XAML - Irregular Controls

The Longhorn SDK enables you to create XAML apps from VS.NET, so I did.

One of the things I'll be looking for is an editor that generates XAML for me. Because, I find XAML "difficult" to write. Yes it's powerfull and "easy" to do, but if you have to do it all by hand, it takes time. So I'm hoping there will be some editor fast :)

I've seen the demo during the DevDays, where you had a different layout per user. And one of those was the kiddie layout, with the very cool button, which was shaped totally different. So I set out course to create a 'NTFS Permissions For Dummies'.

Here's what i created in Photoshop as a quick idea of what I wanted:



Looks kiddie enough, doesn't it?

Then I started my quest, it seems Longhorn doesn't like it when i want to skew a Listbox with AngleX. When I go over the items it renders strange lines everywhere in my app. Gone was my idea to create these nice shaped controls.

But the gradient worked! And that's actually very nice.

Here's what I ended up with:



It looks kinda nice, the colors still make it look kiddie-like.

Going to check writing the C# codebehind later on this week if I find some time.

If anyone feels lucky and has the time, feel free to try to create my attempt in XAML ;) I'd be very gratefull for it, and amazed.

Update:
Here's an example of my skew experience: AngleX, AngleY. Notice the blue lines.
This is the XAML I used. It also happens with other values.

3 Comments

  • Unfortunately, David, we will probably not be able to do the exact layout that you have above in XAML in v1. The reason is that we only support affine 2D transforms on controls. This means that you should be able to skew, but you can't do any perspective transforms. Another way to think about it is that all parallel lines are still parallel after an affine transform.



    Perhaps one of these days I'll post on my blog about that decision, but in the meantime, you can do a lot with a simple skew (as you saw from the demos at the PDC).



    As to not being able to put a skew on a listbox -- that sounds like a bug to me.



    Joe

  • I forwarded a link to your article around and one of our devs tried putting a skew on a listbox on the latest and greatest bits. Everything looks good. So, as of right now, it doesn't look like there is a bug here. :)



    Joe

  • I kinda like the colors, they are indeed kiddie, but i love the buttons!

    nice work David ;)

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