I am not happy with the default style of my application and I'd like to add a style that makes it look more professional. I downloaded some themes but the ones I found kinda ruined my window interfaces.
Any idea where to find free recent WPF styles?
There does not exist anything like this, what you are describing. You can get Windows themes, which will impact your whole OS but also your application if you have been using system colors while developing.
There is no magic formula that would know how to style which button. This is something you have to implement on your own.
What you can do is to learn more about how to properly style an application using styles from from a external . In order to make your application more appealing you can download a color pallet and follow it. The designing you will, still, have to do on your own.
There are themes pre-made available on the internet. : http://brianlagunas.com/free-metro-light-and-dark-themes-for-wpf-and-silverlight-microsoft-controls/
You need to add them to you project.
Related
I want to look into the default styles that are used for the default WPF application so that I can experiment/tweak them. (I believe this to be the standard AERO theme)
So I downloaded the default themes from Microsoft, and manually applied the AERO theme.
I added the "Aero.NormalColor.xaml" file into my project
I then added "PresentationUI.dll" and "PresentationFramework.Aero.dll"
I then modified the namespace from "xmlns:theme="clr-namespace:Microsoft.Windows.Themes;" to "xmlns:theme="clr-namespace:Microsoft.Windows.Themes;assembly=PresentationFramework.Aero" (It was throwing errors otherwise)
Finally I add it into the Apps resource dictionary
But it ends up looking slightly different, in particular, menus seem to look different. So I guess I'm running the wrong theme.
This is using VS 2010 and the default new .net4 WPF application project
Those default themes you downloaded could be god knows what. Probably not what is shipped with the actual .NET framework and Windows.
I don't know what your end goal is, but I would suggest looking at the XAML of a specific control you are interested in Blend. It was a pretty simple action, something like right click -> edit control template, although I can't remember the exact steps (like where to click exactly etc). I'm sure you can google that information very quickly...
I'm a complete n00b to WPF but I'm working on my first application. I already realize that styles I use in the application I will likely want to use in future applications, so I'd like to use some method of applying global styles from project to project.
I've seen plenty of tutorials on creating a control library project, but they all go into creating custom controls. I don't really need custom controls (yet) per se, just the standard Windows controls with custom styles.
I'm also a little unclear on the whole ResourceDictionary thing. I've found examples on creating one for an application project, but not so much for a control library project.
What I'm looking for here is a) is a control library really what I need or am I creating more work than necessary? b) am I on the right path with a ResourceDictionary? and c) any good links to tutorials/examples that might go into what I'm trying to do rather than just a custom control creation tutorial.
You definitely want a ResourceDictionary with styles that you will be using in other apps. You can then reference it on an application, window, or even control level by including it in the application, window or control resources.
Where you put that resource dictionary isn't that important, though a custom control project is a common place to do so. It can be anywhere, in any project, and you can reference it with a URI.
Microsoft has a pretty good writeup on resources: Using Resources. Here's a decent tutorial on using dictionaries: Resource Dictionaries
You are in the right direction with ResourceDictionary. Create one for your application in a separate library move all your Styles there and refer them using Pack URI syntax. Here is a related question: ResourceDictionary in a separate assembly
Whilst working in Silverlight I am always fighting the urge to work on the screen design rather than coding the behaviour (which is what I should be doing). My cunning plan is to find a theme that looks something like MS SketchFlow or Balsamiq which will remind me of the draft nature of the screens whilst being somewhat prettier than the default look & feel of Silverlight.
Does anyone know of such a theme? Alternatively can anyone give advise on how they overcame there design addiction :)
Thanks,
Dan
Hmm... Work in Visual Studio rather than Blend?
Alternatively, those Sketchflow controls are just that, normal controls that are styled. If you create one of the demo sketchflow projects in blend you can just grab the style file, I think it's "SketchStyles.xaml" and reuse that where you need it.
(I used the 'KioskSketch' sample app btw)
Does anybody know of a bread-crumb style navigation for Winforms like the one from DotNetBar.
http://www.devcomponents.com/dotnetbar/BreadCrumbHorizontalTreeControl.aspx
I really like that control. However I am using a other UI library already and just for this control I do not want a reference to another 4 MB lib. I just need this control. Does anybody if something like this is available as a standalone control?
I have used the Bread Crumb control of Krypton Toolkit, but you mentioned, that you don´t want an other UI library.
But maybe this source can help you, to build your own Bread Crumb control Creating A Breadcrumb Control
Try this one i haven't used it but (i use the one from Krypton) but i guess it will be good for you.
The one Jehof gave you is way better.
However take a look at Krypton suite, i always use it with the DevExpress XtraEditors. together you can create some great looking apps. i know you said that you don't want a huge library, but it's worth it.
When it comes to UI design I generally don't care to do custom styling (appearance-wise), I'm not much of an artist and I hate trying to come up with interesting color schemes and the like. Are there any online repositories of premade WPF styles and/or control templates? I could have sworn I saw one before but I can't find it now, it might be gone.
Just curious if you guys know of anything like this. It'd be great to be able to drop in a premade style into my application to spruce it up a bit.
Here's another.
Here's one.