If you were wondering why there were no posts for the past few months, this is the reason:
I’ve been developing Fusion4D, my graduation project, along with my friend Keila Matsumura.

Fusion4D is an innovative user interface that lets users interact with 3D objects as if the objects were in their hands, allowing them to move, rotate and scale the objects, explode them into its parts, and even navigate in time to see what the objects will look like in the past and future. It uses the Kinect and 3D glasses to achieve an immersive effect.

Take a look at the video below or the project website for all the details!

Click here to view the embedded video.

See you soon!
Roberto

Recentemente eu e meu pai gravamos uma série de webcasts básicos sobre WPF para o MSDN Brasil.

Os meus webcasts foram:

• Control Templates
• Controles personalizados – User controls e Custom controls
• Triggers

Aproveite e veja a série completa em http://msdn.microsoft.com/pt-br/netframework/dd897462.

Bom estudo!
Roberto

Have you ever developed a great WPF or Silverlight app with lots of smooth animations, but when you tried to capture it in video (using software like Camtasia and Expression Encoder) the animations are jumpy and slow?  Have you tried to zoom in to some part of your app only to see that your beautiful UI gets pixelated?

Well this tip is for you! In this post I’ll give some tips from my experience recording the video for Skedle, our newest WPF app. Take a look at the Skedle video below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

You can see that the animations are smooth and the resolution is crisp, even when the video zooms in the application. Also, did you know that the opening “Skedle” animation was actually captured directly from the WPF app?

So let’s jump on to the tips!

1. Slow down animations and then speed up the video

No matter what PC you have and how optimized your app is, you’ll almost never be able to capture animations with the same smoothness and fluidity as the real app. To overcome that, the solution is to slow down all your animations by a factor of 10 or 20 (using the SpeedRatio property), and then speed up the video accordingly in those specific parts.

“But”, you might say, “does that mean I’ll have to change the SpeedRatio of each Storyboard?”. The answer: No for WPF, unfortunately yes for Silverlight! WPF allows you to override properties like SpeedRatio by using Dependency Object metadata overrides (unavailable on Silverlight as of v4 and WP7). Here’s an example  that slows down all the animations by a factor of 10 (you can use it on your App.xaml, for instance):

static App() {
    Timeline.SpeedRatioProperty.OverrideMetadata(typeof(Storyboard),
               new FrameworkPropertyMetadata { DefaultValue = 0.1 });
}

Of course, this tip won’t work if you specifically set the SpeedRatio of any of your animations.

One last point: don’t use this to cheat or lie about the fluidity of your app! If your app is slow and you make it look smooth, users will notice that the first time they try it, and it won’t look good for you.

2. Use Viewbox or RenderTransform to zoom in without losing quality

The next thing you’ll want to do is to record your screencast in a huge resolution in order to enable crisp zoom-in effects on your video. The easiest way to achieve that is to wrap your main layout panel on your window or page in a Viewbox (available on WPF and Silverlight 4)  and set its Width and Height to a fixed size, or simply use a ScaleTransform as your panel’s RenderTransform to scale everything up to a fixed factor.

For example, if your app looks good on a 800×600px window but you have a 1920×1200px monitor, you can record your video at double size (1600×1200px), which will allow for zoom effects in a hi-res (720p) video. In WPF or Silverlight, this could look like the following:

<Window>
    <!-- ... -->
    <Grid>
        <Grid.RenderTransform>
            <ScaleTransform ScaleX="2" ScaleY="2" />
        </Grid.RenderTransform>

        <!-- old content goes here, with fixed size -->
        <Grid Width="800" Height="600" x:Name="LayoutRoot">
            <!--more stuff-->
        </Grid>

    </Grid>
</Window>

This tip won’t work if you have images on your UI, but you would lose resolution on those anyway when zooming. At least you’re getting the best of the vector-based parts of your interface.

When recording videos for WP7 apps this tip doesn’t apply too well because you’re constrained by the size of the emulator. My recommendation is to record on the maximum size of the emulator (click the magnifier icon, select 100%), which will give you a 800×480px screen – usually more than enough for YouTube videos.

Bonus tip: If you use this to zoom in, try setting the Windows cursors to “Windows Aero (extra large)”, which will give you a mouse pointer that is proportional to your huge interface!

