CS411 assignment 3 solution fall 2021 | CS411 Assignment No 3 Solution Fall 2021

Solution File

Lecture 12

We will start discussing WPF (Windows Presentation Foundations) now.  It was publicly announced in 2003 (codenamed Avalon). WPF 4 was released in April 2010. It has a steep learning curve. Code has to be written in many places. There are multiple ways to do a particular task. 

WPF enables polished user interfaces which are getting a lot of attention. It enables rapid iterations and major interface changes throughout the development process. It allows to keep user interface description and implementation separate.  Developers can create an “ugly” application which designers can re-theme.  Win32 style of programming makes such re-theming difficult.  The code to re-paint the user interface is mixed up with program logic.  GDI was an earlier user interface library introduced in windows 1.0 in 1985. Opengl was a leap ahead introduced in the 90’s with directx coming in 95 and directx 2 in 96. GDI+ is a newer user interface library based on directx. It is also used behind Xbox graphics. Next was Windows Forms which is the primary way of user interface design in C#. XNA comes with managed library for directx and is great for game development (.net/com interoperability not required). A simple example is drawing bitmaps on buttons which can be efficiently done using GDI. 

The highlights of WPF are 1) broad integration (2D, 3D, video, speech libraries etc.) 2) Resolution Independence with WPF giving emphasis on vector graphics 3) Hardware accelration as it is based on Direct3D but it can work using software pipeline also if Direct3D hardware is not available. 4) Declrative progrmaming using extensible Application Markup Language (XAML; pronounced “Zammel”). Custom attribute and configuration files were always there but XAML is very rich. 5) Rich composition and customization e.g.  You can create a combobox filled with animated 

Buttons or a Menu filled with live video clips! And it is quite easy to skin applications. 

In short, WPF aims to combine the best attributes of systems such as directx (3D and hardware acceleration), Windows Forms (developer productivity), Adobe Flash (powerful animation support) and HTML (declarative markup).  The first release in November 2006 was WPF 3.0 because it shipped as part of the .NET Framework 3.0. WPF 3.5 came an year later. Next version as part of .NET 3.5 SP1 came in August 2008. WPF Toolkit released in Aug 2008 was experimental.  The toolkit has quick releases.  Regarding tool support, WPF extensions for Visual Studio 2005 came a few months after the first WPF release and a public release of expression blend. Now, Visual Studio 2012 is a first class WPF devevelopment environment. Its mostly re-written using WPF and expression blend is 100% WPF and is great for designing and prototyping WPF apps. 

New things that came in WPF 3.5/3.5SP1 include Interactive3D with 2d elements in 3d scenes, first class interoperability with directx, Better data binding using XLINQ and better validation and debugging which reduces code, Better special effects, High performance custom drawing, Text improvements, enhancements to Partial-trust apps, improved deployment, and improved performance. 

Things that came with WPF 4.0 include multi-touch support — compatible with surface API v2, win7 support like jump lists, new common dialogs etc., new controls like datagrid, calendar etc, easing animation functions (bounce, elastic), enhanced styling with visual state manager, improved layout on pixel boundaries, non-blurry text but some limitations so must opt-in, deployment improvements, and performance improvements.