European Silverlight 4 & Silverlight 5 Hosting BLOG

In this post, we will learn how to create Analog Clock completely from code behind using .NET Silverlight.

Step 1

Create a new project in Visual Studio and select "Silverlight Application".

Step 2

Open MainPage.xaml and add the following code:

Step 3

Open MainPage.xaml.cs and add the following code:

    using System;
    using System.Collections.Generic;
    using System.Linq;
    using System.Net;
    using System.Windows;
    using System.Windows.Controls;
    using System.Windows.Documents;
    using System.Windows.Input;
    using System.Windows.Media;
    using System.Windows.Media.Animation;
    using System.Windows.Media.Imaging;
    using System.Windows.Shapes;

    namespace SilverlightAnalogClock
    {
        public partial class MainPage : UserControl
        {

            public Canvas ClockArea = null;
            public Rectangle secondHand = null;
            public Rectangle minuteHand = null;
            public Rectangle hourHand = null;

            public RotateTransform secondHandRotate = null;
            public RotateTransform minuteHandRotate = null;
            public RotateTransform hourHandRotate = null;

            public Ellipse outerCircle = null;

            public Point centerPoint;
            public double HEIGHT = 0;
            public double WIDTH = 0;
            public double RADIUS = 0;

            public MainPage()
            {
                InitializeComponent();

                ClockArea = new Canvas()
                {

                    Width = 300,
                    Height = 300,
                    HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Left,
                    VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment.Top

                };

                ClockArea.SetValue(Grid.RowProperty, 0);
                ClockArea.SetValue(Grid.ColumnProperty, 0);
                ClockArea.Margin = new Thickness(0, 0, 0, 0);
                this.LayoutRoot.Children.Add(ClockArea);

                WIDTH = ClockArea.Width;
                HEIGHT = ClockArea.Height;
                centerPoint.X = (WIDTH/2);
                centerPoint.Y = (HEIGHT/2);

                RADIUS = 400;
                DrawClockFace();

                Point TOPPOINT = new Point(0, 0);

                DrawMinuteHand();
                DrawSecondHand();
                DrawHourHand();
                DrawCenterCircle();


                //Start the Clock
                ClockStart();


            }

            public void ClockStart()
            {
                // Create and Start the Thread Timer
                System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherTimer clockTimer = new System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherTimer();
                clockTimer.Interval = new TimeSpan(0, 0, 0, 0, 1000);
                clockTimer.Tick += new EventHandler(Clock_Tick);
                clockTimer.Start();
            }

            // Get and Set the Angles of Each Hand at every Clock Ticks
            public void Clock_Tick(object o, EventArgs sender)
            {
                double hourRotateValue = Convert.ToDouble(DateTime.Now.Hour.ToString());
                double minuteRotateValue = Convert.ToDouble(DateTime.Now.Minute.ToString());
                double secondRotateValue = Convert.ToDouble(DateTime.Now.Second.ToString());
                hourRotateValue = (hourRotateValue + minuteRotateValue / 60) * 30;
                minuteRotateValue = (minuteRotateValue + secondRotateValue / 60) * 6;
                secondRotateValue = Convert.ToDouble(DateTime.Now.Second.ToString()) * 6;
                minuteHandRotate.Angle = minuteRotateValue;
                hourHandRotate.Angle = hourRotateValue;
                secondHandRotate.Angle = secondRotateValue;
            }

            // Draw Center Circle
            public void DrawCenterCircle()
            {
                Ellipse centerCircle = new Ellipse()
                {

                    Width = 10,
                    Height = 10,
                    Stroke = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Red),
                    Fill = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Red),
                    HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Center,
                    VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment.Center

                };

                centerCircle.SetValue(Grid.RowProperty, 0);
                centerCircle.SetValue(Grid.ColumnProperty, 0);
                Canvas.SetLeft(centerCircle, (WIDTH / 2) - (centerCircle.Width / 2));
                Canvas.SetTop(centerCircle, (HEIGHT / 2) - (centerCircle.Height / 2));
                ClockArea.Children.Add(centerCircle);
            }

            // Draw Clock Face
            public void DrawClockFace()
            {

                int smallCircle = 5;

                Color c = Colors.Blue;
                int p = 0;

                // Draw Shadow of Outer Circle
                Ellipse outerCircleShadow = new Ellipse()
                {
                    Width = (WIDTH),
                    Height = (WIDTH),
                    Stroke = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Gray),
                    StrokeThickness = 5,
                    HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Center,
                    VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment.Center

                };

                outerCircleShadow.SetValue(Grid.RowProperty, 0);
                outerCircleShadow.SetValue(Grid.ColumnProperty, 0);
                Canvas.SetLeft(outerCircleShadow, (WIDTH / 2) - (outerCircleShadow.Width / 2) + 6.5);
                Canvas.SetTop(outerCircleShadow, (HEIGHT / 2) - (outerCircleShadow.Height / 2) + 6.5);
                ClockArea.Children.Add(outerCircleShadow);

