I've been digging into some of the open source and 3rd party controls that are becoming available for Silverlight 2. While running into some odd issues with some of them it occurred to me that there are some design guidelines that haven't been well communicated. Back in the early days of WPF I learned (though exactly where is unclear) that every control should support an empty constructor and that all properties (e.g. XAML Attributes) should have a default value. I knew this to be true but I couldn't document where it came from.
Url: http://www.interact-sw.co.uk/iangblog/2007/05/3...
Url: http://www.sellsbrothers.com/tools/#showmethete...
I use ListBox's and DataTemplates a lot to show data in different ways in WPF. One of the problems I've faced is how to change the look of the "Selected" element. All the examples I could find assumed you were not using a DataTemplate. Luckily Chris Sells came to my rescue and pointed me at the ItemContainerStyle. Using a Template for the ListBoxItem in the ItemContainerStyle let me control the look and feel of the Selected element (or disabled items) easily.
Url: http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/07/05/...
Url: http://wilderminds.blob.core.windows.net/downloads/commandexample.zip
I've been digging into the Command infrastructure in WPF lately and I really like the way it works. Essentially it is a way to separate the idea that you have commands that a particular applciation can execute and the ways you start a command (e.g. menu, toolbar button, context menu, hotkey, pen gesture). WPF comes a standard set of commands that are commonly used (e.g. New, Close, Copy, Paste, Cut, etc.). You can define your own commands fairly easily as well.
Url: http://www.codeplex.com/reflectoraddins/Release...
Url: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx...
I have built a test-vista machine to do some WinFX stuff on and it got me wondering...why do I need to run the WinFX runtime installation on Vista? Isn't this supposed to be pre-installed? Aren't some built-in Vista apps already using WinFX? I am so confused. Anyone know?
Url: http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/default....
Url: http://msdn.microsoft.com/winfx/default.aspx?pu...
Url: http://dotnetjunkies.com/WebLog/metablog/archiv...
Url: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0...
Url: http://wilderminds.blob.core.windows.net/downloads/AvFontBrowserSe...
It's not finished yet, but I am working on a Font Browser using Avalon. It's fun to work with XAML and code-behind, but without splitter or treeview controls its hard to make something really fun. I am also working on a database browser with Avalon, but until I find a tree view that project is dead.
Url: http://www.microsoft.com/products/expression/
Url: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx...
Url: http://www.valil.com/avalon/