Silverlight Rectangle Control
This article demonstrates how to create and use a Rectangle control in Silverlight using XAML and C#.

The Rectangle object represents a rectangle shape and draws a rectangle with the given height and width. The Width and Height properties of the Rectangle class represent the width and height of a rectangle. The Fill property fills the interior of a rectangle. The Stroke property sets the color and StrokeThickness represents the width of the outer line of a rectangle.

Creating a Rectangle
The Rectangle element represents a Silverlight Rectangle control in XAML.
<Rectangle/>

The code snippet in Listing 1 creates a rectangle by setting its width and height properties to 200 and 100 respectively. The code also sets the black stroke of width 4.
<Rectangle
    Width="200"
    Height="100"
    Fill="Blue"
    Stroke="Black"
    StrokeThickness="4" />

The output

The CreateARectangle method listed in Listing 2 draws same rectangle in Figure 1 dynamically.
/// <summary>
/// Creates a blue rectangle with black border
/// </summary>
public void CreateARectangle()

{
    // Create a Rectangle
    Rectangle blueRectangle = new Rectangle();
    blueRectangle.Height = 100;
    blueRectangle.Width = 200;           

    // Create a blue and a black Brush
    SolidColorBrush blueBrush = new SolidColorBrush();
    blueBrush.Color = Colors.Blue;
    SolidColorBrush blackBrush = new SolidColorBrush();
    blackBrush.Color = Colors.Black;

     // Set Rectangle's width and color
    blueRectangle.StrokeThickness = 4;
    blueRectangle.Stroke = blackBrush;

    // Fill rectangle with blue color
    blueRectangle.Fill = blueBrush;

    // Add Rectangle to the Grid.

    LayoutRoot.Children.Add(blueRectangle);

}

The RadiusX and RadiusY properties set the x-axis and y-axis radii of the ellipse that is used to round the corner of a rectangle.  By adding the following lines of code to Listing 7 creates a rounded rectangle, which looks like Figure 2.
// Set roundness

blueRectangle.RadiusX = 20;
blueRectangle.RadiusY = 20;

Formatting a Rectangle
We can use the Fill property of the Rectangle to draw a rectangle with any kind of brush including a solid brush, linear gradient brush, radial gradient brush, or an image brush. The code in Listing 3 uses linear gradient brushes to draw the background and foreground of a Rectangle.
<Rectangle
    Width="200"
    Height="100"          
    Stroke="Black"
    StrokeThickness="4" >

    <Rectangle.Fill>
        <LinearGradientBrush StartPoint="0,0" EndPoint="1,1" >
            <GradientStop Color="Blue" Offset="0.1" />
            <GradientStop Color="Orange" Offset="0.25" />
            <GradientStop Color="Green" Offset="0.75" />
            <GradientStop Color="Red" Offset="1.0" />
        </LinearGradientBrush>
    </Rectangle.Fill>
</Rectangle>

The new Rectangle looks like Figure 3.

Setting Image as Background of a Rectangle
To set an image as background of a Rectangle, we can set an image brush as the Fill of the Rectangle. The code in Listing 4 sets fills the rectangle with an image.   
<Rectangle.Fill >
    <ImageBrush ImageSource="dock.jpg" />
</Rectangle.Fill >

The new output looks like

Drawing a Semi-transparent Rectangle
The Opacity property represents the transparency of a Rectangle. The value of Opacity is between 0 and 1, where 0 is fully transparent and 1 is fully opaque. The code listed in Listing 5 generates a semi-transparent shape.
<Rectangle
    Width="200"
    Height="100"          
    Stroke="Black"
    StrokeThickness="4"
    Opacity="0.5">

The new output looks like

In this article, I discussed how we can create a Rectangle control in Silverlight at design-time using XAML and at run-time using C#.  We also saw how we can format a Rectangle by setting its fill property. After that, we saw you to set an image as the background of a Rectangle. In the end, we saw how to draw a semi-transparent rectangle.

A Simple Silverlight Application Implementing MVVM

MVVM

In simple words, View knows ViewModel, ViewModel knows Model, but not vice versa.

Why MVVM
    Easy to unit test.
    No need to change model to support changes in View.
    Very minor changes required in ViewModel to support changes in View.
    Separates UX designer and developer i.e the development team can focus on creating ViewModel classes, and the design team can focus on making user-friendly Views.