                // Draw Outer Circle
                outerCircle = new Ellipse()
                {
                    Width = (WIDTH ),
                    Height = (WIDTH),
                    Stroke = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Black),
                    StrokeThickness = 5,
                    HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Center,
                    VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment.Center
                };
                outerCircle.SetValue(Grid.RowProperty, 0);
                outerCircle.SetValue(Grid.ColumnProperty, 0);
                Canvas.SetLeft(outerCircle, (WIDTH / 2) - (outerCircle.Width / 2) + 4.5);
                Canvas.SetTop(outerCircle, (HEIGHT / 2) - (outerCircle.Height / 2) + 4.5);
                ClockArea.Children.Add(outerCircle);


                outerCircle.Fill = new LinearGradientBrush()
                    {
                        EndPoint = new Point(1, 0),
                        GradientStops = new GradientStopCollection()
                        {
                                new GradientStop() { Color = Colors.White, Offset = 0 },
                                new GradientStop() { Color = Colors.Gray, Offset = 0.5 },
                                 new GradientStop() { Color = Colors.White, Offset = 1 }
                        }
                    };

                int clockDigits = 3;
                double rad = (WIDTH/2) - 10.0f;
                // 60 Innner Dots as Small Circle
                for (double i = 0.0; i < 360.0; i += 6)
                {

                double angle = i * System.Math.PI / 180;

                int x = (int)(centerPoint.X + rad * System.Math.Cos(angle));
                int y = (int)(centerPoint.Y + rad * System.Math.Sin(angle));

                if (p % 5 == 0)
                {
                    smallCircle = 10;
                    c = Colors.Orange;
                }
                else
                {
                    smallCircle = 5;
                    c = Colors.Blue;
                }
                if (p % 15 == 0)
                {
                    TextBlock tb = new TextBlock();
                    tb.Text = clockDigits.ToString();
                    tb.FontSize = 24;

                    tb.SetValue(Grid.RowProperty, 0);
                    tb.SetValue(Grid.ColumnProperty, 0);
                    Canvas.SetLeft(tb, x );
                    Canvas.SetTop(tb, y);
                    if (clockDigits == 3)
                    {
                        Canvas.SetLeft(tb, x - 20);
                        Canvas.SetTop(tb, y - 10);
                    }
                    if (clockDigits == 6)
                    {
                        Canvas.SetLeft(tb, x);
                        Canvas.SetTop(tb, y - 30);
                    }
                    if (clockDigits == 9)
                    {
                        Canvas.SetLeft(tb, x + 15);
                        Canvas.SetTop(tb, y - 10);
                    }
                    if (clockDigits == 12)
                    {
                        Canvas.SetLeft(tb, x - 10);
                        Canvas.SetTop(tb, y + 5 );
                    }


                    ClockArea.Children.Add(tb);
                    clockDigits = clockDigits + 3;
                }

                p++;

                            Ellipse innerPoints = new Ellipse()
                            {
                                Width = smallCircle,
                                Height = smallCircle,
                                Stroke = new SolidColorBrush(c),
                                Fill = new SolidColorBrush(c),
                                HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Center,
                                VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment.Center
                            };
                            innerPoints.SetValue(Grid.RowProperty, 0);
                            innerPoints.SetValue(Grid.ColumnProperty, 0);
                            Canvas.SetLeft(innerPoints, x);
                            Canvas.SetTop(innerPoints, y);
                            ClockArea.Children.Add(innerPoints);

                }


            }
            // Draw the Second Hand
            public void DrawSecondHand()
            {

                double handLength = (HEIGHT / 2) - 20;
                secondHand = new Rectangle()
                {
                    Width = 1,
                    Height = handLength,
                    Stroke = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Red),
                    Fill = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Red),
                    HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Center,
                    VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment.Center
                };

                secondHand.SetValue(Grid.RowProperty, 0);
                secondHand.SetValue(Grid.ColumnProperty, 0);
                //Add Rotate Transformation
                secondHandRotate = new RotateTransform();
                secondHandRotate.Angle = 0;
                //Set Center for Rotation
                secondHandRotate.CenterX = Canvas.GetLeft(secondHand);
                secondHandRotate.CenterY = secondHand.Height;
                secondHand.RenderTransform = secondHandRotate;
                //Set Initial Position of Hand
                Canvas.SetTop(secondHand, centerPoint.Y - handLength);
                Canvas.SetLeft(secondHand, WIDTH/2);
                ClockArea.Children.Add(secondHand);

            }

            public void DrawMinuteHand()
            {
                double handLength = (HEIGHT / 2) - 50;
                minuteHand = new Rectangle()
                {
                    Width = 4,
                    Height = handLength,
                    Stroke = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Black),
                    Fill = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Black),
                    HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Center,
                    VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment.Center
                };

                minuteHand.SetValue(Grid.RowProperty, 0);
                minuteHand.SetValue(Grid.ColumnProperty, 0);

                minuteHandRotate = new RotateTransform();
                minuteHandRotate.Angle = 0;
                minuteHandRotate.CenterX = Canvas.GetLeft(minuteHand);
                minuteHandRotate.CenterY = minuteHand.Height;
                minuteHand.RenderTransform = minuteHandRotate;
                Canvas.SetTop(minuteHand, centerPoint.Y - handLength);
                Canvas.SetLeft(minuteHand, WIDTH / 2);
                ClockArea.Children.Add(minuteHand);

