Brownie Points: WPF Toolbelt

Call To Arms

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 13:51:18 GMT

(Cross posted on the front page of the WPF Toolbelt)

I had some lofty dreams when I first started this project (during beta 2 of .NET Framework 3.0. Now the 3.5 Framework is in Beta 2 and this project has stagnated because I've lacked the bandwidth to properly contribute to it. I've had some ideas for how to get things rolling again, but I just haven't had the time to properly dedicate to this. There are commercial libraries that address the same space as the toolbelt. And I can't hope to match a team of paid developers as a single developer working in my spare time. I've had the occassional volunteer join me, however because I can't provide the bandwidth to properly lead this effort, they tend to lose steam and move on to other things.

I've seen a lot of visits to the project and a lot of downloads but very little feedback. Hopefully, the project has helped someone learn more about WPF. There are some nice examples of custom control creation in there...especially how to do lookless controls. The PowerGrid is fully stylable from the cell up. Of course I wouldn't recommend that you create a data grid as a custom control like I did. Instead I would recommend wrapping the ListView/GridView into a control that turns it into a data grid, or even using attached properties to decorate a standard listview with data grid functionality.

Going forward, I cannot maintain this project alone...especially if I'm going to do what I know I want to do with it. So I ask the people who have volunteered if they would re-invest in the vision of the project. I ask one of the 2000 downloaders if they could invest some time to make this a tool that they could really use. I ask anyone involved in the WPF community that if you want to accelerate adoption of the framework, we need something like this. I ask the heads of other projects similar to the toolbelt, let's come together and pool our efforts to make something better than any of our projects can be alone. I'm willing to put my ego aside because running a project alone is no fun.

Let's get together and make something amazing!

Meanwhile Back at the Ranch

Fri, 25 Aug 2006 15:23:43 GMT

I know, I know, I've digressed a little bit from the original topic, but I'm here to redeem myself today (which by the way happens to be the premiere of my cousin's movie "Idlewild" in theaters nationwide).

I have released the CTP 1 Refresh of WPF Toolbelt bringing a slew of bug fixes, but still no documentation. If one of our downloaders would care to assist in that area it would be GREATLY appreciated. Also included in this release is a partially refactored version of Josh Smith's MultiConverter. Going forward, I have decided that the Toolbelt will not rely just on the meager amount of code I can do, but will attempt to be an aggregate of the beautiful code samples out there (such as the DateTimePicker done by Kevin Moore...given his permission of course). Having all these WONDERFUL tools in one place is basically the purpose of the Toolbelt and it would be sheer insanity for me to ignore the concurrent effort of other WPF heavies (not saying that I'm necessarily a heavy myself) and attempt to reinvent the reinvented wheel.

Hopefully this will bring more usefulness into the toolbelt and give the project more traction (i.e. CONTRIBUTORS). Download the new refresh and see you in a few weeks when CTP 2 drops.

Mike

Sneak Peek

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 23:35:50 GMT

As promised, I have uploaded the first sneak peek of the WPF Toolbelt PowerGrid. Please note that this is a VERY rough draft of the final product and still contains a number of hacks that are somewhat embarassing to show. Initially, development was done jointly with another developer, so the code isn't consistent or fully documented. I will give an overview of the PowerGrid's architecture and a roadmap for future releases later. There is some functionality that isn't in this version of the Grid, but has already been completed. The reason for it being absent is that I haven't had a chance to scour through all of the code to make certain it doesn't contain anything proprietary to my employer.

Please feel free to download, tinker, and comment.

WPF Toolbelt is live...sorta

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 11:04:04 GMT

Okay,

I know I promised that my next entry would be about advanced navigation in WPF. And I'm going to do it really...I just want to make sure that I give the topic justice! So I will be creating a sample application showing how PageFunctions work and some text to go along with it. I really will scout's honor! Anyway, I have been quiet for a while because I have been moving. This was ... correction is... a long, arduous move, that still isn't finished. But now that it's done (mostly), I have had a chance to catch up on some things. One thing that I caught up on was email. Imagine how giddy I was when I saw a note from Codeplex saying that my project (WPF Toolbelt) had been created.

I didn't hesitate to log in and start updating the front page...as the note says it's still a work in progress but finally it has started. I will be uploading the initial source code and providing a build as a special preview release later today. Judging from the traffic (over 600 visitors in the three days of its existence), people are ready to see what I have to offer. Hopefully I don't disappoint.

What's in Your Toolbelt?

Sun, 23 Jul 2006 00:42:17 GMT

After thinking for a while about the open source WPF control library, I have decided to name it the WPF Toolbelt. Now that the hard part is out of the way , I can get down to actually coding the library. The foundation of the first control (SmartGrid) is finished. I just need to refactor out code that is proprietary to my company, add a few touches here and there and voila!

Here is a list of current and planned functionality for the Grid (that will be available at the first release).

Automatic binding to IEnumerable<T>: If you give the grid a collection of objects, it will reflect on that collection's type and generate a default column for each public property.
Recognition of DisplayNameAttribute: If your properties have the DisplayName attribute set on them, the column will display that name.
User specified columns: In addition to the collection of Items, you can provide a ColumnsCollection that will override the default binding for your collection.
Customizable styles: The SmartGrid exposes properties for styling of the Column Header, Column Header Cells, Rows, Alternate Rows, and Cells.
Multiple Cell Types: Right now the SmartGrid provides text, image, and drop down cells. I also intend to implement regex cells, validated cells (using the new found for me ValidationRule), date cells, object cells, and number cells.
Virtualization (not yet implemented): UI Elements will not be created until they are visible
Sorting: Because each column holds its binding information, it natively knows how to perform forward and reverse sorting if the column's type implements IComparable. Or you can turn off sorting altogether.
Column moving: You can reposition columns by dragging the header.
Column resizing: Columns can be resized.
And more to come...

The goal is to make databound grids as simple to use in WPF as they are for Winforms. While at the same time allowing for easy enhancement of styling through WPF. Hopefully, this will be just one of many useful tools in the WPF Toolbelt library.