Simple Silverlight application using MVVM

Here I am just going to get a student name and age from the user and display the details in a GridView as in the figure.

The important areas covered are MVVM, using Relay Command and IValueConverter.

Creating a Student class

I created student class with the following properties, Name, Age, JoiningDate.
using System;
using System.Net;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Documents;
using System.Windows.Ink;
using System.Windows.Input;
using System.Windows.Media;
using System.Windows.Media.Animation;
using System.Windows.Shapes;

namespace MVVMDemoinSL
{
    public class Student
    {
        public string Name { get; set; }
        public int Age { get; set; }
        public DateTime JoiningDate { get; set; }
    }
}

Creating ViewModelBase and ViewModel class

It's always a good idea to have a ViewModelBase class and inherit all the ViewModels from that. Hence we can reuse the code for implementing INotifyPropertyChanged.

The main purpose of using INotifyPropertyChanged is to get notification whenever the property value is changed.
I created a ViewModelBase as below.
using System;
using System.Net;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Documents;
using System.Windows.Ink;
using System.Windows.Input;
using System.Windows.Media;
using System.Windows.Media.Animation;
using System.Windows.Shapes;
using System.ComponentModel;

namespace MVVMDemoinSL
{
    public class ViewModelBase : INotifyPropertyChanged
    {
        public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
        protected void NotifyPropertyChanged(string propertyName)
        {
            if (PropertyChanged != null)
            {
                PropertyChanged(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
            }
        }
    }
}

I also created a ViewModel class which inherits from ViewModelBase.
using System;
using System.Net;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Documents;
using System.Windows.Ink;
using System.Windows.Input;
using System.Windows.Media;
using System.Windows.Media.Animation;
using System.Windows.Shapes;
using System.Collections.ObjectModel;

namespace MVVMDemoinSL
{
    public class ViewModel : ViewModelBase
    {
        private Student _student;
        private ObservableCollection<Student> _students;
        private ICommand _SubmitCommand;
        public Student Student
        {
            get
            {
                return _student;
            }
            set
            {
                _student = value;
                NotifyPropertyChanged("Student");
            }
        }

        public ObservableCollection<Student> Students
        {
            get
            {
                return _students;
            }
            set
            {
                _students = value;
                NotifyPropertyChanged("Students");
            }
        }

        public ICommand SubmitCommand
        {
            get
            {
                if (_SubmitCommand == null)
                {
                    _SubmitCommand = new RelayCommand(Submit);
                }
                return _SubmitCommand;
            }
        }

        public ViewModel()
        {
            Student = new Student();
            Students = new ObservableCollection<Student>();
            Students.CollectionChanged += new System.Collections.Specialized.NotifyCollectionChangedEventHandler(Students_CollectionChanged);
        }
        //Whenever new item is added to the collection, am explicitly calling notify property changed

        void Students_CollectionChanged(object sender, System.Collections.Specialized.NotifyCollectionChangedEventArgs e)
        {
            NotifyPropertyChanged("Students");
        }

        private void Submit()
        {
            Student.JoiningDate = DateTime.Today.Date;
            Students.Add(Student);
            Student = new Student();
        }
    }
}

RelayCommand
Since we are following the MVVM pattern, instead of having a Button click event in code behind, we are going to use the Command Property of the button. The RelayCommand allows you to inject the command's logic via delegates ed into its constructor. This approach allows for terse, concise command implementation in ViewModel classes. RelayCommand is a simplified variation of the DelegateCommand. RelayCommand implementation using CommandManager is not possible using Silverlight.
using System;
using System.Net;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Documents;
using System.Windows.Ink;
using System.Windows.Input;
using System.Windows.Media;
using System.Windows.Media.Animation;
using System.Windows.Shapes;

namespace MVVMDemoinSL
{
    public class RelayCommand : ICommand
    {
        private Func<bool> canExecute;
        private Action executeAction;
        public event EventHandler CanExecuteChanged;

        public RelayCommand(Action executeAction,
            Func<bool> canExecute)
        {
            this.executeAction = executeAction;
            this.canExecute = canExecute;
        }

        public RelayCommand(Action executeAction)
|        {
           this.executeAction = executeAction;
            this.canExecute = () => true;
        }

        public void RaiseCanExecuteChanged()
       {
            if (CanExecuteChanged != null)
            {
                CanExecuteChanged(this, EventArgs.Empty);
            }
        }

        public bool CanExecute(object parameter)
         {
           return canExecute == null ? true : canExecute();
        }

        public void Execute(object parameter)
        {
            executeAction();
        }
    }
}

