Animation from within DataTemplate - silverlight

Below is the data template I'm using for a listbox's ItemTemplate. It shows some simple data, and a button, which ideally should animate a Popup, also contained within the DataTemplate. Unfortunately the whole thing blow up at runtime. The error says line 52 is wrong, which is:
<EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Button.Click">
Here's the whole DataTemplate. I've used this popup before, with the same exact content templates and even the same animation elsewhere. It's only blowing up when I try to put it into a DataTemplate. I assume the animation is having difficulty finding the right animation target - I'm hoping someone here would know more.
<DataTemplate x:Key="ItemTemplate2">
<Border Width="100" Height="100" BorderThickness="4" BorderBrush="Red">
<StackPanel>
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Name}"/>
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Price}"/>
<Popup x:Name="popupContent" IsOpen="True" Margin="10,0,0,0" Grid.Row="0" >
<Popup.Child>
<Thumb x:Name="thumbContent" DragDelta="Thumb_DragDelta" Width="0" Height="0">
<Thumb.Template>
<ControlTemplate>
<local:thumbTemplate Margin="0" x:Name="df" />
</ControlTemplate>
</Thumb.Template>
</Thumb>
</Popup.Child>
</Popup>
<Button Content="Show">
<Button.Triggers>
<EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Button.Click">
<BeginStoryboard>
<BeginStoryboard.Storyboard>
<Storyboard x:Name="sbShowPopup">
<DoubleAnimation Duration="0:0:1" To="200" Storyboard.TargetProperty="(FrameworkElement.Width)" Storyboard.TargetName="popupContent" d:IsOptimized="True"/>
<DoubleAnimation Duration="0:0:1" To="80" Storyboard.TargetProperty="(FrameworkElement.Height)" Storyboard.TargetName="popupContent" d:IsOptimized="True"/>
</Storyboard>
</BeginStoryboard.Storyboard>
</BeginStoryboard>
</EventTrigger>
</Button.Triggers>
</Button>
</StackPanel>
</Border>
</DataTemplate>

You may have used this before but not in Silverlight. The only supported value for RoutedEvent in Silverlight is "FrameworkElement.LoadedEvent".
You will need the BlendSDK to do this sort of thing in Silverlight.

Related

Expander getting stuck after IsExpanded set to true by storyboard

So I have an expander that I want to have the normal functionality (open and close with its own button) but I also want a different button to expand it when pressed (this button is in the header of the expander). I'm using a storyboard in an event trigger for the Button.Click which works, but after it is expanded this way the normal button doesn't work, it just stays expanded. My xaml is below, I would really prefer to keep this all in the xaml, I could come up with a way to do it in the codebehind/viewmodel myself.
<Expander x:Name="IndexExpander" IsExpanded="True" Grid.Row="4" Grid.ColumnSpan="5" Margin="10" MaxHeight="150">
<Expander.Triggers>
<EventTrigger SourceName="btnAddIndex" RoutedEvent="Button.Click">
<BeginStoryboard>
<Storyboard>
<BooleanAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetName="IndexExpander" Storyboard.TargetProperty="IsExpanded" BeginTime="0:0:0.25" Duration="0:0:0.20" >
<DiscreteBooleanKeyFrame KeyTime="0" Value="True" />
</BooleanAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
</Storyboard>
</BeginStoryboard>
</EventTrigger>
</Expander.Triggers>
<Expander.Header>
<StackPanel DockPanel.Dock="Left" Orientation="Horizontal">
<TextBlock Text="Indexes" FontWeight="Bold"/>
<!-- Add/Delete Buttons-->
<Grid Margin="10,0,0,0">
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="50*"/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="50*"/>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Button Grid.Column="0" x:Name="btnAddIndex" Command="{Binding AddIndexCommand}" Template="{StaticResource AddButtonTemplate}" IsEnabled="{Binding IsEditable}" Margin="0,0,5,0" />
</Grid>
</StackPanel>
</Expander.Header>
Alright, so for anyone following in my footsteps here's what I did. I got the idea from here, and adapted it until it worked correctly.
<Expander.Triggers>
<EventTrigger SourceName="btnAddCol" RoutedEvent="Button.Click">
<BeginStoryboard x:Name="ColumnExpanderStory">
<Storyboard>
<BooleanAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetName="ColumnExpander" Storyboard.TargetProperty="IsExpanded">
<DiscreteBooleanKeyFrame KeyTime="0" Value="True" />
</BooleanAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
</Storyboard>
</BeginStoryboard>
</EventTrigger>
<EventTrigger RoutedEvent="ToggleButton.PreviewMouseUp">
<RemoveStoryboard BeginStoryboardName="ColumnExpanderStory" />
</EventTrigger>
</Expander.Triggers>
<Expander.Header>
The problem was that the storyboard overrides any other bindings to the IsExpanded property, so it has to be removed to restore them (read more here). The suggestion was to use the ToggleButton.Checked event to remove the storyboard, but that didn't work for me, only the "Preview" events seemed to have the right timing. I started with PreviewMouseDown, but it would remove the storyboard, then on mouse up toggle the expander, meaning the first click would just flip states back and forth quickly. Using PreviewMouseUp got around that issue.

