Pro Silverlight 4 in VB

897 Pages·2010·16.018 MB·English

by  MacDonald, Matthew

CYAN YELLOW
MAGENTA BLACK
PANTONE 123 C
BOOKS FOR PROFESSIONALS BY PROFESSIONALS® THE EXPERT’S VOICE® IN SILVERLIGHT
Companion
eBook Available
Pro Silverlight 4 in VB

Pro
Silverlight is a revolutionary browser plug-in that allows developers to create rich
S
client applications that run inside the browser. Like Adobe Flash, Silverlight sup-
ports event handling, two-dimensional drawing, video playback, networking, and
Pro
animation. Unlike Flash, Silverlight is tailored to .NET developers and supports i
pure Visual Basic code. l
The most exciting part of Silverlight is its cross-platform muscle. Unlike ordi- v
Matthew MacDonald, nary .NET applications, Silverlight applications run seamlessly in non-Microsoft
author of browsers (such as Firefox, Safari, and Chrome) and on non-Microsoft platforms e Silverlight 4
Pro WPF in VB 2010 (such as Mac OS X). Essentially, Silverlight is a scaled-down, browser-hosted ver-

Pro ASP.NET 4 in VB 2010 sion of .NET—and that’s made it the most hotly anticipated technology that
r
(with Adam Freeman and Microsoft has released in years.
Mario Szpuszta) In this book, you’ll master Silverlight from the ground up. No Silverlight expe- l
Beginning ASP.NET 4 in VB rience is required—but if you’ve worked with Silverlight 3, you’ll appreciate the i
2010 “What’s New” boxes that point out new features at the start of every chapter. By g
Your Brain: The Missing the end of this book, you’ll have a solid understanding of the complete Silverlight
Manual platform, and you’ll be able to build anything from a slick business front end to a
h
browser-based game. VB
t in

THE APRESS ROADMAP
4
Pro
Introducing Pro
Business Applications
Silverlight 4 Silverlight 4 in VB
with Silverlight 4
i
n
Pro
Beginning Pro
Windows Phone 7
ASP.NET in VB 2010 WPF in VB 2010 Development
V Create cross-platform .NET applications
Companion eBook for the browser
B
THIRD EDITION

See last page for details
on $10 eBook version THIRD EDITION
M
a
c Matthew MacDonald
SOURCE CODE ONLINE D
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Shelve in:
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User level:
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7.5 x 9.25 spine = 1.6875" 896 page count

Pro Silverlight 4 in VB
Third Edition

■ ■ ■
Matthew MacDonald
Pro Silverlight 4 in VB, Third Edition
Copyright © 2010 by Matthew MacDonald
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For my family

Contents at a Glance
■ Contents......................................................................................................................................vi
■ About the Author.....................................................................................................................xxii
■ About the Technical Reviewer...............................................................................................xxiii
■ Acknowledgments..................................................................................................................xxiv
■ Introduction.............................................................................................................................xxv
■ Chapter 1: Introducing Silverlight..............................................................................................1
■ Chapter 2: XAML........................................................................................................................33
■ Chapter 3: Layout......................................................................................................................61
■ Chapter 4: Dependency Properties and Routed Events.......................................................107
■ Chapter 5: Elements................................................................................................................141
■ Chapter 6: The Application Model.........................................................................................197
■ Chapter 7: Navigation.............................................................................................................225
■ Chapter 8: Shapes and Geometries........................................................................................257
■ Chapter 9: Brushes, Transforms, and Bitmaps.....................................................................293
■ Chapter 10: Animation............................................................................................................335
■ Chapter 11: Sound, Video, and Deep Zoom..........................................................................391
■ Chapter 12: Styles and Behaviors...........................................................................................439
■ Chapter 13: Templates and Custom Controls.......................................................................463
■ Chapter 14: Browser Integration............................................................................................503
■ Chapter 15: ASP.NET Web Services........................................................................................529
■ Chapter 16: Data Binding........................................................................................................559
■ Chapter 17: Data Controls......................................................................................................609
■ Chapter 18: File Access............................................................................................................657
■ Chapter 19: Multithreading....................................................................................................683
■ Chapter 20: Networking..........................................................................................................705
■ Chapter 21: Out-of-Browser Applications.............................................................................753
■ Index.........................................................................................................................................793

v
■ CONTENTS

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
vi
■ CONTENTS
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
vii
■ CONTENTS

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
viii