View

Now we have to create a view and bind it with ViewModel properties. The code for the view can be found below. I have used a window, Grid, Textbox, TextBlock, Button and GridView.
<UserControl x:Class="MVVMDemoinSL.MainPage"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
    xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
              xmlns:sdk="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation/sdk"
             xmlns:viewmodel="clr-namespace:MVVMDemoinSL"
    mc:Ignorable="d"
    d:DesignHeight="300" d:DesignWidth="400">
    <UserControl.Resources>
        <viewmodel:ViewModel x:Key="ViewModel"/>
        <viewmodel:DatetimeToDateConverter x:Key="MyConverter"/>
    </UserControl.Resources>

    <Grid DataContext="{Binding Source={StaticResource ViewModel}}">
        <Grid.RowDefinitions>

            <RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
            <RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
            <RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
            <RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
            <RowDefinition Height="*"/>
        </Grid.RowDefinitions>
        <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>

            <ColumnDefinition Width="Auto"/>
            <ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
        </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
        <TextBlock Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="0" Text="Name" HorizontalAlignment="Center"/>
        <TextBox Grid.Row="0" Grid.Column="1" Width="100" HorizontalAlignment="Center" Text="{Binding Student.Name, Mode=TwoWay}"/>
        <TextBlock Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="0" Text="Age" HorizontalAlignment="Center"/>
        <TextBox Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="1" Width="100" HorizontalAlignment="Center" Text="{Binding Student.Age, Mode=TwoWay}"/>
        <Button Content="Submit" Command="{Binding SubmitCommand}" HorizontalAlignment="Right" Grid.Row="2" Grid.Column="0"/>
        <sdk:DataGrid ItemsSource="{Binding Students}" Grid.Row="3" Grid.Column="0" Width="200" AutoGenerateColumns="False">
            <sdk:DataGrid.Columns>
                <sdk:DataGridTextColumn Header="Name"  Binding="{Binding Name}" Width="60"/>
                <sdk:DataGridTextColumn  Header="Age" Binding="{Binding Age}" Width="60"/>
                <sdk:DataGridTextColumn Header="Joining Date" Binding="{Binding JoiningDate, Converter={StaticResource MyConverter}}" Width="80" />
            </sdk:DataGrid.Columns>
        </sdk:DataGrid>
    </Grid>
</UserControl>

If you see the above XAML code, you can see I am using Windows resources in my view. In resources, I am adding a reference to my ViewModel and DateTimeToDateConverter.

ValueConverter

We might often get some values from the property but we have to display some other value in the View. Say for example in my project, the Joining date is a date time value but I need to display only date. I can do this either by String format in binding or else ValueConverter. I just want to go with the latter one, since you can understand ValueConverter also.
using System;
using System.Net;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Documents;
using System.Windows.Ink;
using System.Windows.Input;
using System.Windows.Media;
using System.Windows.Media.Animation;
using System.Windows.Shapes;
using System.Windows.Data;
using System.Globalization;

namespace MVVMDemoinSL
{
    public class DatetimeToDateConverter : IValueConverter
    {
        public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
        {
            DateTime date = (DateTime)value;
            return date.ToString("MM/d/yyyy");
        }

        public object ConvertBack(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture)
        {
            return value;
        }
    }
}

For implementing MVVM in WPF, please go through the following article.

Pop Up Control is a Visual Prompt Control provided in Silverlight. There are certain times when you need to really grab the user's attention. Maybe you need to display details about a critical error. Then you can just use this control. This visual prompt is designed to simulate a dialog box.
In our Sample Application we will just demonstrate how to use it.

