In this article we will explore on Pie Chart in Silverlight 3. Pie Chart comes with Silverlight 3 Toolkit.

Crating Silverlight Project

Fire up Expression Blend 3 and create a Silverlight Application. Name it as PieChartInSL3.

Go ahead and add a Pie Series into your application.

You can find it in Asset Library.

By adding a Pie Series, you just added an Assembly System.Windows.Controls.DataVisualization.

And Blend automatically refers to the Namespace.

If you see the xaml code behind you will find the following:

xmlns:chartingToolkit="clr-namespace:System.Windows.Controls.DataVisualization.Charting;assembly=System.Windows.Controls.DataVisualization.Toolkit"

Now we will add some data into it.

Create a class called Appointment and add the following code into it.

public class Appointment

{

public int Id { get; set; }

public string AppName { get; set; }

public string AppointmentDetails { get; set; }

public int Duration { get; set; }

public Appointment()

{

}

public Appointment(int id, string appName, string appointmentDetails, int duration)

{

Id = id;

AppName = appName;

AppointmentDetails = appointmentDetails;

Duration = duration;

}

Pie Series takes Key Value pair as it's data. So we will create a class named AppointmentHelper which will convert a Dictionary to Key Value Pair.

public static Dictionary<String, int> GetTimeDistribution(this List<Appointment> appts)

{

Dictionary<String, int> myTimeDistribution = new Dictionary<string, int>();

var appointments = (from time in appts

select time.AppName).Distinct();

foreach (var app in appointments)

{

var time = (from pjts in appts

where pjts.AppName == app

select pjts.Duration).Sum();

myTimeDistribution.Add(app, time);

}

return myTimeDistribution;

}

Now we will add values.

List<Appointment> appointments;

public MainPage()

{

InitializeComponent();

CreateTimeLists();

}

private List<AppointmentDTO> CreateTimeLists()

{

appointments = new List<Appointment>

{

new Appointment { Id=1, AppName="Meeting", AppointmentDetails="Video COnference", Duration=30},

new Appointment { Id=1, AppName="Call", AppointmentDetails="Audio COnference", Duration=90},

new Appointment { Id=1, AppName="Session", AppointmentDetails="Session for Silverlight", Duration=120}

};

return appointments;

}

Now we will bind our data to Pie Series.

<chartingToolkit:Chart x:Name="TypicalChart" Title="Typical Pie Chart">

<chartingToolkit:Chart.Series>

<chartingToolkit:PieSeries Margin="0,0,20,20" d:LayoutOverrides="Width, Height" Title="Pie Chart Sample"IndependentValueBinding="{Binding Path=Key}"

DependentValueBinding="{Binding Path=Value}"/>

</chartingToolkit:Chart.Series>

</chartingToolkit:Chart>

As you see from the above code I have added two properties as IndependentValueBinding and DependentValueBinding. We need to give the Binding Path to respective key and value.

Now Type cast the chart to Pie Series and assign the ItemSource property.

private void UserControl_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)

{

((PieSeries)TypicalChart.Series[0]).ItemsSource = appointments.GetTimeDistribution();

}

Now go ahead run the application to see the Pie Chart.

That's it you have successfully used Pie Series in Silverlight 3.

How to create and use Calendar in XAML and windows phone application Part-3?

Calendar Events

Besides the normal control events, the Calendar control has three events calendar related events. These events are the DisplayDateChanged, DisplayModeChanged and SelectedDatesChanged. The DisplayDateChanged event is fired where the DisplayDate property is changed. The DisplayModeChanged event is fired when the DisplayMode property is changed. The SelectedDatesChanged event is fired when the SelectedDate or SelectedDates properties are changed. The following code snippet sets these three events attributes.

The code behind for these events look as in Listing 4.

private void MonthlyCalendar_SelectedDatesChanged(object sender,
SelectionChangedEventArgs e)
{
}
private void MonthlyCalendar_DisplayDateChanged(object sender,
CalendarDateChangedEventArgs e)
{
}
private void MonthlyCalendar_DisplayModeChanged(object sender,
CalendarModeChangedEventArgs e)
{
}

Listing 4

Normally, on a date selection, you may want to capture that event and know what the current selected date is. Now how about we add a TextBox control to the page and on the date selection, we will set the text of the TextBox to the currently selected date.