            }
            public void DrawHourHand()
            {
                double handLength = (HEIGHT / 2) - 80;
                hourHand = new Rectangle()
                {
                    Width = 4,
                    Height = handLength,
                    Stroke = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Black),
                    Fill = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Black),
                    HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Center,
                    VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment.Center
                };

                hourHand.SetValue(Grid.RowProperty, 0);
                hourHand.SetValue(Grid.ColumnProperty, 0);

                hourHandRotate = new RotateTransform();
                hourHandRotate.Angle = 0;
                hourHandRotate.CenterX = Canvas.GetLeft(hourHand);
                hourHandRotate.CenterY = hourHand.Height;
                hourHand.RenderTransform = hourHandRotate;
                Canvas.SetTop(hourHand, centerPoint.Y - handLength);
                Canvas.SetLeft(hourHand, WIDTH / 2);
                ClockArea.Children.Add(hourHand);

            }

        }
    }

The Output

Now execute and you will get a fully drawn Silverlight Analog Clock.

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Silverlight 6 Hosting UK - HostForLIFE.eu :: How to Use Silverlight Storyboard to Create Busy Indicator Bar

August 4, 2015 07:14 by author

The Silverlight toolkit comes with Busy Indicator control, but some time you may need to develop custom Busy Indicator for your application. Here are the steps to create Busy Indicator using Silverlight StoryBoard.

Step 1: Create Silverlight Application

Create Silverlight application and add ProgressBar.xaml user control in your project.

Step 2: Code Progress Bar

Copy and paste below given code ten times and change grid name from circle0 through circle9. This code will be used to generate small filled circles.

Step 3: Add StoryBoard code

Add this StoryBoard in user control resources section. This will start Busy Indicator animation.

<Storyboard x:Name="StartAnimation">
            <DoubleAnimation Storyboard.TargetProperty="(UIElement.Opacity)"
                    Storyboard.TargetName="LayoutRoot" From="0" To="1" Duration="0:0:0.3">
            </DoubleAnimation>
</Storyboard>

Copy and paste below code ten times and change StoryBoard name from ProgressStoryboard0 through ProgressStoryboard9 and StoryBoard TargetName from circle0 through circle9 (you have already declared code for circles above). This code will be used to generate StoryBoard animation for Busy Indicator.

<Storyboard x:Name="ProgressStoryboard0">
            <DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames BeginTime="00:00:00" Storyboard.TargetName="circle0"
                    Storyboard.TargetProperty="(UIElement.Opacity)">
                <SplineDoubleKeyFrame KeyTime="00:00:00" Value="0" />
                <SplineDoubleKeyFrame KeyTime="00:00:00.0050000" Value="1" />
                <SplineDoubleKeyFrame KeySpline="0,0,0.601999998092651,0.400999993085861"
                        KeyTime="00:00:00.7000000" Value="1" />
                <SplineDoubleKeyFrame KeyTime="00:00:00.7120000" Value="0" />
            </DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
            <DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames BeginTime="00:00:00" Storyboard.TargetName="circle0"
                    Storyboard.TargetProperty="(UIElement.RenderTransform).(TransformGroup.Children)[0].(ScaleTransform.ScaleY)">
                <SplineDoubleKeyFrame KeyTime="00:00:00" Value="1" />
                <SplineDoubleKeyFrame KeyTime="00:00:00.0050000" Value="1" />
                <SplineDoubleKeyFrame KeySpline="0,0,0.601999998092651,0.400999993085861"
                        KeyTime="00:00:00.7000000" Value="0.3" />
                <SplineDoubleKeyFrame KeyTime="00:00:00.7120000" Value="0.30000001192092896" />
            </DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
            <DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames BeginTime="00:00:00" Storyboard.TargetName="circle0"
                    Storyboard.TargetProperty="(UIElement.RenderTransform).(TransformGroup.Children)[0].(ScaleTransform.ScaleX)">
                <SplineDoubleKeyFrame KeyTime="00:00:00" Value="1" />
                <SplineDoubleKeyFrame KeyTime="00:00:00.0050000" Value="1" />
                <SplineDoubleKeyFrame KeySpline="0,0,0.601999998092651,0.400999993085861"
                        KeyTime="00:00:00.7000000" Value="0.3" />
                <SplineDoubleKeyFrame KeyTime="00:00:00.7120000" Value="0.30000001192092896" />
            </DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
</Storyboard>

Step 4: Add animation start and stop code

Add below code in your ProgressBar.xaml.cs file. This has a dependency property IsActive. When IsActive is set to true the Busy Indicator animation will start and when it is set to false the animation will be stopped.

