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This post is based on Silverlight 4, but all the steps do also apply to Silverlight 3. The full source code of the resulting project can be downloaded here. The language C# is used throughout this post, but the steps are easy translatable to VB.NET.

With this release we uploaded the brand new WPF QSF, whose design is now analogical  to the RadControls for Silverlight online demos, thus once again demonstrating the code re-usability between the two suites.

If you try to use the special/reserved characters in a string in XAML you will get a slew of errors in your Error List.

When a Silverlight application is launched the entry point is a class that inherits from System.Windows.Application. By default, when you create a new Silverlight application project, this would be your App class which gets defined in App.xaml.cs. You can, however, change which startup class you want to use. In fact, if you do not plan to use XAML at all you can reduce the size of your application by deleting the Page and App classes including the XAML and code behind files.

Previously, if I wanted to have a piece of text that said “Your name is [username]” I could either use the old Horizontal-Stack-Panel-And-2-TextBlocks trick or write a value converter (not going to be seen below because there’s a great example of it over here. Incidentally, that example is totally irrelevant if you’re going to use StringFormat, but more on that in a second).

The StringFormat option in Silverlight 4 allows you put all that information into a single field, which is extremely useful not only for TextBlocks, but for Content fields in a Button. In fact, let’s use that as an example.

Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) is simultaneously enticing and intimidating. It offers potential for amazing flexibility in UI design but there is a mountain of learning to climb. At the time of writing I am still very much in the foothills, gazing upward. This is my second article on WPF wherein I attempt to give both you and me a “leg up” on the WPF climb from a unique perspective.

Microsoft Extensibility Framework or MEF is one of the great features in Silverlight, designed around making Silverlight applications more extensible generally and provides a much more complete story for the separation of concerns. MEF then begs the question 'Why we care?' and 'What can MEF really do?' and we will address that here.

It moves the text up and rotates it at the same time resulting in a spiraling effect. It is done by giving the TextBlock elements a PlaneProjection each and animating the RotationY and GlobalOffsetY properties.

The TextBlock elements are positioned below the bottom of the Canvas. The Canvas has a Clipping Mask so no one will see them until the animation starts.