You can also use this tip to record title screens and other animations for your video (for example, the Skedle title animation was zoomed in by a factor of 5). In fact, by combining the two tips, you could create the video entirely in Expression Blend!

So that’s all for today. If you create a cool video using these tips, please post it as a comment!

See you next time!
Roberto

This post is also available on CodeProject.

I’ve just released my fourth article on CodeProject: Deep Zoom for WPF. I’m very excited about this one: this article explains how to recreate the MultiScaleImage (Deep Zoom) control from Silverlight, compatible with Deep Zoom Composer, Zoom.it, multi-touch and more!

Here’s it goes:

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/WPF/DeepZoom.aspx

If you like this article, please sign in and vote for this article (on the right corner, “Rate this article”), and please leave your comments and suggestions.

All the source code is also being released in CodePlex under the MS-PL licence, to facilitate future improvements and distribution. Please contribute! The project page is located at http://deepzoom.codeplex.com/.

If you like this kind of article, I also recommend my other articles on CodeProject:

• Creating a 3D book-shaped application with speech and ink using WPF 3.5
• Multi-touch development with WPF – A multi-touch RSS reader
• Windows Phone 7 Turnstile Control for Silverlight

Thanks!
Roberto

Now that the Windows Phone 7 devices have been released and the Windows Phone Marketplace is live, my brother Eduardo and I wanted to develop an application to experiment with WP7 and evaluate the Marketplace validation process. So here it is!

Our first app is a Periodic Table for Windows Phone 7 that contains chemical and physical information of all chemical elements. Available for US$0.99!

Screenshots:

Features:

• List view where you can order elements by name, symbol, atomic number, group or series and jump between categories
• Table view that displays the elements in a color-coded periodic table
• Details panorama view with chemical and physical information for each element
• Integrated with Windows Phone themes

Trial limitation: in the trial version, you can only see the details for elements in Group 1 (H, Li, Na, K, Rb, Cs, Fr).

If you like this application or if you have any comments, suggestions or corrections, please review this app on the Marketplace!

Thanks!
Roberto

[Para os ouvintes brasileiros/portugueses: a entrevista foi feita em inglês mas o vídeo também foi legendado em português! Aproveite!]

Following on our special series of interviews, Roberto interviewed Paul Betts, a Software Development Engineer in the Windows team and creator of ReactiveXaml. In a video special, he talked about Reactive programming and how to apply it to WPF and Silverlight through RxXaml. An awesome introduction to a new paradigm on WPF/SL development!

If you want to download the video, leave a comment in this post. If there’s enough demand, I’ll upload the video (1.6GB!) to a file share.

Here are the links we talked about in the interview:

Reactive Extensions for .net
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/devlabs/ee794896.aspx

ReactiveXaml
http://github.com/xpaulbettsx/ReactiveXaml

ReactiveXaml Google Group
http://groups.google.com/group/reactivexaml

Paul’s Twitter
http://twitter.com/xpaulbettsx

Paul’s Blog
http://blog.paulbetts.org

Also, don’t miss our previous interview with Arturo Toledo about design and Expression!

Subscribe to receive XAMLCast directly on your MP3 player, phone or RSS reader:

• RSS feed: http://www.xamlcast.net
• iTunes/iPod: pcast://www.xamlcast.net
• Zune/Windows Phone 7: zune://subscribe/?XAMLCast=http://www.xamlcast.net

You can follow XAMLCast on Twitter: @xamlcast

• Hashtag #xamlcast
• Follow the XAMLCasters:
  • @kelps
  • @robertos_br
  • @rodrigokono

Stay tuned for more!

Kelps, Roberto Sonnino and Rodrigo Kono

[Para os ouvintes brasileiros e portugueses: Este post é em Inglês pois a entrevista foi realizada em Inglês. Os episódios em Português voltam em breve!]

Earlier this year we did some special interviews for XAMLCast with influential people in the WPF/SL community. Well finally we’ve got time to release them!

To start, Roberto interviewed Arturo Toledo, now Sr. Program Manager for the Microsoft Web Platform. He talked about design, Metro, trends and Expression. Don’t miss it!

