Programming WPF

A quick background of my skills prior to reading the book so you know where I'm coming from:- Strong: C++, Win32, 2D UI- Learning: C#, .NET, WPF, XAML, XMLBeing extremely anxious to dig in to WPF, I was seeking a book that would hold my hand through the process but by the end, leave no stones unturned. This book comes close.My first attempt at learning was "Windows Presentation Foundation Unleashed" by Adam Nathan. I quickly became frustrated with the book because I was regularly feeling lost. You know, like when you are conversing with a really intelligent person who has a hard time helping you connect the dots. I do recommend Adam's book as a supplement as it's got good material and is in full color. After reading the reviews for "Programming WPF" by Sells & Griffiths I took the leap.I read the book cover to cover minus 3 chapters: 3D, Interoperability and Async/Multithreaded -- about 700 of 800 pages. Usually books this fat have lots of useless pages. Not this book, no sir, which just goes to show how much there is to learn about WPF and XAML. In a word, the book is brilliant, written for experienced programmers who want to learn WPF and XAML.It has the same feel as Petzold's Win 3.x books, i.e. Light-hearted, start easy and built to a powerful crescendo as the chapters progress. The latter chapters are no more difficult to digest than the previous chapters, but do build upon previous chapters. That said, I was extremely grateful that the book didn't have a grand project that was slowly built upon chapter by chapter; code examples mostly stood on their own and were plentiful (and they worked as printed!)As noted above, I know very little about WinForms, and WPF is the obvious successor. Though parallels were duly noted, I was thrilled that there were not constant sidebars saying "Hey Mr. WinForms! Everything's OK! This is just new stuff and you can handle it. Rah! Rah! Rah!" As the authors make abundantly clear from page 1, WPF is light years ahead of WinForms.As noted above, WPF and XAML are big topics so be prepared to get up and stretch your legs a lot, hold you head frequently and doubt the wisdom of learning new things.On the down side, the book is weighted a bit too heavily towards XAML for my tastes. Since C# can do absolutely everything (and more) that XAML can do, I wish there were more dual examples that show how XAML does it and then how C# does it. There are examples like this but not enough. This would satisfy the curiousity of developers who wonder about how XAML "magically" achieves things.Another gripe, now that I am attempting to apply what I have learned: I am frequently having to turn to a Google search to find details not present in the book. For example, the section about event bubbling covers good ground but I immediately had a problem when trying to use bubbling: I was attempting to use it with sibling elements and that does not work but (as far as I can tell) this was not noted in the book. It feels as though the book was not field tested.And a final gripe: The index is sparse. I am regularly having to pencil in items.Some brief notes:- I really hope this book evolves along with WPF's evolution- The material seemed fresh (as of Oct 2008) except the Silverlight appendix which has aged since Silverlight 2.0 has been released- The corresponding errata website does not seem to be updated regularly (though I didn't encounter many editing problems)- Even though the book only has a dozen pages of color plates, you won't feel deprived as the examples will light up your display in all sorts of fun ways.

The book is well organized and very easy to read. It captures both the novice as well as those who have been working in WPF since beta (or is that CTP). The only complaints I have for the book are really just complaints on WPF in general. A lot of the material in the book (as well as WPF in general) focuses on making fairly outlandish applications (getting all the wizz bang features and animations). What I find lacking are items like validation, threading (when having a long background task), and items more akin to Windows Forms development. This book was an invaluable tool while I put together my first WPF application.

This is exactly the book you need on "both ends" of working with a technology like WPF:End 1 - The Beginning - When you're brand-new to WPF, you're quite anxious to start coding immediately, and this book pays off immediately. In each section, there is meaty depth (or, if you're vegan, "carroty depth") with extensive code examples you can type in and fiddle with. While each chapter does build upon the previous, you still get to really work with each chapter's topic instead of the overly-Professorial or baby-step approach you get with other books.End 2 -- Well on the road -- Once you're up to your armpits in real WPF development, the book is fantastic as a reference. Look up the topic you can't quite figure out or can't recall, and everything you need is there, again with terrific code examples and notch-outs with real-world experiences to keep in mind.Somewhere along the way, a book like WPF Unleashed (which I really don't consider a competitor to this book, but instead a good companion) is a good read to fill you in on the deeper architectural and design patterns within WPF, and will fill in any cracks that may remain after reading this text.But for a "dive in now" AND "reference later" text, this is an excellent choice. It's also over 600 pages, making it an excellent footrest or doorstop, in the event you decide WPF is not for you.

Not for the beginner. Programming in C# is a must have. Familiarity with Net concepts helps. Good reference book for the developer.

Just started using it. I have no previous experience with WPF, so it's a good starting point.

I think this might be the best book I've read on WPF basics, along with WPF Unleashed 4.5 by Adam Nathan.

Thank you very much for this book, Chris!!This is an excellent book, well organized smooth flow from start to end.Easy to understand, before reading this book, learning WPF was really frustrating after reading this book, seems too easy. Code samples are excellent, I am working with VS 2008 beta 2 and pretty much all programs work too...