Windows Presentation Foundation, also known as WPF, is a graphical subsystem of the Dot Net Framework 3.0 that will allow you to create richer, more dynamic applications than you ever could before.
Windows Presentation Foundation Unleashed was written as a definitive guide to getting real world results from WPF and Visual Studio. It is for those who want to learn how to develop user interfaces. The author's goal is to try to show you how to dramatically improve your productivity, build more reliable and easier maintained applications. It is 656 pages in length and divided into 17 chapters and further divided into 5 sections. I will break this down by the five sections
Part I, "Background," begins with a history of how we got here by taking a walk down memory lane. We look at where we came from and really how graphical interface development has not changed all that much in the last 20+ years. You will also learn about comparable technologies. We also see how WPF is integrated within the scope of the .NET Framework.
Next we look at what XAML (pronounced "Zammal") is and how it is used. You will learn about its elements and attributes, as well how you can work with XAML with procedural code. Finally you will see what some of the important new concepts there are in WPF
Part II, "Building a WPF Application" now moves on from theory to application. The goal here is to show you how to assemble and deploy a traditional looking application; albeit with fancier abilities. Here you will start with various controls and see how they work. Next you will learn how to size, position, and transform elements within your application.
Moving on from there, you will work with panels and layouts. These panels include StackPanel, WrapPanel, and DockPanel. You will see how to handle content overflow and then finally see how to put all of these elements together by creating a Visual Studio-like Collapsible, Dockable, Resizable Pane.
Once you have done all this, it is time to see how to structure and deploy an application. You will get a look at the different types of applications you can build; these include Standard Windows Based, Navigation Based, an application with a Vista Look and Feel, as well as XAML browser applications.
Part III, "Features for Professional Developers," delves deeper into more complex topics. Many of the things covered here are not always necessary to use in a WPF application, but can greatly enhance the development.
These include binary and logical resources. Binary resources are just that – resources of a binary nature. They include items like bitmaps, image files, video, etc. Logical resources are anything not a binary resource. You will be introduced to data binding via the binding object. You will see how to control rendering, customizing the view of a collection, and working with data providers.
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