Pro Silverlight 4 in VB

Contents
■ Contents at a Glance ...................................................................................................................v
■ About the Author .....................................................................................................................xxii
■ About the Technical Reviewer...............................................................................................xxiii
■ Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................. xxiv
■ Introduction............................................................................................................................ xxv
■ Chapter 1: Introducing Silverlight..............................................................................................1
Silverlight Design Tools .............................................................................................................1
Visual Studio vs. Expression Blend ......................................................................................1
Understanding Silverlight Websites ....................................................................................2
Creating a Stand-Alone Silverlight Project ...............................................................................3
Creating a Simple Silverlight Page ............................................................................................6
Adding Event-Handling Code ..............................................................................................8
Testing a Silverlight Application ........................................................................................10
Creating an ASP.NET-Hosted Silverlight Project ...................................................................12
ASP.NET Controls That Render Silverlight Content.........................................................15
Mixing ASP.NET Controls and Silverlight Content...........................................................16
Silverlight Compilation and Deployment ..............................................................................16
Compiling a Silverlight Application...................................................................................16
Deploying a Silverlight Application ...................................................................................18
Silverlight Core Assemblies ................................................................................................20
Silverlight Add-on Assemblies............................................................................................21
Assembly Caching ...............................................................................................................22
The HTML Entry Page ..............................................................................................................24
Sizing the Silverlight Content Region ................................................................................26
Silverlight Parameters .........................................................................................................26
Alternative Content .............................................................................................................28
Creating a Friendly Install Experience...............................................................................28
■ CONTENTS
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The Mark of the Web...........................................................................................................30
The Last Word...........................................................................................................................31
■ Chapter 2: XAML........................................................................................................................33
XAML Basics.............................................................................................................................34
XAML Namespaces..............................................................................................................34
The Code-Behind Class.......................................................................................................38
Properties and Events in XAML...............................................................................................39
Simple Properties and Type Converters............................................................................40
Complex Properties.............................................................................................................42
Attached Properties.............................................................................................................44
Nesting Elements.................................................................................................................45
Events ..................................................................................................................................48
The Full Eight Ball Example................................................................................................48
XAML Resources......................................................................................................................49
The Resources Collection ...................................................................................................50
The Hierarchy of Resources................................................................................................51
Accessing Resources in Code .............................................................................................53
Organizing Resources with Resource Dictionaries...........................................................54
Element-to-Element Binding ..................................................................................................55
One-Way Binding ................................................................................................................55
Two-Way Binding................................................................................................................57
The Last Word...........................................................................................................................59
■ Chapter 3: Layout ......................................................................................................................61
The Layout Containers.............................................................................................................61
The Panel Background ........................................................................................................63
Borders ................................................................................................................................65
Simple Layout with the StackPanel.........................................................................................66
Layout Properties ................................................................................................................68
Alignment............................................................................................................................69
Margins................................................................................................................................70
Minimum, Maximum, and Explicit Sizes ..........................................................................72
The WrapPanel and DockPanel...............................................................................................74
The WrapPanel ....................................................................................................................74
The DockPanel.....................................................................................................................75
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The Grid....................................................................................................................................77
Fine-Tuning Rows and Columns .......................................................................................79
Nesting Layout Containers .................................................................................................80
Spanning Rows and Columns ............................................................................................82
The GridSplitter ...................................................................................................................83
Coordinate-Based Layout with the Canvas............................................................................86
Layering with ZIndex...........................................................................................................88
Clipping...............................................................................................................................88
Custom Layout Containers......................................................................................................90
The Two-Step Layout Process ............................................................................................90
The UniformGrid.................................................................................................................93
Sizing Pages..............................................................................................................................98
Scrolling with the ScrollViewer ........................................................................................100
Scaling with the Viewbox ..................................................................................................102
Full-Screen Mode ..............................................................................................................104
The Last Word.........................................................................................................................106
■ Chapter 4: Dependency Properties and Routed Events .......................................................107
Dependency Properties .........................................................................................................107
Defining and Registering a Dependency Property .........................................................108
Dynamic Value Resolution ...............................................................................................110
Attached Properties...........................................................................................................111
The WrapBreakPanel Example.........................................................................................112
Routed Events .........................................................................................................................115
The Core Element Events..................................................................................................115