Access ItemsControl Items and Animate One by One

Today is a good day since I started with WPF, this for a launcher I'm creating.
Using the following code, I managed to get the result to be seen in the screenshot:
<Grid>
<ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding Programs}">
<ItemsControl.ItemsPanel>
<ItemsPanelTemplate>
<WrapPanel Orientation="Horizontal" VerticalAlignment="Center" HorizontalAlignment="Center" />
</ItemsPanelTemplate>
</ItemsControl.ItemsPanel>
<ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<Button Content="{Binding Text}" Background="Transparent" Foreground="White" Width="128" Height="150" >
<Button.RenderTransform>
<TransformGroup>
<ScaleTransform />
</TransformGroup>
</Button.RenderTransform>
<Button.Template>
<ControlTemplate TargetType="Button">
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="*" />
<RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Image Grid.Row="0" Source="{Binding Image}" Height="128" />
<ContentPresenter Grid.Row="1" HorizontalAlignment="Center" Margin="3,10" />
<Rectangle Grid.Row="0" Fill="{TemplateBinding Background}" />
<Rectangle Grid.Row="1" Fill="{TemplateBinding Background}" />
</Grid>
</ControlTemplate>
</Button.Template>
<Button.Resources>
<Storyboard SpeedRatio="4" x:Key="MouseEnterStoryboard" x:Name="MouseEnterStoryboard">
<ColorAnimation Storyboard.TargetProperty="(Button.Background).(SolidColorBrush.Color)" To="#22FFFFFF"></ColorAnimation>
</Storyboard>
<Storyboard SpeedRatio="4" x:Key="MouseLeaveStoryboard" x:Name="MouseLeaveStoryboard">
<ColorAnimation Storyboard.TargetProperty="(Button.Background).(SolidColorBrush.Color)" To="Transparent"></ColorAnimation>
</Storyboard>
<Storyboard Duration="00:00:00.05" x:Key="MouseClickStoryboard" AutoReverse="True">
<DoubleAnimation To="0.8" Storyboard.TargetProperty="(UIElement.RenderTransform).(TransformGroup.Children)[0].(ScaleTransform.ScaleX)"/>
<DoubleAnimation To="0.8" Storyboard.TargetProperty="(UIElement.RenderTransform).(TransformGroup.Children)[0].(ScaleTransform.ScaleY)"/>
</Storyboard>
<Storyboard x:Key="WindowLoadedStoryboard">
<DoubleAnimation Storyboard.TargetProperty="Opacity" From="0" To="1" Duration="00:00:01" />
</Storyboard>
</Button.Resources>
<Button.Triggers>
<EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Mouse.MouseEnter">
<BeginStoryboard Storyboard="{StaticResource MouseEnterStoryboard}" />
</EventTrigger>
<EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Mouse.MouseLeave">
<BeginStoryboard Storyboard="{StaticResource MouseLeaveStoryboard}" />
</EventTrigger>
<EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Button.Click">
<BeginStoryboard Storyboard="{StaticResource MouseClickStoryboard}" />
</EventTrigger>
<EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Window.Loaded">
<BeginStoryboard Storyboard="{StaticResource WindowLoadedStoryboard}"></BeginStoryboard>
</EventTrigger>
</Button.Triggers>
</Button>
</DataTemplate>
</ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
</ItemsControl>
</Grid>
Screenshot:
Now, for each item in the list bound to this control, it will create a button.
How would I access this button programmatically, better yet, how would I access one of the Storyboards programatically since assigning a name (x:to them simply won't do the trick it seems...
Also, how can I animate the buttons one by one? Currently they each fade in at exact the same time (# WindowLoadedStoryboard), but I would like to let each button fade in one by one with a short delay, to create a nice effect. How would I achieve this?
Hope someone can answer these 2 questions for me!
Greetings!
Your problem with accessing the elements defined in the DataTemplate is caused because you defined those elements in a DataTemplate... those elements could be rendered in many different types of UI container controls. You can find the solution in the How to: Find DataTemplate-Generated Elements page from MSDN.
You first need to get hold of the relevant container control that contains the item that has had that DataTemplate applied to it. Next, you need to get the ContentPresenter from that container control and then you can get the DataTemplate from ContentPresenter. Finally, you can access the named elements from the DataTemplate. From the linked page:
// Getting the currently selected ListBoxItem
// Note that the ListBox must have
// IsSynchronizedWithCurrentItem set to True for this to work
ListBoxItem myListBoxItem = (ListBoxItem)(myListBox.ItemContainerGenerator.
ContainerFromItem(myListBox.Items.CurrentItem));
// Getting the ContentPresenter of myListBoxItem
ContentPresenter myContentPresenter = FindVisualChild<ContentPresenter>(myListBoxItem);
// Finding textBlock from the DataTemplate that is set on that ContentPresenter
DataTemplate myDataTemplate = myContentPresenter.ContentTemplate;
TextBlock myTextBlock =
(TextBlock)myDataTemplate.FindName("textBlock", myContentPresenter);
// Do something to the DataTemplate-generated TextBlock
MessageBox.Show("The text of the TextBlock of the selected list item: " +
myTextBlock.Text);

