We recently released WPF Studio 2010.1, which includes the new Views for WPF product. This product includes several panels that uses various fluid animations on the associated child elements. This means you can have fade in/out as they are added/removed from the panel, or smoothly transition to a new position/size.
Panels
WPF comes with several built-in panels and we've included drop-in replacements for some of these, with more to come in the future. We also included a couple panels not found in WPF, that can make your application more attractive. The SwitchPanel can be used to dynamically change the layout logic without having to move the elements to a new parent or regenerate the container elements. The ZapPanel works like a StackPanel, but centers a focal item in the view and can wrap items to produce a circular effect.
A ListBox using a ZapPanel as its ItemsPanel
The full list of panels includes:
- AnimatedCanvas - Represents a panel that positions child elements using explicit coordinates that are relative to the panel.
- AnimatedDockPanel - Represents a panel that positions child elements either horizontally or vertically, relative to each other.
- AnimatedStackPanel - Represents a panel that positions child elements in sequential order, either horizontally or vertically.
- AnimatedWrapPanel - Represents a panel that positions child elements in sequential order, breaking content to the next row or column at the edge of the containing box.
- SwitchPanel - Represents a panel that delegates the positioning of the child elements to one or more child panels.
- ZapPanel - Represents a panel that positions child elements in sequential order, while keeping a focal item centered in the view.
You can build custom panels that leverage the fluid animations and framework just as easily as before. We provide step-by-step instructions on building a "random" panel, that arranges it's child elements at random locations. The full source code, in C# and VB.NET, for the random panel is included in our Sample Browser.
Animations
There are several built-in animations that can be easily configured. Elements of the panel can be animated differently depending on whether they were just added, removed, or simply changing location/size. Do you want to zoom in elements from the background when they are added and them zoom them out when being removed? No problem. Do you want to have them rotate a bit as they zoom? That's easy to add.
Custom animations can be created, so you can fully customize how elements are animated. The Views panels leverage native WPF animations, such as DoubleAnimation, so you don't need to learn a new animation framework. You just need to return a Storyboard for a given element based on it's current state.
Silverlight
The Views for Silverlight product, which has not been released yet, was developed in parallel with the View for WPF product. Therefore, the framework is largely compatible across WPF and Silverlight. This allows you easily port any custom panels over to Silverlight later.
Summary
The Views for WPF product can be easily added to your WPF applications to give them a little flair. We will be adding more new custom panels in the near future. If you have any suggestions, please email us.