We add the following code to the XAML just below the Calendar control. <TextBox Width="200" Height="30"
VerticalAlignment="Bottom"
HorizontalAlignment="Left"
Margin="10,10,10,10"
x:Name="SelectedDateTextBox">
</TextBox>

On the SelectedDateChanged event handler, we set the TextBox.Text property to the SelectedDate property of the Calendar control as you can see from the code in Listing 5.

private void MonthlyCalendar_SelectedDatesChanged(object sender,
SelectionChangedEventArgs e)
{
SelectedDateTextBox.Text = MonthlyCalendar.SelectedDate.ToString();
}

Listing 5

Now when you run the application, you will see the output that looks as in Figure 10. When you select a date in the Calendar, it will be displayed in the TextBox.

Figure 10

Formatting a Calendar

How about we create a Calendar control with a border formatting, background and foreground of the Calendar?

The BorderBrush property of the Calendar sets a brush to draw the border of a Calendar. You may use any brush to fill the border. The following code snippet uses a linear gradient brush to draw the border with a combination of the colors Red and Blue.

<Calendar.BorderBrush>
<LinearGradientBrush StartPoint="0,0" EndPoint="1,1" >
<GradientStop Color="Blue" Offset="0" />
<GradientStop Color="Red" Offset="1.0" />
</LinearGradientBrush>
</Calendar.BorderBrush>

The Background and Foreground properties of the Calendar set the background and foreground colors of a Calendar. You may use any brush to fill the border. The following code snippet uses linear gradient brushes to draw the background and foreground of a Calendar.

<Calendar.Background>
<LinearGradientBrush StartPoint="0,0" EndPoint="1,1" >
<GradientStop Color="Blue" Offset="0.1" />
<GradientStop Color="Orange" Offset="0.25" />
<GradientStop Color="Green" Offset="0.75" />
<GradientStop Color="Red" Offset="1.0" />
</LinearGradientBrush>
</Calendar.Background>
<Calendar.Foreground>
<LinearGradientBrush StartPoint="0,0" EndPoint="1,1" >
<GradientStop Color="Black" Offset="0.25" />
<GradientStop Color="Green" Offset="1.0" />
</LinearGradientBrush>
</Calendar.Foreground>

The new Calendar looks as in Figure 11.

Figure 11

Setting Image as Background of a Calendar

To set an image as the background of a Calendar, we can set an image as the Background of the Calendar. The following code snippet sets the background of a Calendar to an image. The code also sets the opacity of the image.

<Calendar.Background>
<ImageBrush ImageSource="Garden.jpg" Opacity="0.3"/>
</Calendar.Background>

The new output looks as in Figure 12.

Figure 12

Creating a Calendar Dynamically

The code listed in Listing 6 creates a Calendar control programmatically. First, it creates a Calendar object and sets its DisplayMode and SelectedMode and other properties and later the Calendar is added to the LayoutRoot.

private void CreateDynamicCalendar()
{
Calendar MonthlyCalendar = new Calendar();
MonthlyCalendar.Name = "MonthlyCalendar";
MonthlyCalendar.Width = 300;
MonthlyCalendar.Height = 400;
MonthlyCalendar.Background = Brushes.LightBlue;
MonthlyCalendar.DisplayMode = CalendarMode.Month;
MonthlyCalendar.SelectionMode = CalendarSelectionMode.SingleRange;
MonthlyCalendar.DisplayDateStart = new DateTime(2010, 3, 1);
MonthlyCalendar.DisplayDateEnd = new DateTime(2010, 3, 31);
MonthlyCalendar.SelectedDates.Add(new DateTime(2010, 3, 5));
MonthlyCalendar.SelectedDates.Add(new DateTime(2010, 3, 15));
MonthlyCalendar.SelectedDates.Add(new DateTime(2010, 3, 25));
MonthlyCalendar.FirstDayOfWeek = DayOfWeek.Monday;
MonthlyCalendar.IsTodayHighlighted = true;
LayoutRoot.Children.Add(MonthlyCalendar);
}

Listing 6

Summary

In this article, I discussed the calendar control using XAML and C#. We also saw how to set display modes, selection modes, blackout dates, selected dates, border, background and foreground properties. After that, we saw you to set an image as the background of a Calendar. In the end of this article, we saw how to create a Calendar dynamically.