Improve animation smoothness (moving of controls)

I have implemented the animation of moving of a grid control in the following manner:
<Grid
HorizontalAlignment="Center"
VerticalAlignment="Center">
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
<RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Grid.Style>
<Style TargetType="Grid">
<Style.Triggers>
<DataTrigger
Binding="{Binding ElementName=rootLayout, Path=IsVisible}"
Value="True">
<DataTrigger.EnterActions>
<BeginStoryboard>
<Storyboard>
<ThicknessAnimation
Storyboard.TargetProperty="Margin"
From="-500,0,0,0"
To="0,0,0,0"
Duration="0:0:0.5" />
</Storyboard>
</BeginStoryboard>
</DataTrigger.EnterActions>
</DataTrigger>
</Style.Triggers>
</Style>
</Grid.Style>
<Border
Grid.RowSpan="2"
Background="Black"
CornerRadius="6" >
<Border.Effect>
<DropShadowEffect />
</Border.Effect>
</Border>
<TextBlock
Grid.Row="0"
Width="400"
Height="200"
Margin="20,20,20,10"
Text="{Binding Path=MessageText}" />
<Button
Grid.Row="1"
Margin="20,5,20,15"
HorizontalAlignment="Right"
Width="75"
Content="OK"
Command="{Binding Path=CloseDialogCommand}" />
</Grid>
The animation works fine, but it's ugly. It is shaky / jittery / jerky and it really looks unprofessional. Is there a way to improve this? Am I using the right approach with animating the value change on the Margin property in order to move the grid? I've read about RenderTransform, but I don't know how to use it in my case.
Also, the animation looks unnatural. I know this can be improved but I don't know how. What are these properties and can they help me enhance my animation:
AccelerationRatio
DecelerationRatio
EasingFunction
IsAdditive
IsCumulative
SpeedRatio
Thanks for helping!
P.S. I am trying to put as much code as possible in XAML, so I'd prefer that approach, but really, if there's anything to improve this...
Use easing functions, a simple DoubleAnimation and RenderTransform, e.g.
<Button Content="Test">
<Button.RenderTransform>
<TranslateTransform/>
</Button.RenderTransform>
<Button.Triggers>
<EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Button.Click">
<BeginStoryboard>
<Storyboard>
<DoubleAnimation Storyboard.TargetProperty="RenderTransform.X"
From="-500" To="0">
<DoubleAnimation.EasingFunction>
<CubicEase EasingMode="EaseOut"/>
</DoubleAnimation.EasingFunction>
</DoubleAnimation>
</Storyboard>
</BeginStoryboard>
</EventTrigger>
</Button.Triggers>
</Button>
This should be quite smooth, check out this overview on easing functions to get an idea of how they affect the animation.
Also note that the duration has a strong effect on what an animation looks like, depending on what easing function you use setting high duration values is needed because they slow down significantly at the end.

