Windows Presentation Foundation 4.5 Cookbook

Description

Over 80 recipes to effectively and efficiently develop rich Windows client applications on the Windows platform Full of illustrations, diagrams, and tips with clear step-by-step instructions and real world examples Gain a strong foundation of WPF features and patterns Leverage the MVVM pattern to build decoupled, maintainable apps In Detail Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) provides developers with a unified programming model for building rich Windows smart client user experiences that incorporate UI, media, and documents. WPF has become the leading technology for developing rich client applications on the Windows platform, packed with features and capabilities. However, WPF is big in fact, its huge, causing a steep learning curve for the beginner and even for those already using some WPF features. Windows Presentation Foundation 4.5 Cookbook provides clear recipes for common WPF tasks. It includes detailed explanations and code examples for customizing and enhancing the basic scenarios, while gaining a deep understanding of WPF mechanics and capabilities. WPF is different and requires a different mind-set and approach. This book provides recipes and insights not only in its design but also its practical implementation details. Starting from the foundations of WPF, such as dependency properties and XAML, the book touches on all major WPF aspects, such as controls and layout, resources, and digs deep into its unprecedented data binding capabilities. The book shows data and control templates in action, which allow full customizations of displayed data and controls in a declarative way. Supported by styles and resources makes data binding all the more powerful. The Model View View-Model pattern is presented as an effective way of maximizing decoupling of components, while providing an elegant way of expanding applications while maintaining a tight grip on complexity. The later parts discuss custom elements and controls – the ultimate customization mechanism, and looks at multithreading issues, and how .NET 4.5 task parallelism features can enhance application performance. What will you learn from this book Get tips and insights to maximize your productivity Learn to build complex and flexible user interfaces using XAML Perform lengthy operations asynchronously while keeping the UI responsive Get well-versed with WPF features such as data binding, layout, resources, templates, and styles Customize a controls template to alter appearance but preserve behaviour