Silverlight - How to implement this functionality? Nice feature - silverlight

I don't know what this is called in SL, but I would like to replicate this functionality. If you go to this site: http://www.mscui.com/PatientJourneyDemonstrator/PrimaryCareAdmin.htm and click on the "Show Details" button located on the top, right-hand corder of the screen. When you click on this, there should be a "Scene Details" button-like feature on the right side. When you click on this, this is what I would like to implement. Can someone direct me please? Either to an online article, etc...

I'm not precisely sure what feature of the site you'r referring to (I'm blind so the description doesn't make much sense to me). However, two useful links - some of the MSCUI source code is available on Codeplex http://mscui.codeplex.com. Also, the Silverlight developer/designer on this project created Blacklight http://blacklight.codeplex.com which includes visual assets to use with Silverlight.

Although I don't know the specifics of the implementation, as far as I can guess, this is done by having a second Grid that follows the Grid for the page. Then, simply change the visiblity on the "guide" grid when the button toggles.
I believe that is simple, although it'll require you to work to figure out the positioning of the underlying page - but it's more flexible. With Blend it'll be easy.
Alternatively you could have a ton of additional UI elements on the page next to their respective controls, and either Tag or name them in a way that you can iterate over them to control visibility and interaction.

I think you're talking about a the grey overlay with a modal window on top. I think the best way to do that in Silverlight 3 is with the ChildWindow control.

Related

Is there a Tool Tip for CodenameOne?

Is there a button property that is analogous to swing's tool tip? I want the user to be able to long press a button and see a message describing the button, but I can't find any such property. (The button doesn't and can't have a visible name.) Tool tips are so useful to users, so I assumed there must be one, but I can't find it.
The ToastBar (https://www.codenameone.com/blog/toastbar-gaussian-blur.html) might work.
There was also an old demo using the GlassPane for a tutorial overlay which allowed some quite neat effects. Can't find it on the CN1 website now though.

Force visual layout of hidden tab content

I have some quite complex content behind several tabs. I'd like to force the layout to happen at application startup rather than lazily as the user clicks a tab for the first time. The delay is about a second or two per tab, and it's a bit embarrassing!
Edit: I think the problem is that only the selected tab's content control is in the visual tree. Calling ApplyTemplate of the HeaderedContentControl didn't make any difference.
Does this link help you?
wpf force to build visual tree
Basically it says to use ApplyTemplate on the ItemsControl...I guess that for the tabs you should do it for each TabItem.
There's also another technique used in this site:
http://xcalibur37.wordpress.com/2012/07/12/make-your-tabcontrol-preload-in-wpf-silverlight/
Here he creates a kind of preloader for each tab. It's for silverlight but I think it can be applied to WPF.
Hope it helps out :)

How can I achieve a stylish vertical menu in WPF?

I'm new to WPF and I've been tasked with creating a UI and I was told it needs to be 'sexy'.
My first task is to createa menu structure for the various options I need to make available to the user. I'd like to do something like this, taken from http://www.wpftutorial.net :
Unfortunately I don't see any examples on that site of how to implement a vertical menu with sub-menus that have the glassy look and feel.
I'm hoping to achieve the same level of 'sexy' (<-- my bosses term, not mine), but the style doesn't need to be exactly the same.
What steps do I need to take to achieve this?
The 'sexy' layout you showed, is actually quite outdated (glossy is so 2008-2010...).
Anyway, if you don't go for 3rd parties, here is what this is:
The container is a Menu
Each item is a MenuItem
Some MenuItems contain their own MenuItems (that's the horizontal dropdown you see)
Menu and MenuItem seem to have a custom Template/Style/ControlTemplate
It can indeed be quite some work for someone new to WPF, but you'll definitely learn a lot, however it'll take you several weeks to get it right with no experience.
HTH,
Bab.
You may need to go with 3rd party controls.
DevExpress and Telerik offer some very good WPF controls.
This will save you a lot of time as they have built-in themes and are really good looking.
Trying to do this yourself will probably cost you more in the long run.
You could even download the trial versions and show your boss a demo of the app.

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.

What navigation control would you choose to use in your application?

ToolStrip with MenuStrip or RibbonBar?
It combines both of the controls. It also have a TabPages navigation, contextual tabs, etc. However the RibbonBar is a very complex control and when you open a new document in for example Word2007 the half of the screen you see a Ribbon Bar. It is not cool. When you have toolStrips you can layout them to Top, Bottom, Left, Right and have more control of the UI look. We can also hide the toolstrips which we do not want to see and they no longer take any screen space.
Ribbon Bar
It boils down to what you're trying to navigate and how complex do you want the Navigation to work.
I prefer to use simple existing applications to base my programs.
Thus for the most part I use either the MenuStrip + X ToolStrips or just a simple ToolStrip if a menu is more involved than is required to get a task done.
But I would have to guess that many people like the Ribbon Bar since it combines the functionality of both Menu and ToolStrips into one control.
Ribbons look more modern, and will help to give you application a modern and current look.
As for usability, I've preferred the experience, as long as you are unfamiliar with the app.
For apps where you are used to a menubar, it's a difficult change, but for new apps or new users it's a good improvement.

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