Here are the links we talked about in the interview:

Smashing Magazine Webdesign Trends
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/01/04/showcase-of-modern-navigation-design-trends/
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/01/14/web-design-trends-for-2009/
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/01/21/current-web-design-trends-for-2009/

Windows UX
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=E49820CB-954D-45AE-9CB3-1B9E8EA7FE8C&displaylang=en

Metro UX
http://download.microsoft.com/download/D/8/6/D869941E-455D-4882-A6B8-0DBCAA6AF2D4/UI%20Design%20and%20Interaction%20Guide%20for%20Windows%20Phone%207%20Series.pdf

August de los Reyes (Surface team) talks about Natural User Experiences (NUI)
http://www.microsoft.com/belux/msdn/nl/chopsticks/default.aspx?id=1406
http://www.webdirections.org/resources/august-de-los-reyes-predicting-the-past/

Gesturecons
http://www.gesturecons.com

Expression Studio
http://www.microsoft.com/expression/

.Toolbox Design School
http://microsoft.com/design/toolbox

Arturo’s Twitter
http://twitter.com/arturot

Arturo’s Blog
http://ux.artu.tv

Subscribe to receive XAMLCast directly on your MP3 player, phone or RSS reader:

• RSS feed: http://www.xamlcast.net
• iTunes/iPod: pcast://www.xamlcast.net
• Zune/Windows Phone 7: zune://subscribe/?XAMLCast=http://www.xamlcast.net

You can follow XAMLCast on Twitter: @xamlcast

• Hashtag #xamlcast
• Follow the XAMLCasters:
  • @kelps
  • @robertos_br
  • @rodrigokono

Stay tuned for more!

Kelps, Roberto Sonnino and Rodrigo Kono

Victor Gaudioso, MVP, has published a cool 13-minute video explaining all you need to know to download the source, rebuild it for WP7, and use it in your apps. The video is available at:

http://wp.me/pWN5M-ca

Thanks Victor for your awesome video!
Cheers!
Roberto

I’ve just released my third article on CodeProject: recreating the Windows Phone 7 Turnstile Effect on Silverlight (for desktop and Phone). This article explains how to recreate the 3D effect we’ve seen so many times in the Windows Phone 7 videos (or for some lucky ones, on the devices themselves). Then, it shows how to refactor the effect into a reusable control that you can apply to any layout.

Here’s the link:

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/windows-phone-7/WP7Turnstile.aspx

You can see some demos of the effect at http://bit.ly/wptiles and http://bit.ly/wptiles3c .

If you like this article, please sign in and vote for this article (on the right corner, “Rate this article”), and please leave your comments and suggestions.

All the source code is also being released in CodePlex under the MS-PL licence, to facilitate future improvements and distribution. The project page is at http://turnstile.codeplex.com/.

If you like this kind of article, I also recommend my other articles on CodeProject:

• Creating a 3D book-shaped application with speech and ink using WPF 3.5
• Multi-touch development with WPF – A multi-touch RSS reader

Thanks!
Roberto

Este episódio comentamos especialmente o Top 10 que o Pete Brown publicou na semana passada. A gravação está bacana e esperamos que gostem!

Links de referência deste podcast:

• Visual Studio LightSwitch
  • Participe enviando sua opinião sobre esta nova ferramenta através do twitter ou comentando no posta deste audio.
• Contratação no Time de Expression (Christian Shormman)
• 10 coisas que um desenvolvedor WPF e Silverlight deve saber by Pete Brown

Cadastre e receba o podcast diretamente no seu Ipod, Zune, Mp3 player, etc:

• Feed RSS: http://www.xamlcast.net
• iTunes/iPod: pcast://www.xamlcast.net
• Zune: zune://subscribe/?XAMLCast=http://www.xamlcast.net

O XAMLCast no Twitter: @xamlcast

• Hashtag #xamlcast
• Siga os XAMLCasters:
  • @kelps
  • @robertos_br
  • @rodrigokono

Até o próximo!

Abraços,

Kelps, Roberto Sonnino e Rodrigo Kono

Estamos na edição 19!
São 42′ de boa informação. Ouça, comente e aproveite os links abaixo.

• Silverlight Media Framework 2.0 (07/07)
• XAML Power Toys for VS2010
• Power Tools no ScottGu’s Blog
• RTW do WPF Ribbon Control
• Visual Studio LightSwitch
  • Vídeo no CH9: Anúncio no VSLive!
  • Post no blog do Somasegar
  • Lançamento previsto para o dia 23 de agosto de 2010
• Behaviors
  • Top 5 Silverlight Behaviors
  • Microsoft Expression Gallery (Silverlight Behaviors)

Para assinar:

• Feed RSS: http://www.xamlcast.net
• iTunes/iPod: pcast://www.xamlcast.net
• Zune: zune://subscribe/?XAMLCast=http://www.xamlcast.net

O XAMLCast também está no Twitter!