How to use ListBox in WPF and windows phone application Part 3?

PART 2: Continuous

Now, the new ListBox looks as in Figure 6.

Figure 6. ListBox with CheckBoxes

Data Binding

Before I discuss data binding in general, I must confess, Microsoft experts have made a big mess related to data-binding in .NET 3.0 and 3.5. Instead of making things simpler, they have made them complicated. Maybe they have some bigger plans for the future but so far I have seen binding using dependency objects and properties, LINQ and DLINQ and WCF and ASP.NET Web Services and it all looks like a big mess. It's not even close to the ADO.NET model we had in .NET 1.0 and 2.0. I hope they clean up this mess in the near future.

When it comes to data binding, we need to first understand the data. Here is a list of ways a data can be consumed from:

Objects
A relational database such as SQL Server
A XML file
Other controls

Data Binding with Objects

The ItemsSource property of a ListBox binds a collection of IEnuemerable items such as an ArrayList to the ListBox control.

// Bind ArrayList with the ListBox
LeftListBox.ItemsSource = LoadListBoxData();

private ArrayList LoadListBoxData()
{
ArrayList itemsList = new ArrayList();
itemsList.Add("Coffie");
itemsList.Add("Tea");
itemsList.Add("Orange Juice");
itemsList.Add("Milk");
itemsList.Add("Mango Shake");
itemsList.Add("Iced Tea");
itemsList.Add("Soda");
itemsList.Add("Water");
return itemsList;
}

Sample: Transferring data from one ListBox to Another

We've seen many requirements where a page has two ListBox controls and the left ListBox displays a list of items and using a button we can add items from the left ListBox and add them to the right side ListBoxand using the remove button we can remove items from the right side ListBox and add them back to the left side ListBox.

This sample shows how to move items from one ListBox to another. The final page looks as in Figure 7. The Add button adds the selected item to the right side ListBox and removes from the left side ListBox. The Remove button removes the selected item from the right side ListBox and adds back to the left sideListBox.

ListBox
Figure 7

add remove
Figure 8

PART 4: will update soon

How to use TreeView in XAML and Windows phone application Part 3?

Part 2 Continous:

<TreeViewItem.Header>

<CheckBox Name="CoffieCheckBox">
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<Image Source="coffie.jpg" Height="30"></Image>
<TextBlock Text="Coffie"></TextBlock>
</StackPanel>
</CheckBox>
</TreeViewItem.Header>
</TreeViewItem>
<TreeViewItem Name="Child2">
<TreeViewItem.Header>
<CheckBox Name="IcedTeaCheckBox">
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<Image Source="IcedTea.jpg" Height="30"></Image>
<TextBlock Text="Iced Tea"></TextBlock>
</StackPanel>
</CheckBox>
</TreeViewItem.Header>
</TreeViewItem>
<TreeViewItem Name="Child3">
<TreeViewItem.Header>
<CheckBox Name="MangoShakeCheckBox">
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<Image Source="MangoShake.jpg" Height="30"></Image>
<TextBlock Text="Mango Shake"></TextBlock>
</StackPanel>
</CheckBox>
</TreeViewItem.Header>
</TreeViewItem>
<TreeViewItem Name="Child4">
<TreeViewItem.Header>
<CheckBox Name="MilkCheckBox">
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<Image Source="Milk.jpg" Height="30"></Image>
<TextBlock Text="Milk"></TextBlock>
</StackPanel>
</CheckBox>
</TreeViewItem.Header>
</TreeViewItem>
<TreeViewItem Name="Child5">
<TreeViewItem.Header>
<CheckBox Name="TeaCheckBox">
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<Image Source="Tea.jpg" Height="30"></Image>
<TextBlock Text="Tea"></TextBlock>
</StackPanel>
</CheckBox>
</TreeViewItem.Header>
</TreeViewItem>
<TreeViewItem Name="Child6">
<TreeViewItem.Header>
<CheckBox Name="OrangeJuiceCheckBox">
<StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
<Image Source="OrangeJuice.jpg" Height="30"></Image>
<TextBlock Text="Orange Juice"></TextBlock>
</StackPanel>
</CheckBox>
</TreeViewItem.Header>
</TreeViewItem>
</TreeViewItem>