Create a Silverlight Project

Figure 1.1 Creating Silverlight Project

Designing the Application
Here is an idea, we will add three images (ImageControls) to our application and on theirs LeftMouseButtonDown Event we will display the PopUp. So I have taken the help of Blend 3 to design the application. It will have 3 Images as Home, Search and Reports. The following figure displays our application.

Figure 1.2 Designing our Application

Adding a PopUp Control
This is actually disturbing; you can't find the control in the toolbox. But if you start typing the control name it will satisfy you. So I have added some controls like Border, StackPanel and Displaying Text and Button to close the PupUp.
    <Popup x:Name="myPopup" Margin="-34,0,-31,0" Grid.Row="2" Grid.Column="1" Height="78" VerticalAlignment="Bottom"  >    <Border CornerRadius="10" Background="Silver" BorderThickness="2" BorderBrush="Black">  
        <StackPanel Margin="10">  
                    <TextBlock x:Name="PopUpText"/>  
                    <Button x:Name="PopUpButton" Height="30" Width="90" Content="Close" Click="PopUpButton_Click" />  
        </StackPanel>  
        </Border>  
    </Popup>  

PopUp Control has a unique property called IsOpen which returns a boolean value of either true or false. The default value is always false. With this concept in mind let's add some events and use this property to control the show of the PopUp.

Calling the PopUp Control
As we discussed earlier we can handle the display of the PopUp by using the property IsOpen. Now we will see how we have used in our sample application.
    private void PopUpButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)  
    {  
          myPopup.IsOpen = false;  
    }  
      
    private void Home_MouseLeftButtonDown(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)  
    {  
          PopUpText.Text = "You Clicked Home";  
          myPopup.IsOpen = true;  
    }  
      
    private void Search_MouseLeftButtonDown(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)  
    {  
          PopUpText.Text = "You Clicked Search";  
          myPopup.IsOpen = true;  
    }  
      
    private void Reports_MouseLeftButtonDown(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)  
    {  
          PopUpText.Text = "You Clicked Reports";  
          myPopup.IsOpen = true;  
    }  

Running the Application
When you click different images you will be notified by the PopUp Control.

Figure 1.3 PopUp is displayed

That's it, we have successfully used the PopUp Control. Enjoy Coding.

The control that you just like drag or move with the mouse is embedded among a Border control then handle the mouse down, up and move events to create the object move among your layout panel.

See sample .xaml code:
<Canvas x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="White">
<Border x:Name="border1"
Canvas.Top="100"
Canvas.Left="10"
MouseLeftButtonDown="border1_MouseLeftButtonDown"
MouseLeftButtonUp="border1_MouseLeftButtonUp"
MouseMove="border1_MouseMove"> 
<Image x:Name="MyImage" Source="images/Basket.png" Stretch="Uniform" ></Image>           
</Border>
</Canvas>

In the above code, a Border control is placed within the Canvas. The foremost necessary code to notice is:
MouseLeftButtonDown="border1_MouseLeftButtonDown"
MouseLeftButtonUp="border1_MouseLeftButtonUp"
MouseMove="border1_MouseMove"

The above lines outline 3 events that we tend to like to handle. because the name indicates, we are handling the mouse button down, mouse button up and mouse move events for the left mouse.

In the code behind, once the left button is pressed, we are going to set a global variable to point that user has started moving. within the mouse move event, we are going to get the current location of the mouse pointer and then set the new position for the border control. once the left mouse button is discharged, we are going to reset the global variable in order that we are going to not move the item from now on.
See the code for the code behind class:
public partial class Page : UserControl
{
// Global variable to indicate if user has clicked border
// and started/stopped moving.
private bool moving = false;
private double offSetX;
private double offSetY;
public Page()
{
InitializeComponent();
}

private void border1_MouseLeftButtonDown(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
{
// Left mouse button clicked within border. start moving.
moving = true;

Point offset = e.GetPosition(border1);
offSetX = offset.X;
offSetY = offset.Y;
}

private void border1_MouseLeftButtonUp(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
{
// Left mouse button release. Stop moving.
moving = false;
}

private void border1_MouseMove(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
if (moving)
{
    // Get the new mouse pointer position
    Canvas parent = (Canvas)this.border1.Parent;
    Point p = e.GetPosition(parent);
    double x = p.X - offSetX;
    double y = p.Y - offSetY;
    // Set the new position for the border control.
    this.border1.SetValue(Canvas.LeftProperty, x);
    this.border1.SetValue(Canvas.TopProperty, y);
}
}
}

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Why should I use Silverlight? Why does Silverlight stand ahead of all other technologies?