Event Bubbling ..................................................................................................................118
Handled (Suppressed) Events ..........................................................................................120
An Event Bubbling Example .............................................................................................120
Mouse Handling .....................................................................................................................123
Right-Clicks........................................................................................................................123
Mouse Movements ............................................................................................................124
The Mouse Wheel ..............................................................................................................124
Capturing the Mouse ........................................................................................................126
A Mouse Event Example ...................................................................................................126
Mouse Cursors...................................................................................................................130
■ CONTENTS
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Keyboard Handling ................................................................................................................131
Key Presses........................................................................................................................131
Key Modifiers .....................................................................................................................133
Focus .................................................................................................................................134
The Command Model ............................................................................................................135
Building a Command ........................................................................................................136
Connecting a Command...................................................................................................137
The Last Word.........................................................................................................................139
■ Chapter 5: Elements ................................................................................................................141
The Silverlight Elements ........................................................................................................141
Static Text...............................................................................................................................145
Font Properties ..................................................................................................................146
Underlining.......................................................................................................................150
Runs ...................................................................................................................................151
Wrapping Text ...................................................................................................................152
Trimming Text ...................................................................................................................153
Images ....................................................................................................................................153
Image Sizing.......................................................................................................................154
Image Errors.......................................................................................................................155
Content Controls ....................................................................................................................155
The Content Property........................................................................................................157
Aligning Content................................................................................................................159
Buttons ...................................................................................................................................160
The HyperlinkButton ........................................................................................................160
The ToggleButton and RepeatButton..............................................................................161
The CheckBox ....................................................................................................................161
The RadioButton ...............................................................................................................162
Tooltips and Pop-Ups ............................................................................................................163
Customized Tooltips .........................................................................................................163
The Popup..........................................................................................................................165
Items Controls ........................................................................................................................167
The ListBox........................................................................................................................167
The ComboBox ..................................................................................................................169
The TabControl..................................................................................................................170
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Text Controls. ...........................................................................................................................171
The TextBox . .......................................................................................................................172
The PasswordBox . ..............................................................................................................174
The AutoCompleteBox. ......................................................................................................174
The RichTextBox. ................................................................................................................180
Range-Based Controls. ............................................................................................................190
The Slider . ...........................................................................................................................191
The ProgressBar. .................................................................................................................192
Date Controls. ..........................................................................................................................192
The Last Word. .........................................................................................................................196
■ Chapter 6: The Application Model . .........................................................................................197
The Application Class. .............................................................................................................197
Accessing the Current Application . ..................................................................................198
Application Properties . ......................................................................................................198
Application Events . .................................................................................................................199
Application Startup . ...........................................................................................................200
Initialization Parameters . ..................................................................................................200
Application Shutdown . ......................................................................................................203
Unhandled Exceptions. ......................................................................................................203
Custom Splash Screens. ..........................................................................................................206
Binary Resources . ....................................................................................................................210
Placing Resources in the Application Assembly ..............................................................210
Placing Resources in the Application Package.................................................................213
Placing Resources on the Web . .........................................................................................214
Class Library Assemblies. ........................................................................................................218
Using Resources in an Assembly. ......................................................................................218
Downloading Assemblies on Demand .............................................................................219
Supporting Assembly Caching . .........................................................................................220
The Last Word. .........................................................................................................................224
■ Chapter 7: Navigation . .............................................................................................................225
Loading User Controls . ...........................................................................................................226
Embedding User Controls in a Page . ................................................................................226
Hiding Elements . ................................................................................................................228
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Managing the Root Visual.................................................................................................228
Retaining Page State..........................................................................................................230
Browser History .................................................................................................................231
Child Windows........................................................................................................................231
Designing a ChildWindow................................................................................................233