public partial class ProgressBar : UserControl
{
    private Storyboard storyBoard;
    private List<Storyboard> storyBoardList;
    private int nextStoryBoard;
    public static readonly DependencyProperty IsActiveProperty =
            DependencyProperty.Register("IsActive", typeof(bool), typeof(ProgressBar), new PropertyMetadata(IsActivePropertyChanged));
    public ProgressBar()
    {
          InitializeComponent();
          this.storyBoard = new Storyboard()
          {
                   Duration = new Duration(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(100))
          };
           this.storyBoard.Completed += new EventHandler(this.OnIntervalTimerCompleted);
           this.storyBoardList = new List<Storyboard>()
          {
                   ProgressStoryboard0,
                   ProgressStoryboard1,
                   ProgressStoryboard2,
                   ProgressStoryboard3,
                   ProgressStoryboard4,
                   ProgressStoryboard5,
                   ProgressStoryboard6,
                   ProgressStoryboard7,
                   ProgressStoryboard8,
                   ProgressStoryboard9
          };
    }
    public bool IsActive
    {
        get { return (bool)GetValue(IsActiveProperty); }
        set { SetValue(IsActiveProperty, value); }
    }
    private static void IsActivePropertyChanged(DependencyObject sender, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
        var spinControl = sender as ProgressBar;
        if (spinControl != null)
        {
            if ((bool)e.NewValue)
           {
               spinControl.Start();
          }
          else
          {
              spinControl.Stop();
          }
        }
    }
    private void Start()
    {
        this.Visibility = Visibility.Visible;
        StartAnimation.Begin();
        this.storyBoard.Begin();
    }
    private void Stop()
    {
        this.Visibility = Visibility.Collapsed;
        StartAnimation.Stop();
        this.nextStoryBoard = 0;
        this.storyBoard.Stop();
        foreach (var item in this.storyBoardList)
        {
            item.Stop();
        }
    }
    private void OnIntervalTimerCompleted(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        this.storyBoardList[nextStoryBoard].Begin();
        this.nextStoryBoard = this.nextStoryBoard > 8 ? 0 : this.nextStoryBoard + 1;
        this.storyBoard.Begin();
    }
}

At this point you have completed coding for BusyIndicator control. Now the next step is implementation to see how exactly it works.

Step 5: Implementing Busy Indicator

To implement and test the above mentioned Busy Indicator, I have added a simple WCF MathService which returns sum of two values supplied to its Add method. The main reason behind choosing WCF service for this example is, this is the most common scenario to implement Busy Indicator. Add service reference of this service into Silverlight project.MainPage.xaml changes:
Add namespace for Busy Indicator in MainPage.xaml file.

xmlns:progressBar="clr-namespace:CustomProgressBar"

And add below code in the same file.

<Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Margin="20,20,20,20">
        <Grid Margin="5,5,5,5">
            <StackPanel HorizontalAlignment="Center">
                <TextBlock x:Name="lblResult" />
                <Button x:Name="btnAdd" Width="100" Content="Add" Click="btnAdd_Click" />
            </StackPanel>
        </Grid>
        <progressBar:ProgressBar x:Name="ProgressBar1" Visibility="Collapsed"/>
</Grid>

You can see in above code, I have placed custom Busy Indicator control in MainPage using below line of code.

<progressBar:ProgressBar x:Name="ProgressBar1" Visibility="Collapsed"/>

MainPage.xaml.cs change: Add below code in this file.

private void btnAdd_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
    ProgressBar1.IsActive = true;
    MathService.MathServiceClient proxy = new CustomProgressBar.MathService.MathServiceClient();
    proxy.AddCompleted += new EventHandler<CustomProgressBar.MathService.AddCompletedEventArgs>(proxy_AddCompleted);
    proxy.AddAsync(10, 10);
}
void proxy_AddCompleted(object sender, CustomProgressBar.MathService.AddCompletedEventArgs e)
{
    lblResult.Text = e.Result.ToString();
    ProgressBar1.IsActive = false;
}

Here I have added a button with the name "Add", on click of this button I am calling MathService to calculate sum of two given numbers. Once the result is returned from MathService it will be displayed in TextBlock. On button click event I am setting Progress Bar IsActive property to true, at this moment the Busy Indicator animation will start. And when the Add method completed event is called I am setting IsActive property value to false, to stop the animation.

Step 6: Run the application

Once all the changes are completed run the application. You will see below screen when you click on "Add" button. The good thing is, until the Busy Indicator runs the UI portion of the application will be locked and once the processing is completed screen will be unlocked again.

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Silverlight 6 Hosting Romania - HostForLIFE.eu :: How to Create Storyboard Animation using Expression Blend in Silverlight

June 30, 2015 06:11 by author

There are two ways to animate in Silverlight, through storyboards and through code. Expression Blend offers extensive help in creating storyboard animations. Silverlight animation is time based not frame based, this means that your animation will benefit from running at the maximum frame rate that the users machine will allow. Multiple storyboards can be created and run at the same time, but for the purpose of this basic tutorial, you'll be shown how to create a single storyboard.

