Does anybody knows, if there is a way to use a property that is animated as source for a binding?
As far as I found out, is that an animation doesn't "really" set the value on the property, and therefore doesn't fire the changed events, which is needed to trigger the binding.
tia
Martin
I don't know if what you are saying is exactly true. In the XAML below, the TextBlock will display the Width of the Rectangle. When you click on the Rectangle, the Width property is animated from 50 to 300. Along every increment, the TextBlock changes in value. Am I not understanding your question?
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="*" />
<RowDefinition Height="Auto" />
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<TextBlock Text="{Binding ElementName=Rect,Path=Width}" Grid.Row="0" />
<Rectangle Grid.Row="1"
Name="Rect"
Height="30"
Width="50"
Fill="Blue"
HorizontalAlignment="Left">
<Rectangle.Triggers>
<EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Rectangle.MouseLeftButtonDown">
<EventTrigger.Actions>
<BeginStoryboard>
<Storyboard>
<DoubleAnimation Storyboard.TargetProperty="Width"
From="50"
To="300"
Duration="0:0:10"/>
</Storyboard>
</BeginStoryboard>
</EventTrigger.Actions>
</EventTrigger>
</Rectangle.Triggers>
</Rectangle>
</Grid>
Animation does actually really change the value, it does call the property changed callback you pass to DependecyProperty.Register and it does cause a layout/render pass id needed.
Related
I would like to get the position of a control relative to its parent, or just any kind of position, doesn't really matter. But I want to do this only in XAML without any code behind. I have a grid 5x3, and the button is located in 3rd row and 2nd column. So, basically I would like to get the width of first two rows of the grid, and the width of the first column of the gird.
I want to know the position of the button in pixels, because I want to do translation animation like this:
<DoubleAnimation Storyboard.TargetName="Studio" Storyboard.TargetProperty="RenderTransform.(TranslateTransform.X)" From="500" To="0" Duration="0:0:2">
but instead of using hardcoded value of 500, I want it to be anything that corresponds to the button's horisontal position in pixels
Something like the XAML below might work for you. It is inspired by your idea of a transparent dummy Rectangle that fills the columns left of the Button.
<Grid>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition/>
<ColumnDefinition/>
<ColumnDefinition/>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<Rectangle x:Name="dummy" Grid.ColumnSpan="2"/>
<Button Grid.Column="2" VerticalAlignment="Center" Content="Click">
<Button.RenderTransform>
<TransformGroup>
<ScaleTransform ScaleX="-1"/>
<TranslateTransform/>
<ScaleTransform ScaleX="-1"/>
</TransformGroup>
</Button.RenderTransform>
<Button.Triggers>
<EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Button.Click">
<BeginStoryboard>
<Storyboard>
<DoubleAnimation
Storyboard.TargetProperty="RenderTransform.Children[1].X"
To="{Binding ActualWidth, ElementName=dummy}"
Duration="0:0:2"/>
</Storyboard>
</BeginStoryboard>
</EventTrigger>
</Button.Triggers>
</Button>
</Grid>
Instead of declaring the RenderTransform as shown above you may perhaps better use a binding converter to invert the value of the dummy Rectangle's ActualWidth property.
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.
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);
I have a Grid with 3 columns. I want to scroll a long text, which I update using a ticker in my second column. I tried textblock, but if my text don't fit in, it will cut my string down. Can you recommend me something to do that.
My code looks like this now:
Here are the three column.
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="120"></ColumnDefinition>
<ColumnDefinition Width="2*"></ColumnDefinition>
<ColumnDefinition Width="*"></ColumnDefinition>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
The textblock which I update
<TextBlock Name="SongTitle" Text="Now onair:" FontSize="20" VerticalAlignment="Center" HorizontalAlignment="Center" Grid.Column="1" TextWrapping="NoWrap">
<TextBlock.RenderTransform>
<TranslateTransform x:Name="translate" />
</TextBlock.RenderTransform>
<TextBlock.Triggers>
<EventTrigger RoutedEvent="FrameworkElement.Loaded">
<BeginStoryboard>
<Storyboard RepeatBehavior="Forever">
Here is some problem, it starts to scroll not from the column edge...
<DoubleAnimation
From="300" To="0"
Storyboard.TargetName="translate"
Storyboard.TargetProperty="X"
Duration="0:0:8" />
</Storyboard>
</BeginStoryboard>
</EventTrigger>
</TextBlock.Triggers>
</TextBlock>
To start with, instead of using a Grid, you should be using a ScrollViewer. To hide the scrollbars, set HorizontalScrollBarVisibility and VerticalScrollBarVisibility to Hidden. You can then handle mouse wheel events through code-behind to prevent the user from manually scrolling the text.
Of course, it is also possible to use a Grid, but it will give you a bunch of headaches.
To answer your original question, you should be using LayoutTransform instead of RenderTransform.
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.