Well!! When I began to write small applications using Silverlight, there were many questions in my mind.

Why do we use Silverlight? What would be the reason for Silverlight when there is ASP.NET, Windows apps, and the latest WPF.

I am trying to resolve these conflicts over here.

As per my working knowledge, Microsoft released ASP.NET and the Windows Application platform. It was a great revolution for the web and the internet world.

Windows applications are called thick clients and an ASP.NET Web application is called a thin client. Since a Windows application will be installed in the client machine, it is called a thick client. Whereas in a web application, there is no installation required on the client-side.

But, there were two problems the company/developer faced.

They needed to maintain two versions for Windows and web applications. i.e. the company has to maintain two versions of the same application. Because some clients want the same application in both a Windows version and a web version. So, it becomes a great headache for companies and developers. Since it was taking not only time for the UI design/Application layer but also for code-behind work.
 
Even though Ajax is a superb concept adapted to ASP.Net for animation like some of the visual effects, still there was difficulty achieving the same UI types for both web and Windows Applications.
 
Since there is a need for two versions of applications, there is a maintenance problem.
 
So later Microsoft came up with a new technology called "WPF". WPF was introduced with a new style of markup language called XAML. There are two types of applications; one is Web browser WPF and WPF application. A WPF web browser app runs in a browser and works as a web application and the other WPF application works as a Windows application. So a developer can use the same XAML for both versions.
 
The look and feel of both versions are the same and it provides a rich UI better than a normal ASP.Net and Windows application.

But, again there was a problem; that is, again the company/developer must maintain two versions of an application:

Web browser WPF.
Normal WPF (as Win form).

So, again Microsoft came up with a new and robust technology called "SILVERLIGHT". Silverlight falls in between thin and thick client concepts.

So, in Silverlight Microsoft has introduced Silverlight applications and Silverlight out-of-browser applications. Silverlight as an out-of-browser application provides the same effect as Windows applications. Even though its run's under the sandbox and doesn't have full pledge permissions as in Windows applications, still it has some of the permissions to access local resources.

So, there is no need to maintain two versions of applications. Any Silverlight application can be converted into an Out-Of-Browser app and as well as revert it into a web app. The app will have the power of the desktop but delivered by the web.

Next, let me cover some more extra futures of Silverlight:

Smart client
 
Already I have explained the smart client concept in my previous articles.
 
A smart client is nothing but, the application will be installed on the client, and whenever the application launches, downloads the latest and also is able to handle online as well as offline with the help of a local DB.
 
Service-oriented business applications
 
Socket Programming.
 
One of the most important things is socket programming in Silverlight. First of all, what are sockets?
 
Silverlight has built-in support for sockets which creates really very interesting possibilities.
 
Suppose, if I need to update on the client-side for each update in the server, then probably I should go for polling.
 
In this polling, the client contacts the server for each regular interval of time to get the updates.
 
Even though there is no update on the server, still the client checks for updates. So, this could cause a traffic overload or unnecessary server round trips.
 
How would it be, if there is a system which sends the updates from the server whenever the data is changed?
 
In this case, sockets are relevant. So, sockets are nothing but, a listener server to listen to clients.
 
By using this socket, a client can send data to the server as well as the server can send data to the client. So, it is a two-way transaction or duplex mode.
 
The .Net framework supports sockets in the namespace "System.net.sockets".
 
I will explain about socket programming in the next chapter.
 
While operating outside the sandbox of the browser.
 
There are some restrictions for the web application so that they can not get round in the browser because of security. We can't access the system, can't write the user's disk except for cookies and HTML 5 offline storage. Also can't access devices connected to the user machine.
 
By using a Silverlight Out –of – Browser app or elevated trust these restrictions can be lifted.
 
When an application needs to look exactly alike in all platforms.
 
There is no guarantee on HTML5/web applications about rendering over different browsers. So, if you want a pixel perfect app, then Silverlight would be the better option.
 
When there is a need to support multi-touch.