Follow these simple steps to create storyboard animation using expression blend in Silverlight:

Step 1

To create a new storyboard, go to the Objects and Timeline tab then click on the ‘plus’ icon.

If you are using the default UI layout in Blend, you may want to hit the ‘F6‘ key to switch the layout from design mode to animation mode, this will give you a better layout for working with storyboards.

Notice that after adding a storyboard a red circle will be displayed in the top right of the screen, this indicates that you are in record mode. When in record mode, every change you make is treated as an animation and will be tied to a Keyframe. To turn record mode on or off click on the red circle in the top right of the screen, it should toggle from red to grey.

Step 2

For the purpose of this tutorial I have created a ball graphic and a shadow graphic as shown below. You can use any objects thay you like to make your own animation project. I have placed them off the page to the left so that they start out of site.

Step 3

Storyboard animation is based on Keyframes set to specific times. To add a Keyframe, go back to the ‘Objects and Timeline‘ tab, select the objects that you want to animate and click the Record Keyframe button as highlighted below. You will see that a new Keyframe is added by each object at zero seconds.

Step 4

To add a Keyframe at a specific point along your timeline, drag the yellow time bar to the required point and then hit the Record Keyframe button. To make our ball graphic animate I have selected a time stamp of 0.5 seconds and moved the ball to the position shown below:

Step 5

Then you can animate the ball and shadow graphics again at 1 second.

And once more at 1.5 seconds to finish the animation.

Step 6

Now that we have completed the animation we may want to loop it multiple times or loop it forever. To make the animation loop, make sure you have the storyboard selected under the ‘Objects and Timeline‘ tab, then go to your ‘Properties‘ tab and scroll down to the ‘Common Properties‘ section. Here you have an option to repeat the animation several times, for this tutorial, you have to set it to ‘Forever‘.

Step 7

Finally, you need to tell the storyboard to play. Sometimes you will need a storyboard to be called by the code behind file, but you can use ‘Behaviors’ to start a storyboard instead. ‘Behaviors’ are pre-set actions that can be dropped onto objects in Blend, they are an easy way to achieve functionality without requiring knowledge of C# or alternative languages. To tell the storyboard to autoplay, go to the ‘Assets‘ button on the main tool bar (the last icon), select ‘Behaviors‘ from the list on the left to bring up the selection of behaviors. Find the behavior titled ‘ControlStoryboardAction‘ and drag it onto your ‘LayoutRoot‘. See how the behavior is indented below the ‘LayoutRoot‘. Select the behavior and go to the ‘Properties‘ tab, scroll down to the ‘Triggers‘ section and set the following settings:

EventName = Loaded

ControlStoryboard… = Play

Storyboard = Storyboard1 (the name of your storyboard)

You are done with your storyboard animation!

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Silverlight with Free ASP.NET Hosting - HostForLIFE.eu :: How to Make Silverlight Overlay Notification

April 22, 2015 07:01 by author

Most of us do not like applications that continuosly bothering with popup messages to make us aware that something happened. Sometimes, a message box coming up saying "Changes were saved succesfully" right after pressing the save button, this condition is so bothering because our work can be interrupted by the unimportant notification box. Maybe, we better would like to be told that it worked if it allows us to keep going or you'd better be told if something went wrong.

For example, during Christmas a lot of messages full of best wishes are going around. You can sent one of those to one friend and after a while an Overlay Notification appeared at the bottom of your screen saying "Message received by [contact]". So, in this post, I will tell you how to make that kind of notification in Silverlight which isn't keep bothering you while you were working on something.

Step 1

First, let us create a User Control. The control will be the already mentioned Overlay Notification. You canl make it appear and disappear after a while without user interaction. This could be the XAML code:

Step 2

You have a Storyboard that will be triggered whenever you want to show the Notification. It will last 6 seconds (plus another 6 because of the AutoReverse=true). And will change the Opacity of our notification area to give the impression that it fades in and out.

Then you already had a Border with rounded corners. You'll have to make it visible whenever you want to show the message and hide it when the Storyboard is done. Inside of this Border, you will have a Textblock where your message will be displayed.

Let's take a look at the code behind:

using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Controls;
using System.Windows.Media;

namespace SilverlightTestApp.Controls
{
    public partial class OverlayNotification : UserControl
    {
        private string _message;
        public string Message
        {
            get
            {
                return _message;
            }
            set
            {
                _message = value;
                lblMessage.Text = value;
                Popup.Visibility = Visibility.Visible;
                ShowMessage.Begin();
            }
        }

        private System.Windows.Media.Color _color;
        public System.Windows.Media.Color Color
        {
            get
            {
                return _color;
            }
            set
            {
                _color = value;
                var newBrush = new SolidColorBrush();
                newBrush.Color = value;
                lblMessage.Foreground = newBrush;
            }
        }

        public OverlayNotification()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        private void ShowMessage_Completed(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
        {
            Popup.Visibility = Visibility.Collapsed;
        }
    }
}

You will expose at least the Message property (you also have the Color property for the font). Notice that everytime you set the Message property we update the Textblock's text, make the Border visible and trigger the Storyboard. Also noticed that you can handle the Storyboard's completed event to hide the Border.

