Applied WPF 4 in Context

Book description

Applied WPF 4 in Context sets the standard for leveraging the latest Windows user interface technology in your business applications.

Using this book, you'll learn how to implement world-class Windows Professional Foundation (WPF) solutions in a real-world line of business applications, developing the code from the ground up, and understand how to apply best development practices and related .NET products and technologies to your solutions. You will cover designing and developing the application, testing and debugging, data access, reporting, and applying styles and themes to enhance the look of the user interface—all using WPF in a very practical, eminently useful context. You'll create asynchronous and parallel code, and learn how to distribute the application's components using Windows Communication Foundation (WCF). You'll also apply the Model-View-ViewModel pattern, again in a real-world WPF application.

Elegant and functional WPF applications are easier to create than ever before with Applied WPF 4 in Context.

What you'll learn

  • XAML (the Extensible Application Markup Language) through hands-on practice

  • How to integrate Windows Forms, DirectX, ActiveX, and other non-WPF technologies into your WPF application

  • How to integrate WPF with report writers, such as Crystal Reports and SQL Server Reporting Services

  • How to access remote services on a server from the client machine using Windows Communication Foundation

  • Witness the development of a real line-of-business application from the ground up, from the design and analysis phase to the development and testing phase and, finally, how to deploy the application in a production environment, all using WPF and the latest development environment.

    Who this book is for

    This book is for Windows application developers who want to understand the context in which WPF sits and the standards and best practices that can be employed to improve the efficiency and maintainability of their projects. This book can be used by a junior developer to learn WPF and understand how to architect a layered application, and it can also be used by a senior developer as a reference for developing scalable WPF applications.

    Note: If you'd like to contact the author, please do so via his blog, which you can find at http://blog.raffaeu.com.

    Table of contents

    1. Title Page
    2. Dedication
    3. Contents at a Glance
    4. Contents
    5. About the Author
    6. About the Technical Reviewer
    7. Acknowledgments
    8. Introduction
      1. Who This Book is For
      2. How This Book is Structured
      3. Downloading the Code
      4. Contacting the Author
    9. CHAPTER 1: Introducing WPF and XAML
      1. The XAML Syntax
      2. Introduction to WPF
      3. Summary
    10. CHAPTER 2: Sample Application: Overview and Getting Started
      1. Requirements
      2. Application Overview
      3. Application Configuration
      4. Summary
    11. CHAPTER 3: Microsoft Expression Blend
      1. Overview
      2. Blend Workspace
      3. Drawing
      4. Animations
      5. Styling and Templating Controls
      6. Design-Time Data
      7. SketchFlow and the Mockups
      8. Summary
    12. CHAPTER 4: Creating the Views
      1. Overview
      2. Creating a Mock-up and Prototyping
      3. The View Models
      4. Navigation Between the Views
      5. Wrapping Up with IoC
      6. Summary
    13. CHAPTER 5: Adding Controls to the Views
      1. Resources and Styles
      2. Creating the Views
      3. Add Features to the Application
      4. Summary
    14. CHAPTER 6: The Entity Framework
      1. Object Relational Mappers
      2. Active Record Pattern
      3. Code First Development
      4. The TimeTracker Domain
      5. The TimeTracker Data Layer
      6. Summary
    15. CHAPTER 7: Data Binding
      1. WPF Data Binding Engine
      2. ViewModels
      3. Summary
    16. CHAPTER 8: Command Handling and Event Routing
      1. Introduction to Commands
      2. TimeTracker Commands
      3. Summary
    17. CHAPTER 9: Testing with TDD
      1. Test Driven Development
      2. TDD: the TimeTracker Application
      3. Summary
    18. CHAPTER 10: Reports with Microsoft Reporting Services
      1. SQL Server Reporting services
      2. TimeTracker Reports
      3. Hosting the Reports in a WPF Control
      4. Summary
    19. CHAPTER 11: Deploy the Application Using ClickOnce
      1. ClickOnce Deployment
      2. Publishing Options
      3. Deploy the TimeTracker Application
      4. Summary
    20. CHAPTER 12: Design Patterns in WPF
      1. Patterns for the UI
      2. Summary
    21. CHAPTER 13: WPF and Multithreading
      1. Writing Multithreading Code in .NET
      2. Summary
    22. CHAPTER 14: Interacting with WCF
      1. Introduction to WCF
      2. A Sample WCF Project
      3. Integrate WCF into the TimeTracker Application
      4. WCF Security
      5. Summary
    23. Index

    Product information

    • Title: Applied WPF 4 in Context
    • Author(s):
    • Release date: May 2011
    • Publisher(s): Apress
    • ISBN: 9781430234708