Archives for posts with tag: Blend

Using Behaviors in Blend 4 (Silverlight TV 30)

June 1, 10 //
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In this episode, Adam Kinney demonstrates how to take advantage of behaviors in Expression Blend 4. He creates several demonstrations using the new DataStore and conditional behavior features in concert with several new behaviors including ChangePropertyAction, ControlStoryBoardAction, SetDataStoreValueAction, and the custom Mouse3DBehavior. Adam also shows how to create a custom behavior using code. Don’t miss this episode as Adam discusses how behaviors can make the UI developer’s job much easier.
 

Relevant links:

Follow us on Twitter @SilverlightTV or on the web at http://silverlight.tv/

Learning Silverlight and Blend with .toolbox (Silverlight TV #29)

May 27, 10 //
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In this episode, Arturo Toledo demonstrates all of the new content he and his colleagues have created to teach you to design and develop with Expression Blend and Silverlight. He shows off some really cool samples, all of which you can download and do yourself through hands on-labs. Arturo walks through the .toolbox site and shows the numerous learning materials, videos, demos, and hands-on labs. If you have been looking for a comprehensive set of self-paced learning materials focused on designing  with Expression Blend, you should definitely watch this video and check out .toolbox.
 

Relevant links:

Follow us on Twitter @SilverlightTV or on the web at http://silverlight.tv/

Silverlight TV 25: No More Boxes! Exploring the PathListBox

May 11, 10 //
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In this video, Adam Kinney explains what the PathListBox is and why it is so compelling. Then, he demonstrates several ways of using it in creative examples. The PathListBox is one of the newest features available in Expression Blend, Silverlight 4 and WPF 4. It redefines how users look at lists of data as it breaks the mold of a list “box” and opens the possibilities to use any shape or path. Don’t miss this episode and be sure to download Adam’s sample code.
 

Relevant links:

Follow us on Twitter @SilverlightTV or on the web at http://silverlight.tv/

Don’t miss the next episode on Thursday May 13th…Exposing SOAP, JSON, and OData Endpoints to RIA Services.

Tanagram Partners: Making multi-touch easier with touch.codeplex.com

April 24, 10 //
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The APIs in WPF4 plus the Surface Toolkit for Windows Touch make building common touch scenarios easy. However, implementing many of the same touch scenarios using WPF3.5SP1 or Silverlight 3/4 involves writing a fair bit more code. Furthermore, the touch APIs across WPF4, WPF3.5SP1, and Silverlight are different. 

 

The goal of this project is to simplify building common touch scenarios when using WPF 3.5 SP1 or Silverlight 3/4 by using Expression Blend Behaviors to provide a consistent way to implement these scenarios across WPF & Silverlight. Expression Blend Behaviors can be used within Visual Studio without a dependency on Expression Blend by downloading the Expression Blend 3 SDK. You can also find more Expression Blend Behaviors athttp://expressionblend.codeplex.com/ and http://tinyurl.com/ExpressionGalleryBehaviors. 

 

Go to http://touch.codeplex.com/ to learn more about this project.  Go to http://tanagrampartners.com/ to learn more about Tanagram Partners.

Pete Blois on Windows Phone 7 in Blend 4 and Rooler

March 17, 10 //
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In February, while up on campus for the MVP summit, I snuck over to the Expression side of building 41 and met with Pete Blois.

Pete Blois is a Senior Program Manager Lead on the Expression Blend team. He’s responsible for tooling for Silverlight, WPF, and now Silverlight for Windows Phone 7 Series.

Blend 4 supports not only Silverlight, WPF, and Windows Phone, it now includes multi-targeting support for the .NET framework 3.5sp1 and 4, Silverlight 3 and 4, and Silverlight for Windows Phone,  just like Visual Studio 2010. In this video, Pete goes into some detail about how they have accomplished multi targeting in Blend 4.

Pete also talks about Rooler, the screen measurement and sampling tool he created for designers and developers. Written in WPF, this has become one of my go-to tools whenever I’m working with an existing design.

Finally, we get into the new Blend tooling for Windows Phone Series 7 development. As expected, the Expression team delivers with an awesome design and development experience for a new platform. 

Silverlight TV 12: The Best Blend 3 Video Ever!

March 3, 10 //
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You never know what hijinks are in store when Adam Kinney and John get together. In this episode, Adam makes his theatrical return to Silverlight TV and claims to have filmed the best Expression Blend 3 video ever! Adam demonstrates:

  • sketching with SketchFlow
  • importing images
  • path conversion to elements
  • sample data
  • editing item templates
  • data binding
  • behaviors
  • effects
  • visual states
  • easing

This is a great and very practical demonstration of Blend 3 from the Expression Evangelist himself.

Links for this episode:

Countdown to PDC09: This is Your Brain on Puzzles

October 23, 09 //
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In this episode, Mike talks with Kenny Young, an architect on the Expression Blend team, and Josh Benaloh, a senior cryptographer in Microsoft Research about the puzzles they plan to inflict on our PDC09 attendees. These are the guys who have been providing the puzzles that we’ve been tweeting recently, and they brought their own Hard Hat Challenge. Mike also reminds everyone about the caption contest at www.nxtgenug.net for a free PDC09 pass, and talks briefly about the Visual Studio Documentary to be shown at the event, including a Q&A panel after the show.

Tool Shed Tooltip #27 – Expression Blend 3 – Behaviors

September 28, 09 //
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Are you tired of writing wire up code, based on events in WPF or Silverlight, like storyboard1.Begin() on a mouse click event? Join Expression Blend 3. This should save quite a bit of time and provide a great re-usable model for event handlers in WPF or Silverlight development.

 
What is it? Behaviors allow you to attach functionality to visual elements to make them behave a certain way, such as drag and drop or physics.
 
Download Site: http://www.microsoft.com/expression/try-it/

Example Problem(s) it solves
adds extra  functionality to xaml elements
easily attach behaviors to elements with no code
Installation Notes: Behaviors  require free Blend 3 SDK for Silverlight and WPF, installed with Blend 3, is  available separately.

Usage Notes: Expression Community Home: http://expression.microsoft.com

This is the sixth and final of Tool Shed Tooltips clips released from Episode 4 of the TV Show Russ Tool Shed presents… “It’s All About The Tools” hosted by Russ Fustino and Co-Host Stan Schultes. Download code, ppt and demo script from http://code.msdn.com/toolshed for all episodes. Also, use the links on http://channel9.msdn.com/toolshed to download tools. Finally, check out some more great videos on the Developer Evangelist East site: http://channel9.msdn.com/dpeeast