Xaml component visible in multiple pages in Silverlight+XNA applications - silverlight

I am doing a Silverlight+XNA game for windows phone 7 and I need to have a xaml animation which can appear in multiple pages. What is the best practice for doing this?
Thanks in advance.

Depending on what you mean by animation, and the way it is implemented, one of the most obvious ways would be putting it in a XAML ResourceDictionary, either through a separate XAML file, or part of the core App.xaml.

Making a user control would be a good way of going about it. Make a User Control with an image in it. Let the user control set the Image and run the animations.

Related

bind data when user controls can be switched in WP7

I just worked with C# but do not have any idea on Silverlight so I am trying to know if there is a possibility of following.
I have 2 possible layouts for my list box items. so I have created 2 different user controls. Which are completely different that I cannot comprimise and put them in a single control and disable and enable on certain condition. I assumed that this approach will delay the load (correct me if I am wrong). So I am looking for a possibility if I can switch them from xaml. I can switch the control in c# code and even populate them. But data population in c# is a pain when compared to silverlight. I am asking this question only because I want to use data binding.
Is there a way to switch them from xaml. or is there a efficient way of doing this. Even a link of any article that can help is fine.
Thanks in advance.
Maybe DataTemplateSelector will be suitable for you.
I would disagree that data population in Silverlight is a pain.
On the contrary, this is actually one of the strongest benefits with Silverlight and Xaml, because of the excellent data binding capabilities you have access to.
So if you don't already, make sure you actually are utilizing this properly.
I don't know exactly how you would like to switch between these different views, but one way would certainly to bind the visibility of your views to another element on the page that determines which of them should be visible.
That way you can do it within Xaml.

WPF Mosaic like layout?

Does anyone know of a layout control that I can give it multiple controls and tries to organise them on the screen?
I want something like a wrap panel, but the controls have different sizes and ideally I want to minizmise the empty spaces between them.
I am building a workaround class to do that, same reason that your
but if you looking for a paid solution this guys have nice dashboard windows metro style based

Can I use the WP7 Panorama control outside of WP7?

I need a WPF control that acts like the Panorama control for Windows Phone 7, but I need it for a desktop application.
It will contain a series of panels (or Panorama Items) that the application will be able to slide through horizontally programmatically.
Also, the content inside the panels not currently displayed on the screen will need to be "lazy loaded". In other words, they should be referenced but not loaded or rendered.
Can I somehow adapt the WP7 Panorama control to do this? Or will I have to develop a custom control from scratch to behave similarly to it?
Thank you!
EDIT:
I could probably use a VirtualizingPanel to implement the lazyload behaviour.
MahApps.Metro while still not super mature does allow for the wp7 Panorama control. Demo of how to use a panorama here. I've played with it a little and while its not the most customizable thing out there it gets the job done. Pretty sweet. Also Sacha Barber (Codeproject Demigod) wrote up an article on making your own. Of which I haven't looked at yet but, the guy usually does awesome work. So I'd check that one out as well.
http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/arielbh/archive/2010/10/21/porting-windows-phone-7-s-panorama-control-to-silverlight-4.aspx gives some clues about how do to this.
It suggests using http://phone.codeplex.com/ as your base and then you can use http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=4b281bde-9b01-4890-b3d4-b3b45ca2c2e4 (Microsoft Surface Manipulations and Inertia Sample for Microsoft Silverlight) to run convert get it to respond to touch.
Seems none exist as far as I can see so far.
This blog has started an attempt at making it, so you could work from there to make your own. Be sure to also check out this page which details the creation of an individual panorama item too.

Suggestions for replacing legacy VB6/Flash application with WPF/Blend application

We have a legacy application that utilizes VB6, the Flash ActiveX control, and Flash content to display animated movies to users. For plenty of reasons we're looking to migrate away from this. I'm hoping someone out there can answer a few questions about WPF so that we can make a determination about how best to move forward.
First, a little about our current architecture and needs. The Flash content is set up as separate SWF files, where each individual SWF represents a training module with animated content. We have hundreds of these modules. Users run this software in a disconnected fashion where their local machine may or may not have ALL of these SWF files. The current application gives the user the option of downloading the SWF modules as they're needed.
Here's how we're thinking about setting up a new solution using WPF and Blend. We've written a WPF host application that can dynamically show Blend content based on button presses or whatever. And we've created a few test modules in Blend as WPF custom controls. But there are three nagging questions:
Right now we have the custom controls within the main WPF solution, but we need to make these disconnected. I've read several things about using Application.LoadComponent but I don't know if that will work for our solution.
Each of the Blend custom controls contains one or more storyboards that control the animation. As soon as I add one of the custom controls to a container in the WPF app, ALL of the storyboards automatically start "playing". How can I programatically make it so that I start/stop certain storyboards as needed?
Let's say I want to change a text label in one of the custom controls. If we're dynamically loading the custom control, how would I access one of the text labels to make such a change?
Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Loving WPF so far and hoping we can make this work and say goodbye to Flash forever!!!
There is Manage Extensibility Framework, that is a standard approach for dynamic modules.
Anyway, I haven't used it, so I would answer the questions in other way:
1) No, LoadComponent is ised for xaml files, whereas custom control consist of code and xaml. I mean, the custom control that you can add using Add->New Item->Custom Control(WPF). So you should do something like this, with reflection and ContentControl:
Assembly asm = Assembly.LoadFile(#"C:\SomeLibrary.dll");
Type type = asm.GetType("SomeNamespace.SomeControl");
var control = Activator.CreateInstance(type) as Control;
this.myContentControl.Content = control;
2) It isn't fact. You can put the storyboards into Control.Resources and launch them manually.
((Storyboard)control.Resources["myStoryboard"]).Begin(control);
3)
control.FindName("anyname") as TextBlock;

Have a wpf window inside another wpf window

Is there a way to host a WPF window inside another WPF window. I have a couple of somewhat complex forms in place. But now to simplify things I am trying to merge a few of them as tabpages inside one 'Dashboard' form.
Please note that I am not trying to host a Windows Form, but another WPF window
If you want tabpages, why not use a TabControl with UserControls inside ? If you need to transform one of these tabs to a floating window, just put the UserControl in a new Window...
Can I answer this question with another question; why would you not create them as controls rather than other WPF windows, that you want to host in the main WPF window?
a bit late on this, but I guess with WindowsForms interop you can put in WPF a WinForms control host and in that host put a WinForms control that hosts the handle of a WPF window
I think what you're asking for is MDI, Multiple Document Interface. Something like this might help.
Do note, however, that the MDI paradigm is largely shunned these days. There are usually better ways to achieve the same functionality.
I think you want to hosting contents of WPF Window1.xaml (page1.xaml) inside within another WPF Window.
Well...you can use Navigation. Instead running window1.xaml contents inside tab then you can work with your data inside Navigation. Navigation can run within WPF Window Application. You just design your form / UI in page1.xaml.
one another..MDI old and rusty. We want clear of top window nowadays.

Resources