INTRODUCTION
Chapter 28: Programming with WPF Controls
This chapter will expose you to the process of using intrinsic WPF controls and layout managers. For
example, you will learn to build menu systems, splitter windows, toolbars, and status bars. This chapter
will also introduce you to a number of WPF APIs (and their related controls), including the WPF
Documents API, the WPF Ink API, and the data-binding model. Just as importantly, this chapter will
begin your investigation of Expression Blend IDE, which simplifies the task of creating rich UIs for a WPF
application.
Chapter 29: WPF Graphics Rendering Services
WPF is a graphically intensive API; given this fact, WPF provides three ways to render graphics: shapes,
drawings and geometrics, and visuals. In this chapter, you will evaluate each option and learn about a
number of important graphics primitives (e.g., brushes, pens, and transformations) along the way. This
chapter will also examine a number of ways in which Expression Blend can help you simplify the process
of creating WPF graphics, as well as how to perform hit-testing operations against graphical data.
Chapter 30: WPF Resources, Animations, and Styles
This chapter will introduce you to three important (and interrelated) topics that will deepen your
understanding of the Windows Presentation Foundation API. The first order of business is to learn the
role of logical resources. As you will see, the logical resource (also termed an object resource) system
provides a way for you to name and refer to commonly used objects within a WPF application. Next, you
will learn how to define, execute, and control an animation sequence. Despite what you might be
thinking, however, WPF animations are not limited to the confines of video game or multimedia
applications. You will wrap up the chapter by learning about the role of WPF styles. Similar to a web page
that uses CSS or the ASP.NET theme engine, a WPF application can define a common look-and-feel for a
set of controls.
Chapter 31: Dependency Properties, Routed Events, and Templates
This chapter begins by examining two topics that are important when creating a custom control:
dependency properties and routed events. After you understand these top ics, you will learn about the role
of a default template, as well as how to view them programmatically at runtime. After this foundation has
been laid, the remainder of this chapter will examine how to build custom templates.
Part VIII: ASP.NET Web Forms
Part 8 is devoted to an examination of constructing web applications using the ASP.NET programming
API. Microsoft designed ASP.NET to model the creation of desktop user interfaces by layering an eventdriven, object-oriented framework on top of a standard HTTP request/response.
lxiv