Showing a ChildWindow...................................................................................................234
The Frame and Page...............................................................................................................236
Frames...............................................................................................................................236
URI Mapping......................................................................................................................243
Forward and Backward Navigation .................................................................................244
Hyperlinks.........................................................................................................................245
Pages..................................................................................................................................246
Navigation Templates .......................................................................................................249
Custom Content Loaders.......................................................................................................250
Authentication and Navigation........................................................................................251
Creating a Custom Content Loader .................................................................................252
Using the Custom Content Loader ..................................................................................254
The Last Word.........................................................................................................................255
■ Chapter 8: Shapes and Geometries ........................................................................................257
Basic Shapes...........................................................................................................................257
The Shape Classes .............................................................................................................258
Rectangle and Ellipse ........................................................................................................259
Sizing and Placing Shapes ................................................................................................261
Sizing Shapes Proportionately with a Viewbox...............................................................263
Line ....................................................................................................................................265
Polyline..............................................................................................................................266
Polygon..............................................................................................................................267
Line Caps and Line Joins...................................................................................................270
Dashes ...............................................................................................................................272
Paths and Geometries ............................................................................................................274
Line, Rectangle, and Ellipse Geometries .........................................................................275
Combining Shapes with GeometryGroup.......................................................................276
Curves and Lines with PathGeometry .............................................................................278
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The Geometry Mini-Language .........................................................................................283
Clipping with Geometry....................................................................................................285
Exporting Clip Art ...................................................................................................................287
Expression Design .............................................................................................................287
Conversion........................................................................................................................288
Save or Print to XPS ...........................................................................................................289
The Last Word.........................................................................................................................291
■ Chapter 9: Brushes, Transforms, and Bitmaps .....................................................................293
Brushes...................................................................................................................................293
The LinearGradientBrush Class .......................................................................................294
The RadialGradientBrush Class .......................................................................................297
The ImageBrush ................................................................................................................299
Transparency ..........................................................................................................................300
Opacity Masks....................................................................................................................302
Making the Silverlight Control Transparent ...................................................................304
Transforms ..............................................................................................................................308
Transforming Shapes ........................................................................................................310
Transforms and Layout Containers .................................................................................312
A Reflection Effect .............................................................................................................313
Perspective Transforms .........................................................................................................314
The PlaneProjection Class ................................................................................................315
Applying a Projection ........................................................................................................317
Pixel Shaders ...........................................................................................................................318
BlurEffect...........................................................................................................................319
DropShadowEffect ............................................................................................................319
ShaderEffect......................................................................................................................321
The WriteableBitmap Class ...................................................................................................322
Generating a Bitmap .........................................................................................................322
Capturing Content from Other Elements........................................................................325
Printing...................................................................................................................................326
Printing a Single Element .................................................................................................327
Printing Over Multiple Pages............................................................................................329
Creating a Print Preview ...................................................................................................332
The Last Word.........................................................................................................................334
■ CONTENTS
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■ Chapter 10: Animation ............................................................................................................335
Understanding Silverlight Animation...................................................................................335
The Rules of Animation.....................................................................................................336
Creating Simple Animations..................................................................................................337
The Animation Class .........................................................................................................337
The Storyboard Class ........................................................................................................338
Starting an Animation with an Event Trigger..................................................................339
Starting an Animation with Code.....................................................................................339
Configuring Animation Properties...................................................................................340
Animation Lifetime ...........................................................................................................343
Simultaneous Animations ................................................................................................345
Controlling Playback .........................................................................................................346
Animation Easing ...................................................................................................................348
Using an Easing Function.................................................................................................349
Easing In and Easing Out ..................................................................................................350
Easing Function Classes....................................................................................................351
Animation Types Revisited ....................................................................................................354
Animating Transforms ......................................................................................................354
Animation Perspective Projections..................................................................................357
Animating Brushes ............................................................................................................358
Animating Pixel Shaders ...................................................................................................360
Key-Frame Animation.......................................................................................................361
Animations in Code................................................................................................................365
