Rudi Grobler Session Code: WUX205

Agenda A lap around Expression Blend Finding features you know from Visual Studio Exploring features unique to Expression Blend Working with Visual Studio and Expression Blend in tandem Silverlight vs. Windows Presentation Foundation Learning a few designer tricks Creating a real world user interface for an existing business application

What is Expression Blend? User Interface design tool for WPF and Silverlight The focus is on next-generation interactive user interfaces and user experiences The tool covers the entire range of possible WPF/SL interfaces from desktop business applications to web experiences The main focus of Expression Blend has traditionally been on designers However, it turns out to be a great developer tool as well!

Expression Blend Versions and History Expression Blend 1 – WPF design tool Expression Blend 2 – WPF and Silverlight 2.0 Expression Blend 3 (preview) – WPF and Silverlight 3.0 (beta) My recommendation: Use Expression Blend 3 whenever you can! I have been using Expression Blend 3 (beta) for all my WPF design needs and the product has already been very stable

Expression Blend and VS Similarities Creating Projects based on templates Expression Blend supports WPF and Silverlight templates only Projects and Solutions New Source Control support in version 3.0 Design and Editor windows Blend 3.0 supports code editing and IntelliSense Toolbox Properties and events window

Expression Blend: The Familiar

Expression Blend and VS Differences Richer visual UI editor in Expression Blend UI hierarchy window Storyboards and Timelines Trigger and Visual State support Resources (XAML) Design time data SketchFlow Adobe integration

Expression Blend: New Features

Blend and Visual Studio Together Blend 2.0: Design in Blend, code in Visual Studio Source Control through Visual Studio Blend 3.0: Source code editing is now supported Still, for heavy duty coding (and debugging!) Visual Studio is the better choice Even as a developer, I do all my visual UI editing in Expression Blend

Expression Blend & Visual Studio

Some Real-World Tips Create new projects in Visual Studio The templates used by both tools are not identical Test-run your applications from Visual Studio No debugging support in Blend Better error information in Visual Studio Beware of having the same file open twice Save changes before you switch to the other tool, to avoid accidental simultaneous editing

Differences Between WPF and SL Expression Blend can be used for both WPF and Silverlight, and most things you know apply to both The differences in the two technologies change the Blend experience Example: Triggers vs. Visual States Example: Resource Dictionaries vs. Inline Resources The two technologies move closer together Visual States are available in WPF (and supported by Blend) as an add-on Silverlight 3.0 supports Resource Dictionaries

Building a Real-World Application This example uses an existing middle tier that runs as a production application Note: The downloadable example provides a “fake” middle tier so you can easily run it on your system Note: There are Silverlight and WPF versions The example app shows a list of sports teams and the players rostered by each team The goal of the example is to create a nice UI with a visual appearance that is both appealing and professional and suitable for a business application

Building an Application

Complete a session evaluation and enter to win! 10 pairs of MP3 sunglasses to be won

Related Content Building Rich Business Clients in WPF ( Brian Noyes ) What’s New in Microsoft Silverlight 3 ( Eben de Wit ) Developing for Windows 7 ( Lynn Langit ) Optimizing Your Application for the Windows 7 User Experience ( Lynn Langit ) ViewModel and Application Patterns with Silverlight ( Nikhil Kothari ) Creating “real” devices ( Rudi Grobler ) Windows Client Development Discussion ( Rudi, Lynn & Tony ) Sharing Code between your Microsoft.NET Framework Applications and Microsoft Silverlight ( Stephen Forte )

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