• Twitter oficial: @xamlcast (e hashtag #xamlcast)
• Siga os XAMLCasters:
  • @kelps
  • @robertos_br
  • @rodrigokono
• Adicione o Twibbon do XAMLCast ao seu avatar!
  • http://twibbon.com/join/XAMLCast

Até o próximo!

Abraços,

Kelps, Roberto Sonnino e Rodrigo Kono

Depois de duas semanas sem gravar por causa de dificuldade em sincronizar nossas agendas, acabamos decidindo gravar esse episódio sem o Kono para não deixar vocês, nossos ouvintes, mais uma semana sem o XAMLCast. Mas não se preocupem pois no próximo episódio estaremos todos de volta.

Nesta semana falamos de Sterling DB, SilverMotion, Windows Phone 7, Silverlight para Symbian e Xte Profiler. Ouça!

• Silvelight para Symbian – http://www.silverlight.net/getstarted/devices/symbian/
• Sterling para WP7 – http://sterling.codeplex.com/
• Blog do Jeremy Likness – http://jeremylikness.com/
• Xte Profiler – http://xteprofiler.net/
• SilverMotion – http://postvision.net/SilverMotion/DemoTech.aspx
• Windows Phone 7 Tools Beta – http://developer.windowsphone.com/windows-phone-7/

Para assinar:

• Feed RSS: http://www.xamlcast.net
• iTunes/iPod: pcast://www.xamlcast.net
• Zune: zune://subscribe/?XAMLCast=http://www.xamlcast.net

O XAMLCast também está no Twitter!

- Twitter oficial: @xamlcast (e hashtag #xamlcast)

- Siga os XAMLCasters:

• @kelps
• @robertos_br
• @rodrigokono

- Adicione o Twibbon do XAMLCast ao seu avatar!

• http://twibbon.com/join/XAMLCast

Até o próximo!

Abraços,

Kelps, Roberto Sonnino e Rodrigo Kono

Mais informações para você neste episódio que está bem interessante. Incrível como sempre existe mais e mais novidades – bom para todos nós que nos alimentamos disto.

Nesta semana falamos de Metro UI, novos MVPs, Kinect e novas interfaces, Streaming 3D, Fluid UI, Windows Phone 7 e mais. Fique ligado e surfe conosco!

• Kinect – www.xbox.com/kinect
• Novos MVPs de Silverlight – http://timheuer.com/blog/archive/2010/07/01/sivlerlight-mvp-awards-july-2010.aspx
• Artigo do Petzold sobre Fluid UI no Silverlight 4 sem Blend – http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/ff798276.aspx
• Nascar Streaming 3D com SL – http://racebuddy3d.nascar.com/player3dv.html
  • NVIDIA 3D Vision: http://www.nvidia.com/object/3d-vision-main.html
  • Requisitos de sistema: http://www.nvidia.com/object/3d-vision-requirements.html
  • Notícia no site da NVIDIA sobre a transmissão 3D utilizando Silverlight e Smooth Streaming: http://www.nvidia.com/object/io_1275286847414.html
  • MetroTwit – http://www.metrotwit.com
• Silverlight Metro Theme – http://www.silverlight.net/content/samples/sl4/themes/cosmopolitan.html
  • Download do Silverlight Theme Pack – http://tinyurl.com/2ep68po
• Phone 7 Action Pack (Windows Phone 7) – http://phone7actionpack.codeplex.com
• Pivot Viewer control for Silverlight – http://www.silverlight.net/learn/pivotviewer
  • Exemplos usando Pivot Viewer – http://pivot.metia.com/worldcup e http://netflixpivot.cloudapp.net
  • Developers Pivot Collections Tools – http://www.getpivot.com/developer-info/tools.aspx
  • TweetPivot – http://tweetpivot.com

Para assinar:

• Feed RSS: http://www.xamlcast.net
• iTunes/iPod: pcast://www.xamlcast.net
• Zune: zune://subscribe/?XAMLCast=http://www.xamlcast.net

O XAMLCast também está no Twitter!