ASP.NET

Today, I am going to tell you about Custom Events on Silverlight 5 controls. Generally when you employ or develop controls the events you employ are a lot of straight forward however this case, we possess a dial therefore the 'mouseover' or click is not actually need you would like. So exactly what we need is once the dial moves to some place we need the 'position changed' event called.

To start out along with you need a few custom event args as we wish to pass the 'angle' from the dial towards the event handler inside the consuming application. Therefore the custom event args appearance such as this:
public class DialEventArgs : EventArgs
{
private double angle;
public DialEventArgs(double _Angle)
{
this.angle = _Angle;
}
public double Angle
{
get
{
return angle;
}
}
}

During this case it is a fairly straight forward class which drives from eventargs so we add a constructor which lets us established the angle property simply. Next we would like in our own control class to outline the event such as this :
public delegate void PositionChangeHandler (Object Sender, DialEventArgs e);
public event PositionChangeHandler PositionChangedEvent;
protected virtual void OnPositionChanged(DialEventArgs e)
{
PositionChangedEvent(this, e);
}

Using this set up a consuming xaml page if they utilize the control can set an event handler for that event. However first we have to truly call the event once the angle in the dial changes : In the method which sets the angle we've this code :
OnPositionChanged(new DialEventArgs(AngleOfRotation));

Currently if you get an event handler set in xaml you will get the event called in the correct time. In xaml this may look such as this:
<cc:Dial x:Name="NewKnobControl" Height="100" Width="100" PositionChangedEvent="NewKnobControl_PositionChangedEvent" Minimum="45.0" Max="135" >
<cc:Dial.KnobFace>
<Grid >
<Ellipse Fill="Aquamarine" />
<Rectangle x:Name="Indicator" Height="10" Width="49" Fill="Blue" Margin="1,45,50,45" />
</Grid>
</cc:Dial.KnobFace>
</cc:Dial>

Now inside the client code you'll need an event handler and during this case inside my demo app it's similar to this :
private void NewKnobControl_PositionChangedEvent(Object sender, DialEventArgs e)
{
// applicable values
double Angle = e.Angle;
}

In this article, you will implement an AutoComplete TextBox in Silverlight Applications using C#. An AutoCompleteBox is just a kind of TextBox in which, when you start typing, items that match are displayed in a dropdown list and you can pick an item from the list.

Step 1

Create a New “Silverlight Application” in Visual Studio and name it as you chooce (I named mine AutoCompleteBox). Now a new Silverlight Application Page (MainPage.xaml) will be generated.

Step 2

Now go to the Solution Explorer Window and right-click on "References" and click on "Add Reference".

Step 3

Now an "Add Reference" window will appear. Navigate to the .NET tab and search for System.Windows.Controls.Input reference and add it to your project.

Step 4

Now navigate to the MainPage.xaml portion in your project and add the following code for the reference:

xmlns:sdk="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation/sdk"

Step 5

A reference is added to your project and now it's time to add the AutoCompleteBox. Navigate to the XAML code and in the Grid tag add the following code:

<sdk:AutoCompleteBox Name="Colors" Width="200" Height="25"/>

An AutoCompleteBox is added to your project (here I named it Colors but it's up to you what to use).

Step 6

Now it's time to add some data in the AutoCompleteBox. To do that navigate to the .cs file of your project MainPage.xaml.cs and add the following code to the MainPage() block:

public MainPage()
{
        InitializeComponent();
        this.Colors.ItemsSource = new string[]
        {
            "Aqua","Azure","Beige","Black","Blue","Brown","Cyan","Gold","Red","Green","Yellow"
        };
}

What we are doing is that we are simply adding the data to the AutoCompleteBox whenever the MainPage is Loaded. I am here adding Name of various colors for demo purposes, you can however add your own data. Now that's all; compile and run your project and whenever you type a letter into the AutoCompleteBox an intellisenese will appear with suggestions the same as you usually see in Visual Studio.

Step 7

Now Suppose you want to Auto fill the suggestions in your AutoCompleteBox; for that you just need to add a property called IsTextCompletionEnabled to True in your XAML code like:

<sdk:AutoCompleteBox Name="Colors" Width="200" Height="25" IsTextCompletionEnabled="True"/>

Now compile and run your project; you will see that whenever you type a letter, the words related to it are automatically placed into the AutoCompleteBox.