To use it, just add this new User Control into the view where you want to use it in the same way that you would place a Textbox or any other control:

<my:OverlayNotification x:Name="myOverlayNotification"/>

Then, whenever you want to show a Notification, just set the Message property with the message you want to display:

myOverlayNotification.Color = Colors.Red;
myOverlayNotification.Message = "This is a test notification";

Feel free to play around with it modifying the layout and appeareance of the control in the XAML or adding more properties to be able to customize it more, for example, adding a BackgroundColor property.

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Silverlight with Free ASP.NET Hosting - HostForLIFE.eu :: How to Create Simple Navigation in Silverlight ?

April 21, 2015 08:08 by author

Navigation Framework is absolutely good however in some cases we have a tendency to don't need to use the Navigation Framework. This navigation technique may be used instead that provides simple Navigation. Add the following code in App.xaml:

private static Grid root
public static void Navigate(UserControl newPage)
{
UserControl oldPage = root.Children[0] as UserControl;
root.Children.Add(newPage);
root.Children.Remove(oldPage);
}

Now, Edit the App.xaml as shown below:
Previous code:
private void Application_Startup(object sender, StartupEventArgs e)
{
this.RootVisual = new MainPage();
}

Modified code:
private void Application_Startup(object sender, StartupEventArgs e)
{
root = new Grid();
root.Children.Add(new MainPage());
this.RootVisual = root;
}

Create a new usercontrol NewPage . Add Button to the Page inorder to navigate to the home. equally produce a button within the MainPage.xaml as well inorder to navigate to the NewPage. within the Button Click event add the following code:
       App app = (App)Application.Current;
        App.Navigate(new NewPage());

Application.Current gets the System.Windows.Application object for this application. The new instance of the Page is passed to the Navigate method of App class. When we run the code we are able to navigate between the MainPage and also the NewPage.xaml.

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Silverlight 6 with Free ASP.NET Hosting - HostForLIFE.eu :: How to Create a Progress Bar while Uploading File

April 15, 2015 06:04 by author

When you worked with Silverlight to create an GUI to let the user to upload the file, it is important to create a progress bar to make the user aware of the uploading progress.Today, I will show you how to create a progress bar while uploading a file.

Here is the sample of the progress bar that I've created:

Several resources can be obtained online, but the explaination is either not clear enough, or there are redundant codes confusing people. Here, the code is as simplest as possible, with the assumption that,
a) there is no connection lost between the client and the server during the process
b) there is no data corrupted during the transmission
c) small file size (can be edited)

Before we go with code, first you can observe that there are 4 UI components:
a) Browser button
b) Textbox shows file name (can be disabled)
c) Upload button
d) Progress bar + labels

Browser Button

Here's the code to create the browser button:

    OpenFileDialog dialog = new OpenFileDialog(); //OpenFileDialog will open a file dialog which allows the use to browser the wanted file.
    if ((bool)dialog.ShowDialog())
    {
          globalFileStream = dialog.File.OpenRead();
          ....
          ....
    }

Upload Button

An always updating progress bar means that, the upload progress has to be done 'Chunk' by 'Chunk'. To achieve this, we read the file stream 'Chunk' by 'Chunk and upload it.

Step 1 : Send First Chunck

    int steps = (int)(fileLength / (long)CHUNK_SIZE);
    progressBar1.Minimum = 0;               //set prograssbar info
    progressBar1.Maximum = steps;
    int read = 0;
    byte[] buffer = null;                                                                //buffer to store the file stream chunk by chunk
    if (globalFileStream.Length <= CHUNK_SIZE)                            //consider if the file size is smaller than the predefined chunk size
    {
          buffer = new byte[(int)globalFileStream.Length];
    }
    else
    {
          buffer = new byte[CHUNK_SIZE];
    }
    read = globalFileStream.Read(buffer, 0, buffer.Length);
    filePosition += read;
    myUpload.BeginUploadAsync(fileName, destinationFolder, buffer);       //begin upload the first chunk

Step 2: Sends second and subsequent chunk

    UpdateProgressBar(); //Update progress bar
    if (filePosition < fileLength)
    {
         int read = 0;
         int readSize = CHUNK_SIZE;
         byte[] buffer = null;
         long diff = fileLength - filePosition;
         if (diff < CHUNK_SIZE)
         {
               readSize = (int)diff;
         }
         buffer = new byte[readSize];
         globalFileStream.Seek(filePosition, SeekOrigin.Begin);
         read = globalFileStream.Read(buffer, 0, readSize);
         filePosition += read;
         myUpload.ContinueUploadAsync(theFileName, "here", buffer);

For your information, progress bar provided by Silverlight doesn't have the percentage displayed. Hence, I additionally put a label on top of the progress bar. The label contents are the percentage of the file stream sent to the server.

