This is the first of a series of short blogs documenting some of the little features and improvements that have been making me smile since starting our latest Silverlight project at Synetrix, using Microsoft Expression Blend 3.
On the whole it’s been a good first couple of weeks getting to know version 3. I would have got stuck in sooner but we still had Silverlight 2 development and bug fixing to do, and i didn’t have a spare machine… or the time!
First impressions overall are that it’s a much better tool for the job. There are fewer hiccups in the workflow, and everything just seems more robust and fit for purpose. Another tell-tale sign of its maturity is the number of choices now available in the Options menu. It seems a much more malleable application, easier to fit to the users’ needs and preferences.
As part of this improved user experience I’ve been compelled to document some of the neat features I’ve come across – partly by way of record, partly to share, and partly to get me back into the blogging habit I’ve fallen out of.
Nugget 1 : Handy VSM info
In Blend 2, the Visual State Manager [VSM] was a pretty decent bit of kit, but as with a number of the features in version two – you were left to your own devices, with free reign to screw things up as you saw fit.
Before:
I encountered issues on a couple of occasions during our last Silverlight / Blend 2 based project. Wanting to animate icon styled buttons between custom states; using elements common to all states. I had neglected to consider what would happen if the button received the focus or was moused-over.
We found out down the line, when testing revealed some strange behaviour in the button – changing state according to a status update, then reverting as soon as the user went near it.
After:
Blend 3 offers some useful advice to avoid the above problem. If you forget yourself in a flurry of creative expression, a small alert icon appears to inform you that you might want to take some time to think about your last edit a little more.
In this example, I’ve changed the opacity of the focusBorder Border object, in the Checked state (as well as the Focus state).
A neat little bit of functionality that quietly alerts you to the item in question, the change, and the States which it is modified in. Handy.
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