The new TreeView looks as in the following:

Figure 6. TreeView with CheckBoxes

Before I discuss data binding in general, I must confess, the Microsoft experts have made a big mess related to data-binding in .NET 3.0 and 3.5. Instead of making things simpler, they have made them complicated. Maybe they have bigger plans in the future, but so far I have seen binding using dependency objects and properties, LINQ, DLINQ, WCF and ASP.NET Web Services and it all looks like a big mess. It's not even close to the ADO.NET model we had in .NET 1.0 and 2.0. I hope they solve this problem in the near future.

When it comes to data binding, we need to first understand the data. Here is a list of the ways data can be consumed:

Objects
A relational database such as SQL Server
A XML file or
Other controls

The ItemsSource property of a TreeView is used to bind a collection of IEnuemerables such as anArrayList to the TreeView control.

// Bind ArrayList with the TreeView
LeftTreeView.ItemsSource = LoadTreeViewData();

private ArrayList LoadTreeViewData()
{
ArrayList itemsList = new ArrayList();
itemsList.Add("Coffie");
itemsList.Add("Tea");
itemsList.Add("Orange Juice");
itemsList.Add("Milk");
itemsList.Add("Mango Shake");
itemsList.Add("Iced Tea");
itemsList.Add("Soda");
itemsList.Add("Water");
return itemsList;
}

Note: Part 4 will update soon.

How to use Image Brush in Silverlight and Windows phone applications?

This article demonstrates how to create and use an image brush in Silverlight using XAML and C#.

Image Brush

An image brush paints an area with an image. The ImageSource property represents the image to be used during the painting by an image brush. The ImageBrush object represents an image brush.

Creating an Image Brush

The ImageBrush element in XAML creates an image brush. The ImageSource property of the ImageBrush represents the image used in the painting process.

The following code snippet creates an image brush and sets the ImageSource property to an image.

We can fill a shape with an image brush by setting a shape's Fill property to the image brush. The code snippet in Listing 1 creates a rectangle shape sets the Fill property to an ImageBrush.

<Rectangle

Width="200"

Height="100"

Stroke="Black"

StrokeThickness="4">

<Rectangle.Fill>

</Rectangle.Fill>

</Rectangle>

Listing 1

The output looks like Figure 1.

Figure 1

The CreateAnImageBrush method listed in Listing 2 draws same rectangle with an image brush in Figure 1 dynamically.

/// <summary>

/// Fills a rectangle with an ImageBrush

/// </summary>

public void CreateAnImageBrush()

{

// Create a Rectangle

Rectangle blueRectangle = new Rectangle();

blueRectangle.Height = 100;

blueRectangle.Width = 200;

// Create an ImageBrush

ImageBrush imgBrush = new ImageBrush();

imgBrush.ImageSource =

new BitmapImage(new Uri(@"Dock.jpg", UriKind.Relative));

// Fill rectangle with an ImageBrush

blueRectangle.Fill = imgBrush;

// Add Rectangle to the Grid.

LayoutRoot.Children.Add(blueRectangle);

}

Listing 2

Summary

In this article, we saw how to create and use an image brush in Silverlight using XAML and C#.

how to use XAML GroupBox in WPF and Windows phone application?

The GroupBox element in XAML is used to add a header to an area and within that area you can place controls. By default, a GroupBox can have one child but multiple child controls can be added by placing a container control on a GroupBox such as a Grid or StackPanel.

How to create a GroupBox in WPF and Windows phone application,.

The GroupBox element in XAML represents a GroupBox control. The following code snippet creates a GroupBox control and sets its background and font. The code also sets the header using GroupBox.Header.

