CODEWITHSUNDEEP
wpf
Achilles
Achilles

Reputation: 11299

Good approach to learning to use WPF design tools?

I want to learn WPF but from all the commentary I've been hearing the tooling in Visual Studios is weak and would require me writing XAML by hand which is inefficient. I've seen tools such as Expression Blend that are used to create XAML however given my complete lack of understanding of WPF I'd be hard-pressed to get enough "mileage" out of the trial to learn enough to decide if I want to buy the software. So my question is if I want to learn the tooling that Microsoft is providing for WPF as I learn WPF what approach would you suggest? As for tooling, is there an Express edition of Blend that I can use to learn before I upgrade to the professional license? Thanks!

Upvotes: 1

Views: 643

Answers (4)

Dave Markle
Dave Markle

Reputation: 97691

I really enjoyed this tutorial when I was first getting started. I think they do a good job orienting you with WPF and Blend.

Upvotes: 0

Mike S
Mike S

Reputation: 27

You might want to look at learnvisualstudio.net. I think they have some videos on WPF. I use this website to help me learn VS.net and some .net languages.

Upvotes: 0

Scott
Scott

Reputation: 12050

Honestly,

I've felt that I've learned WPF the best by writing the XAML by hand. I've been using VS 2010 Beta 1 and the designer has gotten better (with intellisense and such) and it sounds like when Beta 2 comes out it will be better yet.

After you learn WPF and get comfortable with the basics and functionality, then using Blend for making things look "pretty" is useful.

I do not know how long the trial version of Blend 3 is, but before 3 came out, they kept giving out a version (June Preview, August Preview and the likes) that lasted 3 months before they expired.

Again, I didn't feel like Blend helped me learn WPF, it just helped make things more visually appealing (gradients and some animations). But to each his own.

Upvotes: 3

TWA
TWA

Reputation: 12816

This isn't exactly what you are looking for, but I found it helpful when playing around with XAML.

Kaxaml

Upvotes: 1

Related Questions