- Twitter oficial: @xamlcast (e hashtag #xamlcast)

- Siga os XAMLCasters:

• @kelps
• @robertos_br
• @rodrigokono

- Adicione o Twibbon do XAMLCast ao seu avatar!

• http://twibbon.com/join/XAMLCast

Até o próximo!

Abraços,

Kelps, Roberto Sonnino e Rodrigo Kono

Ficamos quase quatro meses distantes dos microfones. Todos nós estivemos envolvidos em projetos pessoais que tomaram uma boa parte do tempo e ainda tivemos o problema do fuso horário do Sonnino que estava no GMT+5.

Agora normalizado, voltamos com novas idéias e boas informações para sua orientação e atualização.

Se você acompanha o XAMLCast, deve ter percebido que a numeração mudou – decidimos acabar com a contagem por temporadas, pois afinal o XAMLCast é uma coisa só. Logo, contando 4 episódios da 1a temporada, 2 do Tech-Ed 2007 e mais 9 da segunda temporada, você vai ouvir agora o Episódio 16 do XAMLCast!

Claro que não conseguimos falar de tudo que aconteceu nestes últimos 3 meses e meio. Porém falamos dos acontecimentos mais importantes desde o MIX10 e também de algumas boas novidades fresquinhas.

Neste episódio falamos de:

• O indiscutível Visual Studio 2010 – http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/default.aspx
• Novidades do Silverlight 4 – http://www.silverlight.net/getstarted
• Silverlight no Windows Phone – http://www.silverlight.net/getstarted/devices/windows-phone
• Expression Studio Ultimate – http://www.microsoft.com/expression
• Blend Fundamentals Training – http://www.microsoft.com/expression/resources/BlendTraining
• Moonlight 3 com próximas atualizações baseadas no Silverlight 4 – http://www.dotnetrocks.com/default.aspx?showNum=568
• ReactiveXaml – http://github.com/xpaulbettsx/ReactiveXaml e http://blog.paulbetts.org/index.php/category/programming/reactive-extensions/
• MSN na Copa – http://www.msnnacopa.com.br
• Behavior desenvolvido pelo Kelps para download no Expression Gallery – Deep Zoom Tag Filter Behavior: http://gallery.expression.microsoft.com/en-us/DeepZoomTagFilter
• Especial: Kelps entrevista  Tim Heuer no MIX10 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQ75swHZ5Pw (post completo em breve)

Para assinar:

• Feed RSS: http://www.xamlcast.net
• iTunes/iPod: pcast://www.xamlcast.net
• Zune: zune://subscribe/?XAMLCast=http://www.xamlcast.net

O XAMLCast também está no Twitter!

- Twitter oficial: @xamlcast (e hashtag #xamlcast)

- Siga os XAMLCasters:

• @kelps
• @robertos_br
• @rodrigokono

- Adicione o Twibbon do XAMLCast ao seu avatar!

• http://twibbon.com/join/XAMLCast

Até o próximo!

Abraços,

Kelps, Roberto Sonnino e Rodrigo Kono

Today, together with the VS2010 launch, Microsoft has finally released the Surface Toolkit for Windows Touch for download!

But what is it, you might ask? This toolkit enables WPF developers with Windows 7 touch PCs with the Surface controls (such as ScatterView and Library) and touch visualizations to create really awesome multitouch apps.

Stop reading this and go download it now:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=801907a7-b2dd-4e63-9ff3-8a2e63932a74

If you don’t have a touch device, you can use MultiTouchVista to simulate multiple touches using multiple mice. A step-by-step tutorial can be found in this link: http://wenjiun.blogspot.com/2009/11/testing-windows-7-multi-touch-with.html

Also take a look at this video from Channel 9 which shows the toolkit:

http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/LarryLarsen/Surface-Toolkit-for-Windows-Touch/

Happy multitouching!

Roberto

Este é o XAMLCast pré-MIX10.

Estamos ansiosos para a chegada deste grande evento que irá nos trazer grandes novidades e anúncios. E para nossa alegria, e como já havíamos falado antes, o XAMLCaster Kelps estará em Las Vegas cobrindo o evento e enviando tudo em primeira mão!

