WPF Step by Step: Getting Started with WPF and Expression Blend

The Windows Presentation Foundation provides a fantastic way to develop your applications. However, getting started with WPF can be daunting. Data binding, MVVM, XAML, Pixel Shaders, Control Templates, Styles, Resources and Triggers are all terms that may well be unfamiliar.

This article will help you get started with WPF. We'll create a simple application, going over points of interest blow by blow. By the end of the article you will be comfortable with some of the core concepts of WPF development and you'll be well on the way to being able to harness the power of WPF to create stunning applications.

One of the great things about WPF is that it encourages you to use a sensible pattern for writing software - separating content from design, keeping the business logic away from the UI. You will write code that is well organised, easily testable and maintainable.

Background

The code in this article is C#. Visual Basic code will be very similar. If there is enough interest I will update it with VB code. I am using the latest platforms and technologies - Expression Blend 4, Visual Studio 2010 and the .NET Framework 4.0.

Creating a New Project

Enough preamble. Let's dive in and get started. We'll start simple and build a skeleton application, then we can take our basic application and refine it. Rather than being bombarded with technical details and abstracts, we're going for a very hands on approach.

First of all, open Expression Blend 4 and choose 'New Project'. I'm calling this one WpfStepByStep1 - any name will do!

Read more: Codeproject

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