The Main Page ...................................................................................................................366
The Bomb User Control ....................................................................................................368
Dropping the Bombs.........................................................................................................369
Intercepting a Bomb .........................................................................................................372
Counting Bombs and Cleaning Up..................................................................................374
Encapsulating Animations.....................................................................................................376
Page Transitions ................................................................................................................376
The Base Class ...................................................................................................................377
The Wipe Transition..........................................................................................................378
Frame-Based Animation........................................................................................................380
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Animation Performance ........................................................................................................384
Desired Frame Rate ...........................................................................................................384
Hardware Acceleration .....................................................................................................385
The Last Word.........................................................................................................................390
■ Chapter 11: Sound, Video, and Deep Zoom..........................................................................391
Supported File Types .............................................................................................................391
The MediaElement .................................................................................................................392
Controlling Playback .........................................................................................................393
Handling Errors .................................................................................................................394
Playing Multiple Sounds ...................................................................................................394
Changing Volume, Balance, and Position .......................................................................395
Playing Video .....................................................................................................................399
Client-Side Playlists...........................................................................................................399
Server-Side Playlists ..........................................................................................................400
Progressive Downloading and Streaming .......................................................................400
Adaptive Streaming ...........................................................................................................402
Advanced Video Playback......................................................................................................403
Video Encoding..................................................................................................................403
Encoding in Expression Encoder .....................................................................................404
Markers..............................................................................................................................406
VideoBrush........................................................................................................................411
Video Effects ......................................................................................................................412
Webcam and Microphone Input...........................................................................................418
Accessing a Capture Device..............................................................................................418
Basic Webcam Support.....................................................................................................420
Recording Audio Snippets ................................................................................................423
Deep Zoom.............................................................................................................................427
Creating a Deep Zoom Image Set.....................................................................................429
Using a Deep Zoom Image Set in Silverlight...................................................................433
The Last Word.........................................................................................................................437
■ Chapter 12: Styles and Behaviors ...........................................................................................439
Styles.......................................................................................................................................439
Defining a Style..................................................................................................................440
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Applying a Style .................................................................................................................441
Dynamic Styles ..................................................................................................................442
Style Inheritance................................................................................................................442
Organizing Styles ...............................................................................................................444
Automatically Applying Styles by Type ...........................................................................444
Behaviors................................................................................................................................445
Getting Support for Behaviors..........................................................................................446
Triggers and Actions..........................................................................................................447
Creating a Behavior ...........................................................................................................457
Finding More Behaviors....................................................................................................460
The Last Word.........................................................................................................................462
■ Chapter 13: Templates and Custom Controls.......................................................................463
Template Basics......................................................................................................................463
Creating a Template ..........................................................................................................464
Reusing Control Templates ..............................................................................................465
The ContentPresenter.......................................................................................................466
Template Bindings ............................................................................................................467
Setting Templates Through Styles ...................................................................................468
Reusing Colors ...................................................................................................................470
The Parts and States Model ...................................................................................................470
Understanding States with the Button Control ..............................................................472
Showing a Focus Cue ........................................................................................................476
Transitions .........................................................................................................................477
Understanding Parts with the Slider Control..................................................................482
Creating Templates for Custom Controls.............................................................................486
Planning the FlipPanel Control........................................................................................487
Creating the Solution ........................................................................................................487
Starting the FlipPanel Class ..............................................................................................488
Adding the Default Style with Generic.xaml ...................................................................489
Choosing Parts and States ................................................................................................491
Starting the Default Control Template ............................................................................493
The FlipButton Control.....................................................................................................494
Defining the State Animations .........................................................................................495
Wiring Up the Elements in the Template ........................................................................497
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Using the FlipPanel ...........................................................................................................499
Using a Different Control Template ................................................................................500
The Last Word.........................................................................................................................502
■ Chapter 14: Browser Integration ............................................................................................503
Interacting with HTML Elements..........................................................................................504
Getting Browser Information ...........................................................................................505
The HTML Window...........................................................................................................506
Popup Windows ................................................................................................................507
