bottom line
Pro WPF is a superb introduction, tutorial, and reference guide to Windows Presentation Foundation.
Publisher's description
The Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation (formerly code-named "Avalon") is a key part of .NET 3.0 and provides the foundation for building applications and high-quality user experiences in Windows Vista. WPF blends together application user interface, documents, and media content, while exploiting the full power of your computer.
WPF functionality extends support for Tablet PCs and other forms of input device, and provides a more modern imaging and printing pipeline. It also provides accessibility and UI automation infrastructure, data-driven UI and visualization, and even integration points for weaving the application experience into the Windows shell.
Pro WPF: Windows Presentation Foundation in .NET 3.0 covers WPF from installation to application design and implementation to deployment. One of the most detailed books on new WPF technology, it provides you with the no-nonsense, practical advice you need in order to build high-quality WPF applications quickly and easily. It also digs into the more advance aspects of WPF and how they relate to the other elements of the WinFX stack and the .NET Framework 2.0.
Topics covered include
- WPF basics: XAML, layout, control essentials, and data flow
- WPF applications: navigation, commands, localization, and deployment
- Advanced controls: custom controls, menus, toolbars, and trees
- WPF documents: text layout, printing, and document packaging
- Graphics and multimedia: drawing shapes, sound and video, animation, geometric transformations, and imaging
Author's description
For years, .NET developers have been creating Windows applications with the Windows Forms toolkit. And though Windows Forms is mature and reasonably full-featured, it’s hardwired to essential bits of Windows plumbing that haven’t changed much in the last ten years. As a result, some tasks that should be easy require a lot of work. For example, if you want to create a modern glow button, it’s up to you to build a custom control and paint every aspect of your button’s appearance, in all its different states, using a low-level drawing model. And don’t even think about adding animated effects like spinning text, shimmering buttons, shrinking windows, or live previews, because you’ll have to draw every detail by hand.
The Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) changes all this by introducing a new model with entirely different plumbing. Although WPF includes the standard controls you’re familiar with, it draws every detail itself, using the high-performance DirectX engine. As a result, WPF can provide a whole host of eye-popping new features. For example, you can give common controls like buttons a slick, customized look without writing a line of code. Similarly, you can craft animated effects that rotate, stretch, scale, and skew anything in your user interface right before the user’s eyes. Tasks that would have been difficult or nearly impossible in Windows Forms—like playing media files or creating texture-mapped 3-D shapes—are finally possible.
Although WPF’s video, animation, and 3-D features get the most hype, WPF is just as useful for building business applications that don’t need rich graphics. In fact, WPF enhances key business features like data binding, print management, and document display. It even provides a new model for building browser-hosted applications that can be launched from a website, all without the usual security warnings and irritating installation prompts. In short, WPF combines the best of traditional Windows development with new innovations for building modern, graphically rich user interfaces, making it the hottest new technology to come out of Redmond since .NET 1.0.
About the author(s)
Matthew MacDonald is an author, educator, and MCSD developer who has a passion for emerging technologies. He is a regular writer for developer journals such as Inside Visual Basic, ASPToday, and Hardcore Visual Studio .NET, and he's the author of several books about programming with .NET, including User Interfaces in VB .NET: Windows Forms and Custom Controls, The Book of VB .NET, and .NET Distributed Applications. In a dimly remembered past life, he studied English literature and theoretical physics.
Table of Contents (abbreviated)
- Ch. 1. Introducing WPF
- Ch. 2. XAML
- Ch. 3. The application
- Ch. 4. Layout
- Ch. 5. Content
- Ch. 6. Dependency properties and routed events
- Ch. 7. Classic controls
- Ch. 8. Windows
- Ch. 9. Pages and navigation
- Ch. 10. Commands
- Ch. 11. Resources
- Ch. 12. Styles
- Ch. 13. Shapes, transforms, and brushes
- Ch. 14. Geometries, drawings, and visuals
- Ch. 15. Control templates
- Ch. 16. Data binding
- Ch. 17. Data templates, data views, and data providers
- Ch. 18. Lists, trees, toolbars, and menus
- Ch. 19. Documents
- Ch. 20. Printing
- Ch. 21. Animation
- Ch. 22. Sound and video
- Ch. 23. 3-D drawing
- Ch. 24. Custom elements
- Ch. 25. Interacting with windows forms
- Ch. 26. ClickOnce deployment
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Categories: CSharp-Online.NET Reviews | CSharp-Online.NET Book Reviews | Windows Book Reviews | .NET Book Reviews