Neste episódio falamos de:

• Finger Style – Artigo fantástico do Charles Petzold sobre Multitouch em Silverlight
  • http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/ee336026.aspx
• MultiTouchVista – simulador de multitouch com múltiplos mouses para Windows
  • http://multitouchvista.codeplex.com
• Artigo do Roberto Sonnino (em inglês) sobre touch com WPF e MultiTouchVista
  • http://www.codeproject.com/KB/WPF/3D-BookWriter.aspx
• SLARToolkit – A experiência de AR (Realidade Aumentada) com Silverlight virou um framework
  • http://kodierer.blogspot.com/2010/02/slartoolkit-silverlight-augmented.html
• Aplicação do correio americano para tamanhos de caixas com AR
  • https://www.prioritymail.com/simulator.asp
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpS3LeCiCtc&feature=player_embedded
• Não confunda:
  • Blender – programa de modelagem 3D
    • http://www.blender.org/
  • Balder – engine 2D/3D que funciona com Silverlight
    • http://balder.codeplex.com/
  • Blend – ferramenta para design de aplicações WPF/Silverlight
    • http://www.microsoft.com/expression/products/Blend_Overview.aspx
• Concurso de Silverlight/WPF da Magenic Studios – prêmios até 500 US$ + 3000 US$ pro Haiti
  • http://magenic.com/Default.aspx?tabid=1835
• Copa de Talentos Microsoft
  • http://talentosmicrosoft.com.br/
• Anuncio oficial do Silverlight no Windows Phone 7
  • http://bit.ly/ci8rrI
• Video no TechEd Middle East mostrando XNA no Windows Phone, Xbox e Windows
  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQv_3fwopo8
• MIX10
  • http://live.visitmix.com
• HVP no MIX
  • http://silverlighthvp.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=ReleaseSchedule
• Video do ScottGu no Channel 9 falando sobre o MIX
  • http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/LarryLarsen/Countdown-to-MIX10-The-Gu/

Bolão do MIX10!
Envie sua previsão do que irá acontecer no MIX10. Para participar, basta referenciar a hashtag #bolaoxamlcast no seu post do twitter.

Ajudem o XAMLCast a entrevistar o ScottGu no MIX10
Envie um tweet (em inglês) para @ScottGu pedindo uma entrevista com o @XAMLCast (Brazilian Podcast) ou @kelps.

Com muitos pedindo, o acesso torna-se mais fácil.

Se quiserem, podem pedir para outras “personalidades” do .net/WPF/SL, como Scott Hanselman, Phil Haack, John Papa, S. Somasegar, Tim Heuer, Karen Corby, Glenn Block… o Kelps vai ter trabalho em Vegas!

Atenção!

O XAMLCast da semana que vem será especial sobre o MIX10! Assim, em vez de um grande episódio, soltaremos as notícias aos poucos, o mais rápido possível, conforme o Kelps for mandando. Por isso, não deixe de assinar e seguir o XAMLCast para não perder nada!

Para assinar:

• Feed RSS: http://www.xamlcast.net
• iTunes/iPod: pcast://www.xamlcast.net
• Zune: zune://subscribe/?XAMLCast=http://www.xamlcast.net

O XAMLCast também está no Twitter!

- Twitter oficial: @xamlcast (e hashtag #xamlcast)

- Siga os XAMLCasters:

• @kelps
• @robertos_br
• @rodrigokono

- Adicione o Twibbon do XAMLCast ao seu avatar!

• http://twibbon.com/join/XAMLCast

Até o próximo!

Abraços,

Kelps, Roberto Sonnino e Rodrigo Kono

For today’s quick tip I’ll show how to convert images from any 2D vector format (and I really mean ANY) to XAML. It’s pretty simple!

Note: if your image is in a bitmap format (e.g. JPEG, PNG, GIF, PSD, etc), you should simply convert it to PNG or JPEG using any image editor and use it directly as a bitmap image in your app. This method is only necessary for vector file formats.

Note 2: There are specialized converters for many formats that might yield better results. I’d recommend searching the web to see if there isn’t a converter for your format before trying this method.

Requirements:

• Expression Design (tip: Students can get it for free with Dreamspark)
• PDFCreator

Steps:

1. Open your image in your favorite image viewer. In this example, I’ll open an SVG from Wikipedia with Firefox.
   
   
   
2. Print the image to PDF with PDFCreator.
   
   
   
3. Rename the PDF file to AI using Windows Explorer. (e.g. “image.pdf” becomes “image.ai”)
   
   
   
4. Open the AI file with Expression Design. You might now want to delete some parts of the image that you don’t want to be exported.
   