Inspecting the HTML Document .....................................................................................508
Manipulating an HTML Element .....................................................................................510
Handling JavaScript Events ..............................................................................................515
Code Interaction....................................................................................................................517
Calling Browser Script from Silverlight............................................................................518
Calling Silverlight Methods from the Browser ................................................................518
Instantiating Silverlight Objects in the Browser .............................................................520
Combining Silverlight and HTML Content ..........................................................................522
Sizing the Silverlight Control to Fit Its Content ..............................................................522
Placing the Silverlight Control Next to an HTML Element ............................................523
Securing HTML Interoperability ...........................................................................................526
The Last Word.........................................................................................................................527
■ Chapter 15: ASP.NET Web Services........................................................................................529
Building Web Services for Silverlight ....................................................................................529
Creating a Web Service .....................................................................................................529
Adding a Service Reference ..............................................................................................531
Calling the Web Service ....................................................................................................533
Configuring the Web Service URL....................................................................................536
Using a Busy Indicator ......................................................................................................537
Web Service Data Types.........................................................................................................539
Custom Data Classes.........................................................................................................539
Web Service Type Sharing ................................................................................................540
More Advanced Web Services ...............................................................................................545
Cross-Domain Web Service Calls.....................................................................................546
Monitoring the Network Connection ..............................................................................548
Using ASP.NET Platform Services ....................................................................................549
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Duplex Services.......................................................................................................................551
Configuring the Service.....................................................................................................551
The Interfaces ....................................................................................................................552
The Service........................................................................................................................554
The Client ...........................................................................................................................555
The Last Word.........................................................................................................................557
■ Chapter 16: Data Binding........................................................................................................559
Binding to Data Objects .........................................................................................................559
Building a Data Object ......................................................................................................560
Displaying a Data Object with DataContext ...................................................................561
Storing a Data Object as a Resource ................................................................................563
Null Values and Failed Bindings ......................................................................................564
Editing with Two-Way Bindings.......................................................................................564
Change Notification ..........................................................................................................566
Building a Data Service .....................................................................................................567
Calling a Data Service........................................................................................................571
Binding to a Collection of Objects.........................................................................................572
Displaying and Editing Collection Items.........................................................................573
Inserting and Removing Collection Items.......................................................................576
Binding to a LINQ Expression ..........................................................................................577
Master-Details Display......................................................................................................579
Validation ...............................................................................................................................583
Error Notifications.............................................................................................................583
The BindingValidationFailed Event.................................................................................586
The Validation Class..........................................................................................................587
Creating Data Objects with Built-in Validation ..............................................................588
Data Formatting and Conversion .........................................................................................592
String Formatting ..............................................................................................................592
Value Converters ...............................................................................................................594
Formatting Strings with a Value Converter .....................................................................595
Creating Objects with a Value Converter ........................................................................597
Applying Conditional Formatting ....................................................................................599
Data Templates......................................................................................................................602
Separating and Reusing Templates .................................................................................604
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More Advanced Templates...............................................................................................604
Changing Item Layout.......................................................................................................606
The Last Word.........................................................................................................................607
■ Chapter 17: Data Controls ......................................................................................................609
Better Data Forms ..................................................................................................................610
The Goal: Data Class Markup ...........................................................................................610
The Label...........................................................................................................................611
The DescriptionViewer .....................................................................................................613
The ValidationSummary...................................................................................................615
Data Annotations....................................................................................................................617
Raising Annotation Errors ................................................................................................618
The Annotation Attributes................................................................................................619
The DataGrid ..........................................................................................................................625
Creating a Simple Grid ......................................................................................................626
How Columns Are Resized and Rearranged ...................................................................628
Defining Columns .............................................................................................................629
Formatting and Styling Columns .....................................................................................632
Controlling Column Width ...............................................................................................634
Formatting Rows ...............................................................................................................636
Row Details ........................................................................................................................638
Freezing Columns .............................................................................................................639
Selection............................................................................................................................640
Sorting ...............................................................................................................................641
DataGrid Editing.....................................................................................................................642
Editing with Templates .....................................................................................................642
Validation and Editing Events ..........................................................................................643