Bind Controls TO standalone animations

i'm new to wpf and i'm try to learn something.
My problem is : i need to bind all that i want to a looping animation...
Example:
<Window x:Class="Window1"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="Window1" Height="300" Width="300">
<StackPanel>
<Slider Visibility="Hidden" Minimum="0" Maximum="100" Height="22" Margin="73,40,105,0" Name="Slider1" VerticalAlignment="Top" Value="0">
<Slider.Triggers>
<EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Slider.Loaded">
<BeginStoryboard>
<Storyboard>
<DoubleAnimation
Storyboard.TargetName="Slider1"
Storyboard.TargetProperty="Value"
From="0" To="100" Duration="0:0:5"
AutoReverse="True" RepeatBehavior="Forever" />
</Storyboard>
</BeginStoryboard>
</EventTrigger>
</Slider.Triggers>
</Slider>
<Slider Minimum="0" Maximum="100" Height="22" Margin="72,98,106,0" Name="Slider2" VerticalAlignment="Top" Value="{Binding ElementName=Slider1, Path=Value}"/>
<Button Width="{Binding ElementName=Slider1, Path=Value}"></Button>
</StackPanel>
Slider1 is hidden and act as a Source for Slider2 and ButtonWidth.
Like a standalone oscillator.
I need a way to eliminate slider1 and bind directly to a standalone animation that loops.
It is possible?
Thanks in advance :)
Why don't you simply animate the Slider2 Value the same way you've animated Slider1's value? You can also animate the Button's Width. I am not sure why you would need Slider1 in the first place. The following markup demonstrates removing Slider1 and using the animation as a resource:
<Window.Resources>
<DoubleAnimation x:Key="ValueAnimation"
Storyboard.TargetProperty="Value"
From="0" To="100" Duration="0:0:5"
AutoReverse="True" RepeatBehavior="Forever" />
</Window.Resources>
<StackPanel>
<Slider Minimum="0" Maximum="100" Height="22" Margin="72,98,106,0"
Name="Slider2" VerticalAlignment="Top">
<Slider.Triggers>
<EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Slider.Loaded">
<BeginStoryboard>
<Storyboard Storyboard.TargetName="Slider2">
<StaticResource ResourceKey="ValueAnimation"/>
</Storyboard>
</BeginStoryboard>
</EventTrigger>
</Slider.Triggers>
</Slider>
<Button Width="{Binding ElementName=Slider2, Path=Value}"/>
</StackPanel>
You could remove the TargetProperty from ValueAnimation and specify that per animation, as well. That would let you use a single animation for both the Button.Width and the Slider.Value.
thanks for your answer :)
Why don't you simply animate the Slider2 Value the same way you've animated Slider1's value?
because i need to centralize the animation values to share it on multiple objects (not only another slider) and, in this way, i can edit values in 1 place only :)
Thank you your example fits well :)