   
   
5. Save it to XAML as usual using File > Export… in Expression Design.
   
   
   

Yes, it’s THAT simple! Enjoy!

See you next time,
Roberto

This blog post is also available on CodeProject

It’s been quite a while since the last English post – XAMLCast has been taking much of my blogging time

Today’s tip is an expansion of a method originally developed by Dr. WPF in this post: http://www.drwpf.com/blog/Home/tabid/36/EntryID/48/Default.aspx .

Usually, when working with Converters in WPF/SL, we always follow the same steps:

1. Create a class that derives from IValueConverter:

   public MyConverter : IValueConverter {}

2. Implement Convert (and sometimes ConvertBack)

   public object Convert(object value, Type  targetType, object parameter,  System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
   {
     // convert and return something
   }

3. Instantiate the converter as a resource and use it:

   <ResourceDictionary ...>
       <local:MyConverter x:Key="TheConverter" />
   </ResourceDictionary>
   ...
   {Binding Converter={StaticResource TheConverter} ...}

Well, it works but it’s not a compact syntax. Following Dr. WPF’s idea, we can use a MarkupExtension to replace the StaticResource by a static instance of the Converter:

public class  MyConverter: MarkupExtension, IValueConverter
{
    private static MyConverter _converter;

    public object Convert(object  value, Type targetType, object  parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
    {
        // convert and return something
    }

    public object  ConvertBack(object value, Type  targetType, object parameter,  System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
    {
        // convert and return something (if needed)
    }

    public override object  ProvideValue(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
    {
        if (_converter == null)
            _converter = new MyConverter();
        return _converter;
    }
}

Usage:

xmlns:conv="[Path to namespace that contains the converter]"
...
{Binding Converter={conv:MyConverter}}

Now that’s pretty!

The only problem is that with this method, you’d have to repeat the implementation of the ProvideValue for each converter you create, and we programmers hate repeating ourselves

One solution I found is to create a generic abstract class that will contain that implementation, and derive each converter from that class. It’s cleaner and works the same:

using System;
using System.Windows.Data;
using System.Windows.Markup;

namespace VirtualDreams.Converters
{
    [MarkupExtensionReturnType(typeof(IValueConverter))]
    public abstract class ConverterMarkupExtension<T> : MarkupExtension where T : class, IValueConverter, new()
    {
        private static T _converter;

        public override object ProvideValue(IServiceProvider serviceProvider)
        {
            if (_converter == null)
            {
                _converter = new T();
            }
            return _converter;
        }
    }
}

Let’s apply it to MyConverter:

public class  MyConverter: ConverterMarkupExtension<MyConverter>, IValueConverter
{
    public object Convert(object  value, Type targetType, object  parameter, System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
    {
        // convert and return something
    }

    public object  ConvertBack(object value, Type  targetType, object parameter,  System.Globalization.CultureInfo culture)
    {
        // convert and return something (if needed)
    }
}

Usage:

xmlns:conv="[Path to namespace that contains the converter]"
...
{Binding Converter={conv:MyConverter}}

Simpler, less repetitive – that’s the way I like it!

Happy converting!

Roberto

This blog post is also available on CodeProject

Já estamos na edição 8 e as novidades não param.
Já tem gente pedindo o XAMLCast duas vezes por semana (caramba).

No podcast desta semana falamos dos MVPs de Silverlight que foram destaque em 2009, falamos do Windows Phone e também discutimos um pouco sobre os projetos de 3D no Silverlight.
Ouça e mande sua opinião e comentário!

Seguem os links relacionados ao podcast:

