Monday, October 24, 2011

Simple Style Definition in Silverlight

Instead of specifying separately for each and every element how exactly it should look we can define a style and then apply it on various elements. Using styles promotes code reuse, makes our code shorter and assists with the code maintenance in the long run. Defining a style is about defining a collection of property values we can then apply to any element we select. Using styles is very similar to using CSS. In both cases we reuse a style definition.

The style is a resource. We define it as any other resource. Each style includes a collection of Setter elements .Each Setter element sets a specific property. The property must be a dependency one.

Unlike WPF we cannot apply the same style on different types of elements and we cannot use triggers in order to change the style of a given control when a specific property changes its value.

The following code sample includes the definition of a simple style that targets buttons.

<UserControl x:Class="SilverlightApplication30.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">
    <UserControl.Resources>
        <Style x:Key="CuteButton" TargetType="Button">
            <Setter Property="FontFamily" Value="Arial" />
            <Setter Property="FontSize" Value="18" />
            <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="Blue" />
            <Setter Property="Padding" Value="10" />
        </Style>
    </UserControl.Resources>
    <Canvas x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="White">
        <Button Name="MyBt" Content="Click Here" Style="{StaticResource CuteButton}" />       
    </Canvas>
</UserControl>


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