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As you all know Silverlight 5 released with unrestricted access in InBrowser mode which gives full control to the Silverlight developers in the client machine. This post is to describe what are the changes you need to do at the server side as well as client side to leverage the trusted application feature.Try HostForLife.eu, only with € 3.00/month, you can get a reasonable price with best service. This topic contains only brief information about why you must use Silverlight 4. So, if you want to be more familiar with Silverlight 5, you should try HostForLife.eu

Server side

- Make the IB elevated from project properties

- Sign the xap using certificate.

Client side

- Install the cert into “trusted publishers”

- Change the reg key “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Silverlight\AllowElevatedTrustAppsInBrowser” to

-The “Protected mode” of browser should be turned off for the zone.

The above steps are mainly for Silverlight 4 to Silverlight 5 conversion and want to get the full trust support. If you just upgrading your projects there is no need to do above items. Just open in Visual Studio 2010 after installing the SL 5 tools.It will show the conversion wizard and just follows that. One thing you need to make sure is the reference path to Sl 5 assemblies.

Steps to setup Silverlight 5 application to have unrestricted access in IB using elevated trust mode
Ok.Now lets look at details of how we can create new SL project which access a file from c:\ in the In-Browse mode.First as usual create a Silverlight 5 Application. Then place a Button inside and wire the Click event handler.Write the below code in the handler to write a file to c:\

private void btnWriteToCDrive_Click ( object sender, RoutedEventArgs e )

{

    File.WriteAllText(@"c:\FromSL5.txt","This is written from Silverlight 5 web application in InBrowser mode");

}

Giving Elevated trust to SL 5 application

Just to go to the Silverlight 5 project properties and in the Silverlight tab check the “Require elevated trust when running in-browser” check box.See the below screen shot for reference.

Signing the xap
Next step is to sign the xap file with a certificate. Just goto Silverlight project properties and check the “Sign the Xap File” check box.If you don’t have any certificate just create a new one using the “Create Test Certificate” button.

Disable the browser protected mode

The above changes are mainly for the server side. You need to do some at client side as well.The first one is to disable the protected mode in browser.Goto the internet options and disable it.

Change registry entry

As mentioned above just change the registry entry as it is.If you cant find the key just add a DWORD and set to 1. Still I am not sure how this step is carried out in other platforms such as MAC and Linux. That’s it.Now run your application.It will create a file inside c:\ from in browser.Just uploaded the sample by removing the certificate as it give some information about my company laptop.

Pop Up Control is a Visual Prompt Control provided in Silverlight. There are certain times when you need to really grab the user's attention. Maybe you need to display details about a critical error. Then you can just use this control. This visual prompt is designed to simulate a dialog box.
In our Sample Application we will just demonstrate how to use it.

Create a Silverlight Project

Figure 1.1 Creating Silverlight Project

Designing the Application

Here is an idea, we will add three images (ImageControls) to our application and on theirs LeftMouseButtonDown Event we will display the PopUp. So I have taken the help of Blend 3 to design the application. It will have 3 Images as Home, Search and Reports. The following figure displays our application.

Figure 1.2 Designing our Application
Adding a PopUp Control

This is actually disturbing; you can't find the control in the toolbox. But if you start typing the control name it will satisfy you. So I have added some controls like Border, StackPanel and Displaying Text and Button to close the PupUp.
    <Popup x:Name="myPopup" Margin="-34,0,-31,0" Grid.Row="2" Grid.Column="1" Height="78" VerticalAlignment="Bottom"  >    <Border CornerRadius="10" Background="Silver" BorderThickness="2" BorderBrush="Black"> 
        <StackPanel Margin="10"> 
                    <TextBlock x:Name="PopUpText"/> 
                    <Button x:Name="PopUpButton" Height="30" Width="90" Content="Close" Click="PopUpButton_Click" /> 
        </StackPanel> 
        </Border> 
    </Popup> 

PopUp Control has a unique property called IsOpen which returns a boolean value of either true or false. The default value is always false. With this concept in mind let's add some events and use this property to control the show of the PopUp.

