I have been reading a book (Pro WPF in C# 2010) to start myself off with WPF. Traditionally I have been using WinForms to do my app design (with all kinds of custom gradient paints, timer animations, etc), but as this book suggests, WPF seems to be the next natural progression as I would like to start designing slicker animations and give my apps better dynamic and fluid functionality. That being said, I have a few questions about WPF:
1) How come "Components" do not exist for WPF like they do in the WinForms designer? For example, background worker and timers have to be hand-coded (or at least with my current level of familiarity) like so:
It seems like a first world problem I guess, but I like being able to visually design with some of my elements.
2) The book mentions looking into using Microsoft Expression Blend to handle some of the XAML coding. My understanding of this software is that it is an advanced designer that lets you better create the XAML for animations and effects. I have seen some users even say using WPF is pointless unless you have access to that tool. For anyone using this technology do you agree with that assessment? Now, the problem is that I have VS2010, and I cannot locate the Expression Blend software anywhere. It looks like it no longer exists as a download for VS2010. The current downloads only show for VS2012+, so I may not be able to obtain that software :/
Any insight or clarification would be appreciated, thanks.
1) How come "Components" do not exist for WPF like they do in the WinForms designer? For example, background worker and timers have to be hand-coded (or at least with my current level of familiarity) like so:
Code:
DispatcherTimer mytimer = new DispatcherTimer();
mytimer.Tick += new EventHandler(DoSomething);
mytimer.Interval = new TimeSpan(0,0,10);
mytimer.Start();2) The book mentions looking into using Microsoft Expression Blend to handle some of the XAML coding. My understanding of this software is that it is an advanced designer that lets you better create the XAML for animations and effects. I have seen some users even say using WPF is pointless unless you have access to that tool. For anyone using this technology do you agree with that assessment? Now, the problem is that I have VS2010, and I cannot locate the Expression Blend software anywhere. It looks like it no longer exists as a download for VS2010. The current downloads only show for VS2012+, so I may not be able to obtain that software :/
Any insight or clarification would be appreciated, thanks.