<Window x:Class="GroupBoxSample.Window1"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="Window1" Height="300" Width="300">
<Grid>
<GroupBox Margin="10,10,10,10" FontSize="16" FontWeight="Bold"
Background="LightGray">
<GroupBox.Header>
Mindcracker Network
</GroupBox.Header>
<TextBlock FontSize="12" FontWeight="Regular">
This is a group box control content.
</TextBlock>
</GroupBox>
</Grid>
</Window>

The output looks like this.

How to create and use Calendar in XAML and windows phone application Part-2?

The following code snippet adds blackout dates to a Calendar.

<Calendar.BlackoutDates>
<CalendarDateRange Start="3/1/2010" End="3/7/2010"/>
<CalendarDateRange Start="3/8/2010" End="3/8/2010"/>
<CalendarDateRange Start="3/15/2010" End="3/15/2010"/>
<CalendarDateRange Start="3/22/2010" End="3/22/2010"/>
<CalendarDateRange Start="3/29/2010" End="3/29/2010"/>
</Calendar.BlackoutDates>

We can do this by adding the code listed in Listing 2. As you can see from Listing 3, the BlackoutDates.Add method takes a CalendarDateRange object, that is a collection of two DateTime objects. The first date is the start date of the range and the second date is the end date of the date range.

private void SetBlackOutDates()
{
MonthlyCalendar.BlackoutDates.Add(new CalendarDateRange(
new DateTime(2010, 3, 1),
new DateTime(2010, 3, 7)
));
MonthlyCalendar.BlackoutDates.Add(new CalendarDateRange(
new DateTime(2010, 3, 8),
new DateTime(2010, 3, 8)
));
MonthlyCalendar.BlackoutDates.Add(new CalendarDateRange(
new DateTime(2010, 3, 15),
new DateTime(2010, 3, 15)
));
MonthlyCalendar.BlackoutDates.Add(new CalendarDateRange(
new DateTime(2010, 3, 22),
new DateTime(2010, 3, 22)
));
MonthlyCalendar.BlackoutDates.Add(new CalendarDateRange(
new DateTime(2010, 3, 29),
new DateTime(2010, 3, 29)
));
}

Listing 2

DisplayDateStart and DisplayDateEnd

The Calendar control allows you to set the start and end display dates using the DisplayDateStart and DisplayDateEnd properties. If you see Figure 5 in the previous section, you may notice the March 2010 month calendar display starts with the March 01, 2010 date. But now, what if you want to display the dates for only the month of March 2010? We can use the DisplayStartDate and DisplayEndDate properties to control the start and end dates of a month.

DisplayDate property represents the current date to display.

The following code snippet sets the DisplayDate, DisplayDateStart and DisplayDateEnd attributes of the Calendar element in XAML.

The code listed in Listing 3 makes sure the start date is March 01, 2010 and end date is March 31, 2010. The current selected date is March 05.

private void SetDisplayDates()
{
MonthlyCalendar.DisplayDate = new DateTime(2010, 3, 5);
MonthlyCalendar.DisplayDateStart = new DateTime(2010, 3, 1);
MonthlyCalendar.DisplayDateEnd = new DateTime(2010, 3, 31);
}

Listing 3

The new calendar looks as in Figure 6.

Figure 6

FirstDayOfWeek and IsTodayHighlighted

By default, Sunday is the first day of the week. If you would like to change it, you use the FirstDayOfWeek property. The IsTodayHightlighted property is used to highlight today.

The following code snippet sets the FirstDayOfWeek to Tuesday and makes today highlighted.

The following code snippet sets the FirstDayOfWeek to Tuesday and makes today highlighted in WPF.

MonthlyCalendar.FirstDayOfWeek = DayOfWeek.Tuesday;
MonthlyCalendar.IsTodayHighlighted = true;

The new calendar looks as in Figure 7, where you can see the start day of the week is Tuesday.

Figure 7

Selected Date and Selected Dates

The SelectedDate property represents the current selected date. If multiple date selection is true then the SelectedDates property represents all the selected dates in a Calendar. The following code snippet sets the SelectedDates in XAML at design-time.