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Silverlight 6 with Free ASP.NET Hosting - HostForLIFE.eu :: How to Align Text in DataGrid Cell in Xaml and in Code Behind ?

April 14, 2015 07:46 by author

Hi friends, in this short article I will tell you about How to Align Text in DataGrid Cell in Xaml and in Code Behind with Silverlight 6. First, take a look the following code:

DataGridTextColumn textColumn = new DataGridTextColumn();
textColumn.Header = "Result";
textColumn.Binding = new Binding("Result");
dataGrid1.Columns.Add(textColumn);

How I will set RESULT alignment right? Here is what you've got to try to to, I'll show you this in each ways that like doing it in Xaml Page and doing it in code behind. First add the style in your User control Resource:
<UserControl.Resources>
      <Style x:Key="AlignRight" TargetType="Data:DataGridCell">
          <Setter Property="HorizontalContentAlignment" Value="Right" />
     </Style>
</UserControl.Resources>

I'm doing this for Right Align however you'll be able to change it in keeping with your requirement. Next, the way to do this in Xaml Page? Its terribly straightforward, apply this style to whichever column you would like, like this:

<Data:DataGridTextColumn Header="Amount" Width="90" Binding="{Binding Amount}" IsReadOnly="True" CellStyle="{StaticResource AlignRight}"></Data:DataGridTextColumn>

Now how to do this in code behind:
DataGridTextColumn textColumn = new DataGridTextColumn();
textColumn.Header = "Result";
textColumn.Binding = new Binding("Result");
textColumn.CellStyle = Resources["AlignRight"] as Style;
dataGrid1.Columns.Add(textColumn);

Hope it works for you!

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Silverlight 5 Hosting Germany - HostForLIFE.eu :: How to Get and Set the Control's Coordinate

April 11, 2015 06:48 by author

Unlike normal C#, in Silverlight, you cannot access a control's coordinate through the object.Location.X and object.Location.Y. Instead, it is more troublesome to get and set the values. An in this article, I'm gonna tell you how to get and set the control's coordinate/location/position.

For example, if you want to add Label on the GUI through the code instead of XAML, you need to do have the following codes:

          Label[] arrayScores = new Label[MAX_PLAYERS]; //MAX_PLAYERS = 4
          for (int i = 0; i < arrayScores.Length; i++)
                {
                    arrayScores[i] = new Label();
                    arrayScores[i].Name = "Scores" + i;
                    arrayScores[i].Width = 50;
                    arrayScores[i].Height = 30;
                }

But that's not nough, you haven't set the coordinates of the Labels. You might think that adding the remaining codes at anywhere can do the job. However, it does not. Remember to put the coordinates setting code AFTER the page is loaded.

1. Add this.Loaded event in the constructor after the InitializeComponent()

    public MainPage()
            {
                InitializeComponent();
                ...
                ...
                this.Loaded += new RoutedEventHandler(MainPage_Loaded);
            }

2. Set coordinates using CANVAS: set position, then add into canvas.

            void MainPage_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
            {
                Canvas.SetLeft(arrayScores[0], SCORE_OFFSET_LEFT);
                Canvas.SetLeft(arrayScores[1], SCORE_OFFSET_LEFT);
                Canvas.SetLeft(arrayScores[2], SCORE_OFFSET_LEFT);
                Canvas.SetLeft(arrayScores[3], SCORE_OFFSET_LEFT);
                canvas1.Children.Add(arrayScores[0]);
                canvas2.Children.Add(arrayScores[1]);
                canvas3.Children.Add(arrayScores[2]);
                canvas4.Children.Add(arrayScores[3]);
            }

Happy coding!

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Silverlight 6 Hosting Germany - HostForLIFE.eu :: Increase the Shadow Depth of a Button Control in Silverlight

February 24, 2015 06:42 by author

In this article, I will write about Increase the Shadow Depth of a button control in Silverlight 6 when you clicked in a Silverlight app. As usual, open the visual studio and choose the Silverlight project. First allow us to drag a button from toolbox as shown below into MainPage.xaml.

Now, i'm about to write a button click event for this button. It means, we are able to see the animation impact once ever button is clicked.
<Button Content="ClickHere" Click="StartAnimation" Width="200" Margin="60">
<Button.Effect>
<DropShadowEffect x:Name="myDropShadowEffect" />
</Button.Effect>
</Button>

Now allow us to produce a storyboard as shown below. From the below code we will able to notice that the target name and the name of our button are same. ShadowDepth is assigned because the target property.
<Storyboard x:Name="myStoryboard">
<DoubleAnimation
Storyboard.TargetName="myDropShadowEffect"
Storyboard.TargetProperty="ShadowDepth"
To="30" Duration="0:0:0.5"
AutoReverse="True" />
</Storyboard>

We will write the storyboard begin method within the event "StartAnimation" in MainPage.xaml.cs as shown below.
private void StartAnimation(object sender, RoutedEventArgs args)
{
myStoryboard.Begin();
}