ControlTemplate.Triggers WPF equivalent in Silverlight 3

I have this controltempalte + trigger stuff in my WPF application.
<ControlTemplate TargetType="me:MyControl" x:Key="fade">
<ContentPresenter - other stuff />
<ControlTemplate.Triggers>
<Trigger Property="IsTransitioned" Value="True">
<Trigger.EnterActions>
<BeginStoryboard>
<Storyboard>
<DoubleAnimation -<stuff>- />
</Storyboard>
</BeginStoryboard>
</Trigger.EnterActions>
</Trigger>
</ControlTemplate.Triggers>
</ControlTemplate>
This works cool in WPF, and is very intuitive too for me to write this based on trigger as above.
When i port this to Silverlight (3), i am told i have to use VSM, states and groups etc. since triggers on control template is not supported.
I h ave looked at some samples, and i even atempted to apply teh VSM bits in, in the place of trigger as above, but can't get it to work.
Someone suggested to me that apart from VSM in the xaml, i will have to handle some events etc.
SL3 model is just being painful for me. Please help.
Silverlight 3 introduced interaction triggers which as far as I can tell do what you want but are a little more complex. There's very few examples about them out yet though.
If you're doing this manually you need references to System.Windows.Interactivity and Microsoft.Expression.Interactions (from Blend 3, the class will be in your references tab if you've installed it).
If you add the triggers in Blend then it will add those automatically. This is called Behaviours in Silverlight 3 and you will find these in Blend in the Behaviours section of the Assets tab.
An example of how they work. Note the storyboard sitting in the resource of the second rectangle, I couldn't get it to work inside the ControlStoryboardAction.Storyboard, but it did work if I made the rectangle a ContentControl and put it in the Template. This may be a bug or me missing something :
<UserControl
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
x:Class="SLTrigger.MainPage"
xmlns:i="clr-namespace:System.Windows.Interactivity;assembly=System.Windows.Interactivity"
xmlns:ic="clr-namespace:Microsoft.Expression.Interactivity.Core;assembly=Microsoft.Expression.Interactions"
xmlns:im="clr-namespace:Microsoft.Expression.Interactivity.Media;assembly=Microsoft.Expression.Interactions">
<Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot">
<StackPanel>
<Rectangle Margin="5" Fill="Blue" Width="200" Height="100">
<i:Interaction.Triggers>
<i:EventTrigger EventName="MouseLeftButtonDown">
<ic:ChangePropertyAction PropertyName="Fill" Duration="0">
<ic:ChangePropertyAction.Value>
<SolidColorBrush Color="Red"/>
</ic:ChangePropertyAction.Value>
</ic:ChangePropertyAction>
</i:EventTrigger>
</i:Interaction.Triggers>
</Rectangle>
<Rectangle Margin="5" x:Name="AnimatedRectangle2" Fill="Blue" Width="200" Height="100">
<Rectangle.Resources>
<Storyboard x:Key="AnimationStoryboard">
<ColorAnimation
Storyboard.TargetName="AnimatedRectangle2"
Storyboard.TargetProperty="(Shape.Fill).(SolidColorBrush.Color)"
To="Red"
AutoReverse="True"
Duration="0:0:0.5" />
</Storyboard>
</Rectangle.Resources>
<i:Interaction.Triggers>
<i:EventTrigger EventName="MouseLeftButtonDown">
<im:ControlStoryboardAction ControlStoryboardOption="Play" Storyboard="{StaticResource AnimationStoryboard}">
<!--
Doesn't work, but does work inside control templates??
<im:ControlStoryboardAction.Storyboard>
<Storyboard>
<ColorAnimation
Storyboard.TargetName="AnimatedRectangle2"
Storyboard.TargetProperty="(Shape.Fill).(SolidColorBrush.Color)"
To="Red"
AutoReverse="True"
Duration="0:0:0.5" />
</Storyboard>
</im:ControlStoryboardAction.Storyboard>
-->
</im:ControlStoryboardAction>
</i:EventTrigger>
</i:Interaction.Triggers>
</Rectangle>
<ContentControl>
<ContentControl.Template>
<ControlTemplate>
<Rectangle Margin="5" x:Name="AnimatedRectangle3" Fill="Blue" Width="200" Height="100">
<i:Interaction.Triggers>
<i:EventTrigger EventName="MouseLeftButtonDown">
<im:ControlStoryboardAction ControlStoryboardOption="Play">
<im:ControlStoryboardAction.Storyboard>
<Storyboard>
<ColorAnimation
Storyboard.TargetName="AnimatedRectangle3"
Storyboard.TargetProperty="(Shape.Fill).(SolidColorBrush.Color)"
To="Red"
AutoReverse="True"
Duration="0:0:0.5" />
</Storyboard>
</im:ControlStoryboardAction.Storyboard>
</im:ControlStoryboardAction>
</i:EventTrigger>
</i:Interaction.Triggers>
</Rectangle>
</ControlTemplate>
</ContentControl.Template>
</ContentControl>
<TextBlock TextAlignment="Center" Text="Click the rectangles" />
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
</UserControl>
The class file has nothing in it:
using System.Windows.Controls;
namespace SLTrigger
{
public partial class MainPage : UserControl
{
public MainPage()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
}
}

Resources