The selected dates in a Calendar looks as in Figure 8 where you can see March 5th, 15th and 25th have a light blue background and represents the selected dates.

Figure 8

The following code snippet sets the SelectedDates property in WPF at run-time.

private void AddSelectedDates()
{
MonthlyCalendar.SelectedDates.Add(new DateTime(2010, 3, 5));
MonthlyCalendar.SelectedDates.Add(new DateTime(2010, 3, 15));
MonthlyCalendar.SelectedDates.Add(new DateTime(2010, 3, 25));
}

Note: If you have set the selected dates to any of the blackout dates, you will see the parser in XAML will throw an error as in Figure 9.

Figure 9

How to create and use Calendar in XAML and windows phone application Part-1?

A calendar control is used to create a visual calendar that lets users pick a date and fire an event on the selection of the date. This article demonstrates how to create and use a calendar control using XAML and C# in WPF.

Creating a Calendar

The Calendar element represents a calendar control in XAML as in the following:

<Calendar/>

The Calendar control is defined in the System.Windows.Controls namespace. When you drag and drop a Calendar control from the Toolbox to the page, the XAML code will look like the following code where you can see a Calendar XAML element has been added within the Grid element and its Width, Height, Name and VerticalAlignment and HorizontalAlignment attributes are set.

<Grid>
<Calendar Height="170" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Margin="58,32,0,0"
Name="calendar1" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="180" />
</Grid>

The default view of the Calendar control looks as in Figure 1.

Figure 1

The Width and Height attributes of the Calendar element represent the width and the height of a Calendar. The Content attribute represents the text of a Calendar. The Name attribute represents the name of the control, that is a unique identifier of a control.

The code snippet in Listing 1 creates a Calendar control and sets the name, height and width properties of a Calendar control.

<Calendar Name=" MonthlyCalendar" Height="30" Width="100" >
</Calendar>

Listing 1

Display Modes

The DisplayMode property of the Calendar class represents the format of the display of a Calendar, that can be a month, year, or decade. Month is the default mode. Setting the DisplayMode to Year and Decade generates Figure 2 and Figure 3 respectively.

Figure 2

Figure 3

The Month view that is also the default view looks as in Figure 4.

Figure 4

If you use an example of the Decade and click on the year 2008 in Figure 3, you will get another Calendar format with all the months in the year 2008 and if you click on any month, you will eventually get the month view of the Calendar.

The following code snippet sets the DisplayMode property to Decade.

<Calendar DisplayMode="Decade">
</Calendar>

Selection Modes and Selection Dates

The SelectedDate property represents the currently selected date. If multiple dates selection is true, the SelectedDates property represents a collection of currently selected dates.

The SelectionMode of type CalendarSelectionMode enumeration represents the selection mode of calendar. Table 1 describes the CalendarSelectionMode enumeration and its members.

CalendarSelectionMode	Description
None	No selections are allowed.
SingleDate	Only a single date can be selected, either by setting SelectedDate or the first value in SelectedDates. AddRange cannot be used.
SingleRange	A single range of dates can be selected. Setting SelectedDate, adding a date individually to SelectedDates, or using AddRange will clear all previous values from SelectedDates.
MultipleRange	Multiple non-contiguous ranges of dates can be selected. Adding a date individually to SelectedDates or using AddRange will not clear SelectedDates. Setting SelectedDate will still clear SelectedDates, but additional dates or range can then be added. Adding a range that includes some dates that are already selected or overlaps with another range results in the union of the ranges and does not cause an exception.

The following code snippet sets the SelectionMode property to a single range.

<Calendar SelectionMode="SingleRange">
</Calendar>

BlackoutDates

The BlackoutDates property of the Calendar class represents a collection of dates that are not available for selection. All non-selection dates are marked by a cross. For example, say in the month of March of the year 2010, we would like to block the dates from Jan 1st to Jan 7th and then all Sundays and the final calendar should look as in Figure 5.

Figure 5

Part 2 Continuous..

How to use Pie Chart In Silverlight 3 and Windows Phone application?

Crating Silverlight Project

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