February 2008 - Posts
This article presents tips on how to write WPF controls that consistently apply styles and templates.
Being impressed with the new ORM behaviour exhibited by Microsoft's new LINQ technology, I decided to do a development spike before using it in my next project. Although LINQ is definitely the way to go, there would seem to be a few shortfalls that require a bit of working around. Here I write about a fairly nasty behavior where LINQ objects' properties are set with null values causing the database to reject updates and inserts on columns that won't allow null data.
This is the second in a series of articles on writing WPF business applications in VB.NET using Visual Studio 2008. In it I cover the FormNotification control, binding to objects that implement IDataErorrInfo, rendering the Form Notification popup in the Adorner Layer, extending the data binding system to utilize logical operations in trigger conditions, avoiding the ToolBar Button and TextBox IDataErrorInfo data binding error condition, persisting validation error cues in the Adorner layer when switching between TabItems, using the Dispatcher object to permit the System.Timers.Timer thread to update the user interface, and using skin ControlTempates to round corners on TextBoxes.
There exist different techniques to connect items in a typical diagram designer. One approach is to provide connection elements in a toolbox which the user can drop on the designer canvas and then drag the endpoints to the source and sink items. Another approach is that the items themselves provide connection points from which the user can drag a connection to other items. This second strategy is the one I will explain in this article.
LINQ to SQL solves the mismatch between the object oriented and relational database world. In an application, we deal in terms of our domain objects such as customer and orders. However, when it comes to saving these objects and solving the datatype mismatch between the programming and database world, it has traditionally been the developer's responsibility to write code to persist these objects to a database and handle the data type conversions. Where LINQ to SQL shines as compared to other ORM tools in the market is the fact that not only LINQ to SQL abstracts away the database structure behind our business objects, it also supports a query language called LINQ.
I would have never thought to find a beautiful user experience in an enterprise application, but recently Frog Design helped ship an application called “Lawson Smart Client” powered by Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) that I think changes the game for software user experiences both in and out of the enterprise.
Provides guidance for using the Model-View-Controller design pattern to create modular WPF apps that are easy to unit test.
This is the first in a series of articles on writing WPF business applications in VB.NET using Visual Studio 2008. In it I cover the following topics: Application Structure, Skinning, and Custom ToolBar Button Controls.
In this article I will provide brief introductions to the following: DataBinding in General, DataContext, Basic Databinding Concepts, Databinding Syntax, Databinding to UI Elements, Databinding to XML, Databinding to Collections, Databinding Value Convertors, and Databinding Validation.
When used appropriately, the WPF in Windows Vista® can help you create an engaging, productive experience your target users will love. If misused, it could lead to programs that are frustrating and difficult to use. The guidelines that follow will help you understand the difference, and use this technology appropriately.
This article shows how to display OpenGL content hosted in a Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) based application. The controls in this example are implemented using managed C++ because it makes using native OpenGL and Win32 libraries easier.
This article describes the framework that WPF offers and also tells the differences between Browser based and Windows based installed applications.
This article explains how you can build your own MVC framework, using WF as the Controller. One of the hardest parts in designing an application, is getting a handle on the logic. UI logic is often full of requirements that are intuitive to the end-users but hard to program for developers. One thing that helps is to be able to visualize this logic. Workflow (WF) is a natural fit to do so.
One of the questions I get most often from designers and almost never from developers is: How can I get drop shadows into my application without killing my performance? It is, of course, easy as punch and pie to get drop shadows into your application. You can just use the Bitmaps Effects panel in the Appearance section.
Multiple Document Interfaces (MDI) have come and gone in .NET and I am sure will someday come back again. In the meantime, I decided to write my very own implementation of MDI in WPF. Instead of multiple documents, I decided to extend my design to house multiple windows. The Multiple Window Interface contains many of the features of MDI with the addition of attachable windows.
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