Calling the PopUp Control
As we discussed earlier we can handle the display of the PopUp by using the property IsOpen. Now we will see how we have used in our sample application.
    private void PopUpButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) 
    { 
          myPopup.IsOpen = false; 
    } 
     
    private void Home_MouseLeftButtonDown(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e) 
    { 
          PopUpText.Text = "You Clicked Home"; 
          myPopup.IsOpen = true; 
    } 
     
    private void Search_MouseLeftButtonDown(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e) 
    { 
          PopUpText.Text = "You Clicked Search"; 
          myPopup.IsOpen = true; 
    } 
     
    private void Reports_MouseLeftButtonDown(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e) 
    { 
          PopUpText.Text = "You Clicked Reports"; 
          myPopup.IsOpen = true; 
    } 

Running the Application
When you click different images you will be notified by the PopUp Control.

image3.gif

Figure 1.3 PopUp is displayed

That's it, we have successfully used the PopUp Control. Enjoy Coding.

The Slider control in Silverlight 5 is used to allow a user to select from a range of values by sliding it along a track. You can create a horizontal or vertical slider. You can specify the range of values and the precision of movement too. The Slider class that represents this control is defined in the System.Windows.Controls namespace. Some of the commonly used properties of this class are:

To demonstrate the use of the Slider control, let us create a TextBox with some text which is enlarged or shrunk depending upon the slider value. Create a Silverlight 5 application and replace the Grid tag with the Canvas tag. Drag and drop the Slider from the Toolbox into your XAML code (between the Canvas tags). Also drag and drop an TextBox control. The sole reason for using a TextBox here instead of TextBlock is that a TextBlock does not support the Background property and we wish to specify a background here for the control containing the text.

Configure the properties of the controls as shown below:

<UserControl x:Class="Imager.MainPage"
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
      mc:Ignorable="d" d:DesignWidth="640" d:DesignHeight="480">
     <Canvas x:Name="LayoutRoot" Width="640" Height="480">
         <TextBox Name="txtMsg" Canvas.Left="40" Canvas.Top="30" Height="22" Width="132" Text="Silverlight Rocks!" Background="Aqua" IsReadOnly="True"  />
         <Slider Name="slider"  Background="Transparent" Height="25" Width="150" Maximum="150" Minimum="0" SmallChange="5" ValueChanged="Slider_ValueChanged" IsDirectionReversed="False" ></Slider>
     </Canvas>
</UserControl>

The code accomplishes the following:

• Creates a canvas of height 480 and width 640
• Creates a TextBox with the text "Silverlight Rocks!" and positions it on the canvas at 40,30 location.
• Creates a Slider control with transparent background, maximum 150 and minimum 0, small change (precision of movement) as 5 and height and width as 25 and 150 respectively.
• Creates an event handler for Value Changed event of Slider.

Now open the MainPage.xaml.cs and add the following code:
public partial class MainPage : UserControl
    {
        double start, end, height, width, size;
        public MainPage()
        {             InitializeComponent();
             //original values of the slider
            start = slider.Minimum;
            end = slider.Maximum;
            //original height and width of the text box

            height = txtMsg.Height;
            width = txtMsg.Width;
            size = txtMsg.FontSize; 
        }
        private void Slider_ValueChanged(object sender, RoutedPropertyChangedEventArgs<double> e)
        {
            // If slider has reached the beginning

            if (e.NewValue == start)
            {
                txtMsg.Height = height;
                txtMsg.Width = width;
                txtMsg.FontSize = size;
            }

            //if slider has moved forward

            if (e.NewValue > e.OldValue)
            {
                txtMsg.Height = height + e.NewValue;
                txtMsg.Width = width + e.NewValue;
                txtMsg.FontSize += 1;
            }
            else //if slider has moved backward
            {
                txtMsg.Height = txtMsg.Height - (e.OldValue-e.NewValue);
                txtMsg.Width = txtMsg.Width - (e.OldValue - e.NewValue);
                txtMsg.FontSize -= 1;
            }
        }
    }

The logic in this code is self explanatory from the comments. When you build and execute your solution and move the slider, you will see the text increasing or decreasing in size. Though this was a simple demonstration, in actual scenarios, you can customize the Slider control through its various properties. You can also enhance its design characteristics in Expression Blend 4 if required.