• MVPs do ano de Silverlight
  • Post do Tim Heuer com a divulgação
    • http://timheuer.com/blog/archive/2010/02/18/silverlight-mvp-of-the-year-2009.aspx
  • Laurent Bugnion
    • http://blog.galasoft.ch
    • http://twitter.com/lbugnion
  • Dave Campbell
    • http://geekswithblogs.net/WynApseTechnicalMusings/Default.aspx
    • http://twitter.com/wynapse
• Windows Phone 7
  • Conheça:
    • http://www.windowsphone7series.com
  • Especulações do Silverlight no Windows Phone
    • http://rodrigokono.net/2010/02/silverlight-no-windows-phone
  • Entrevista de Ballmer para o TechCrunch
    • http://www.engadget.com/2009/09/25/steve-ballmer-talks-three-screens-and-a-cloud-and-more-with-te
• Competições de Silverlight
  • MIX 10K
    • http://mix10k.visitmix.com/
  • SilverlightShow EcoContest
    • http://contest.silverlightshow.net/
• Silverlight 3D
  • Projeto Balder (2D e 3D para Silverlight, XNA e OpenGL)
    • http://balder.codeplex.com
  • Kit3D (3D no Silverlight 2)
    • http://kit3d.codeplex.com
  • Google investindo na Web 3D
    • O3D: http://code.google.com/intl/pt-BR/apis/o3d
    • Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uofWfXOzX-g&feature=player_embedded
  • Livro que explica como fazer jogos 3D com Balder e Farseer
    • http://www.packtpub.com/3d-game-development-with-microsoft-silverlight-3-beginners-guide/book
  • Artigo: como desenvolver em 3D com WPF
    • http://www.codeproject.com/KB/WPF/3D-BookWriter.aspx

Para assinar:

• Feed RSS: http://www.xamlcast.net
• iTunes/iPod: pcast://www.xamlcast.net
• Zune: zune://subscribe/?XAMLCast=http://www.xamlcast.net

O XAMLCast também está no Twitter!

- Twitter oficial: @xamlcast (e hashtag #xamlcast)

- Siga os XAMLCasters:

• @kelps
• @robertos_br
• @rodrigokono

- Adicione o Twibbon do XAMLCast ao seu avatar!

• http://twibbon.com/join/XAMLCast

Até o próximo!

Abraços,

Kelps, Roberto Sonnino e Rodrigo Kono

Continuando o papo técnico, este espisódio do XAMLCast traz o tema MVVM salpicado com novidades e boas dicas e referências para você estudar.

Ouça e tire suas conclusões:

Seguem os links relacionados ao podcast:

• Visual Studio 2010 RC
  • http://msdn.microsoft.com/pt-br/vstudio/dd582936.aspx
• Jason Zander
  • Blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/jasonz
  • Channel9 (video): http://tinyurl.com/ycdur6g
• Silverlight Viewport
  • http://tinyurl.com/yk5o7zq
• SilverArcade (videocast)
  • http://www.silverarcade.com
• MVC x MVP x MVVM
  • http://nirajrules.wordpress.com/2009/07/18/mvc-vs-mvp-vs-mvvm
• Josh Smith
  • http://joshsmithonwpf.wordpress.com
• Karl Shifflett
  • Blog
    • http://karlshifflett.wordpress.com
  • Ocean v2
    • http://karlshifflett.wordpress.com/ocean
    • http://karlshifflett.wordpress.com/2010/02/07/bbq-shack-ocean-v2-for-visual-studio-2008/
• Sasha Barber
  • http://sachabarber.net
• Marlon Grech
  • http://marlongrech.wordpress.com
• MVVM Made Easy / Jeremiah Morrill (screencast)
  • http://vimeo.com/8915487
• MVVM Frameworks
  • http://www.japf.fr/2009/10/a-quick-tour-of-existing-mvvm-frameworks/
• MVVM Light
  • http://www.galasoft.ch/mvvm/getstarted
  • http://mvvmlight.codeplex.com
• Cinch
  • http://sachabarber.net/?p=522
  • http://sachabarber.net/?p=523
  • http://www.codeproject.com/KB/WPF/CinchCodeGen.aspx
• Jesse Liberty
  • http://tinyurl.com/y8nel6o
• Dicas em português para começar com MVVM
  • http://tinyurl.com/yjhgrmv
• Grupo MVVM na comunidade Silverlight Brasil
  • http://silverlightbrasil.ning.com/group/MVVM

Discutam, comentem e retwittem!

Para assinar:

• Feed RSS: http://www.xamlcast.net
• iTunes/iPod: pcast://www.xamlcast.net
• Zune: zune://subscribe/?XAMLCast=http://www.xamlcast.net

O XAMLCast também está no Twitter!

- Twitter oficial: @xamlcast (e hashtag #xamlcast)

- Siga os XAMLCasters:

• @kelps
• @robertos_br
• @rodrigokono

- Adicione o Twibbon do XAMLCast ao seu avatar!

• http://twibbon.com/join/XAMLCast

Aguardamos seu feedback!

Abraços,

Kelps, Roberto Sonnino e Rodrigo Kono