And here is the code that I used:

MainPage.Xaml
<UserControl x:Class="SilverlightTest1.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:DesignHeight="300" d:DesignWidth="400">
     <StackPanel>
         <StackPanel.Resources>
            <Storyboard x:Name="myStoryboard">
                <DoubleAnimation
                Storyboard.TargetName="myDropShadowEffect"
                Storyboard.TargetProperty="ShadowDepth"
                To="30" Duration="0:0:0.5"
                AutoReverse="True" />
            </Storyboard>
        </StackPanel.Resources>
        <Button Content="Click Here" Click="StartAnimation" Width="200"
            Margin="60">
            <Button.Effect>
                <DropShadowEffect x:Name="myDropShadowEffect" />
           </Button.Effect>
        </Button>
    </StackPanel>
</UserControl>

MainPage.Xaml.cs
private void StartAnimation(object sender, RoutedEventArgs args)
        {
            myStoryboard.Begin();
        }

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Silverlight 6 Hosting Netherlands - Cookie with JavaScript in Silverlight

February 10, 2015 15:24 by author

Cookies are knowledge stored by the web browser, as easy as that. you'll be able to save something; yes I said anything, in cookies. I will conjointly do that through Silverlight itself, except for fun let's attempt doing it with JavaScript Silverlight 6. With this method we tend to follow, we'll be accessing JavaScript's function from Silverlight. This sometime becomes a headache for many developers.

The first step towards setting cookies through JavaScript, is to call the JavaScript function from Silverlight. Calling a JavaScript function from Silverlight is extremely straightforward. to know this, and more forthcoming things, produce a brand new Silverlight application "JavaScriptTweaks". Open JavaScriptTweaksTestpage.aspx, and add the subsequent code somewhere with <head> tag:
<script type="text/javascript">
   function SayHello()
   {
        alert("Hello!");
   }
</script>

Next step in the mainpage.cs inside the constructor add the code below:
HtmlPage.Window.Invoke("SayHello");
When you run the application, what you will see is a message box that pops up saying Hello at the very beginning of the app.

Now, we want to Setting the Cooking. Remove the SayHello function from the JavaScript. Write the following code:
function SetCookie(cookieName, cookieValue, Days)
{
    var todayDate = new Date();
    var expireDate = new Date();
    if (Days == null || Days == 0) Days = 1;
    expire.setTime(todayDate.getTime() + 3600000 * 24 * Days);
    document.cookie = cookieName + ":" + cookieValue
    + ";expires=" + expireDate.toGMTString();
}
Next step, call the function SetCookie with this code:
HtmlPage.Window.Invoke("SetCookie", "Name", "Peter", 5);

On the code above will call SetCookie function with the parameters cookieName "Name", cookieValue "Peter" and validity, in other words Days as "5". Line #5 of the function will set the expiry time period of cookies, which is in milliseconds and is about 432000000 for 5 days. Line #6 of the function will set the cookie's information like, its Name, Value and Expiry date. Our cookie is set to give information.

Now, we want to retrieve the information. Create three buttons in the XAML of the main page, 1 for each setcookie, getcookie and deletecookie.

Copy the function on the main page to the click event of the SetCookie Button. And here is the code that I used:
function GetCookie(cookieName)
{
   var allcookies = document.cookie;
   // Get all the cookies in an array
   var cookiearray = allcookies.split(';');
   for (var i = 0; i < cookiearray.length; i++)
   {
       var nameOfCookie = cookiearray[i].split('=')[0];
       if (cookieName == nameOfCookie)
       {
           return cookiearray[i];
    }
}
           return null;
}

Pass in the cookie name (which in our case is "Name") & the function can return the entire cookie. On the GetCookie button select event and we should call this function. Write the following code:
private void ButtonGet_OnClick(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
    var cookie = HtmlPage.Window.Invoke("GetCookie", "Name");
    if (cookie == null)
    {
        MessageBox.Show("No cookie found");
        return;
    }
    MessageBox.Show(cookie.ToString().Split('=').LastOrDefault());
}

This will pop up a message box, showing the value of the cookie specified. Since I have my cookie as "name=Peter" it shows me "Peter".
Finally we want delete a cookie. You need to set the expiry date to a previous date. That can be done thorugh JavaScript's function as follows:
function DeleteCookie(cookieName)
{
    var exp = new Date();
    exp.setTime(exp.getTime() - 1);
    document.cookie = cookieName + "=;expires=" + exp.toGMTString();
}
In the delete button click event call this function as:
private void ButtonDelete_OnClick(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
    HtmlPage.Window.Invoke("DeleteCookie", "Name");
}

Pass within the name of the cookie you wish to delete and bang! it'll be deleted. currently simply do this. Click on SetCookie, it'll set the cookie for you. now click on GetCookie to verify whether or not it did set a cookie or not, you ought to see the value of the cookie within the message box. Click on Deletecookie to delete the cookie. Finally click on Getcookie button once more, if everything worked fine then you ought to see a message within the message box saying: "No cookie found".

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