The PagedCollectionView......................................................................................................646
Sorting ...............................................................................................................................647
Filtering ..............................................................................................................................647
Grouping ............................................................................................................................648
Paging ................................................................................................................................650
The TreeView ..........................................................................................................................653
Filling a TreeView ..............................................................................................................653
A Data-Bound TreeView ...................................................................................................653
The Last Word.........................................................................................................................656
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■ Chapter 18: File Access............................................................................................................657
Isolated Storage ......................................................................................................................658
The Scope of Isolated Storage ..........................................................................................658
What to Put in Isolated Storage ........................................................................................659
Using Isolated Storage ...........................................................................................................659
Opening an Isolated Store ................................................................................................659
File Management...............................................................................................................660
Writing and Reading Data.................................................................................................661
Requesting More Space ....................................................................................................663
Storing Objects with XmlSerializer ..................................................................................665
Storing Application Settings .............................................................................................668
Accessing Files Outside of Isolated Storage .........................................................................669
Reading Files with OpenFileDialog..................................................................................670
Writing Files with SaveFileDialog ....................................................................................672
Transmitting Files with a Web Service.............................................................................672
Dragging and Dropping Files ...........................................................................................678
The Last Word.........................................................................................................................681
■ Chapter 19: Multithreading ....................................................................................................683
Understanding Multithreading .............................................................................................683
The Goals of Multithreading.............................................................................................684
The DispatcherTimer ........................................................................................................685
The Thread Class ....................................................................................................................685
Marshaling Code to the User Interface Thread...............................................................687
Creating a Thread Wrapper ..............................................................................................689
Creating the Worker Class ................................................................................................691
Using the Thread Wrapper ...............................................................................................692
Cancellation Support ........................................................................................................694
The BackgroundWorker.........................................................................................................696
Creating the BackgroundWorker .....................................................................................696
Running the BackgroundWorker .....................................................................................697
Tracking Progress ..............................................................................................................700
Supporting Cancellation...................................................................................................702
The Last Word.........................................................................................................................704
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■ Chapter 20: Networking . ..........................................................................................................705
Interacting with the Web . .......................................................................................................706
Cross-Domain Access . .......................................................................................................706
HTML Scraping. ..................................................................................................................708
REST and Other Simple Web Services . .............................................................................712
Using Network Credentials. ...............................................................................................717
Processing Different Types of Data. .......................................................................................717
XML......................................................................................................................................717
Services That Return XML Data . .......................................................................................718
Services That Require XML Data. ......................................................................................725
Services That Return SOAP Data. ......................................................................................727
Services That Return JSON Data . ......................................................................................728
RSS .......................................................................................................................................731
Sockets......................................................................................................................................733
Understanding Sockets and TCP . .....................................................................................734
The Policy Server . ...............................................................................................................736
The Messaging Server . .......................................................................................................740
The Messenger Client. ........................................................................................................744
Local Connections. ..................................................................................................................749
Sending a Message . ............................................................................................................750
Receiving a Message. ..........................................................................................................751
The Last Word. .........................................................................................................................752
■ Chapter 21: Out-of-Browser Applications ..............................................................................753
Understanding Out-of-Browser Support ..............................................................................754
Creating an Out-of-Browser Application . .............................................................................755
Installing an Out-of-Browser Application........................................................................757
Customizing Icons. .............................................................................................................760
Tracking Application State . ...............................................................................................761
Removing and Updating an Application. .........................................................................764
Silent Installation . ..............................................................................................................766
Out-of-Browser Application Features . ..................................................................................766
The WebBrowser Control . .................................................................................................767
Notification Windows . .......................................................................................................770
Controlling the Main Window. ..........................................................................................773
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Elevated Trust .........................................................................................................................775
Installing an Elevated Trust Application .........................................................................775
The Abilities of an Elevated Trust Application................................................................778
Window Customization ....................................................................................................779
File Access ..........................................................................................................................786
COM...................................................................................................................................788
The Last Word.........................................................................................................................792
■ Index .......................................................................................................................................793