Windows Presentation Foundation Part 2

In this post,I will speak about the features that lead WPF to make a great interface revolution in the design world.
So now we have to ask, is WPF different from previous technologies?And if it is, what are the new features it provides?
Surely, it is different and the evidence is the new features in Windows Vista
that depend on WPF.
So,let's list the most important WPF features.

WPF features:
1. A unified platform for modern user interfaces:
Providing a unified technology foundation for creating full-featured user interfaces. As shown in this screen,it contains text and images along with both 2D and 3D graphics produced using WPF. The developer doesn't need to write code that uses specialized graphics technologies such as GDI+ or Direct3D.

2. The ability for developers and designers to work together:
Before using WPF, there was a problem: how can designers and developers work together?!! Now it is very easy as WPF enables designers to use the same common language (XAML) as developers and visa versa. This is the key change as shown on the following figure.

3. Graphical and Media Services:
-All graphics will be routed through Direct3D. This aims to provide a unified avenue for displaying graphics and to allow Windows to offload graphics tasks to the Graphics Processing Unit found on the computer's graphics card to reduce the workload on the computer's Central Processing Unit.

-WPF supports the 3D capabilities provided by Direct3D and provides tighter integration with other features like user interface (UI), time-based animations, 3D documents, vector graphics and 3D media and it also supports the video formats WMV, MPEG and AVI.

- A powerful concept in the WPF is the logical separation of a control from its appearance as the control's template can be overridden to completely change its visual appearance and control can contain any other control or layout.

4. Imaging:
Windows Imaging Component (WIC) for WPF will allow developers to write image codecs for their specific image file formats as well as custom bitmap effects and metadata.

5. Effects:
Special effects such as dropshadows and blurring are built-in and other effects such as reflections can be easily implemented.

6. Text:
WPF includes a number of text rendering features that were not available in GDI and it is the first Windows programming interface to support Open Type, TrueType, and OpenType CFF (Compact Font Format) fonts.

7. Deployment:
WPF isn't just for building traditional standalone applications but also offering XAML Browser Applications (XBAP).

8. Interoperability:
WPF provides interoperability with Win32: Via hosting, one can use WPF inside existing Win32 code, or one can use existing Win32 code inside WPF.

9. Data Binding:
WPF has a built-in set of data services to enable application developers to bind and manipulate data within applications.

After these features are known,I think it is the time to see and apply them yourself to enjoy with the great interface revolution using WPF.I found good link of WPF video tutorials using Microsoft Expression Blend.
Download them and begin to learn.
http://www.contentpresenter.com/index.php
To be continued……