Windows Phone 8 - 2 Designing WP8 Applications

Oliver Scheer
Senior Technical Evangelist
Microsoft Deutschland
http://the-oliver.com
Designing Windows Phone
Applications

Agenda
Designing Windows Phone Applications
In this and the
next module, we
will go through
the essential
techniques you
need to build an
application
In this module:
• Windows Design Language
• Designing an App
• Introduction to XAML Layout
• Styles and Themes
• Design Time Data
• Data Binding
• Lists and the LongListSelector

3/17/2014Microsoft confidential3
Windows Phone
Design

The Windows Phone Design Style
• The Windows Phone team have taken a lot of trouble over the
look and feel of the phone
• They have created a design style, inspired by metropolitan
signage, to express this
• Programs on the phone should reflect this style
4

Principle: Pride in craftsmanship
Take care of the details
Make it safe and reliable
Uncompromising Sensitivity to Weight, Balance and Scale
Align to the grid

Principle: Be fast and fluid
Life is mobile
Delight with motion
Design for touch
Intuitive interaction
Be responsive and ready
Immersive and compelling

Principle: Do more with less
Be great at something
Focused and direct
Content before chrome
Inspire confidence

Principle: Authentically Digital
Don’t Try to be What It’s NOT
Cloud connected
Dynamic and alive
Beautiful use of typography
Bold vibrant colours
Motion

Principle: Win as one
Fit into the UI model
Reduce redundancy
Work together to complete scenarios
Tools and templates are designed to scale

Principles
Pride in craftsmanship
Be Fast and Fluid
Win as One
Do More with Less
Authentically Digital

Windows Phone 8 - 2 Designing WP8 Applications

Windows Phone 8 SDK and the Windows Phone Design Style
• To make life easier for us the Windows Phone design style is “baked in” to the developer
tools
• The default appearance, behaviour and fonts of the user elements all match the style
• If you want to find out more about the Windows Phone Design Style you can read the
“User Experience Design Guidelines for Windows Phone”
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-
us/library/hh202915.aspx
13

Design on Paper Before You Touch the Tools!
12:38
Text
Text
Text
Text
CONTOSO COOKBOOK
regions
12:38
Text
CONTOSO COOKBOOK
indian rec
CONTOSO COOKBOOK
recipes ind
pivot
Text
Text
Text
Text
Contoso Cookbook
Shows recipes
grouped by regional
style. User can view
recipes, also add
pictures and notes

Design App Navigation Early!
12:38
CONTOSO COOKBOOK
regions
12:38
Regional recipes
12:38
Recipe Detail
12:38
About
12:38
Notes & Photos
Back BackBack
Back

Now Start Building With the Tools
• One way to get good looking programs is to separate the graphical design aspects from
the programming
• The designer can work on the look and feel of the application
• The programmer can implement the required behaviours
• XAML and the Windows Phone developer tools are designed to support this way of
working
17

Tools for the Job: Graphical Design
• A UX designer can use Blend to specify the appearance
of the user interface
• A version of Blend for the phone is supplied as part of the phone SDK
18

Tools for the Job: Code Creation
• A Developer can take the user interface design and use Visual Studio build the program to
make it work
• Visual Studio provides a design environment but it is not as advanced as Blend
19

Design Style and Programming
• As programmers we probably start of just worrying about making the program work
• This is a very good place to start
• But in modern systems the “look and feel” of the user interface is very important
• No matter how good the code is, if the program is hard to use it will
not be popular
• You should pay careful attention to the user interface when making phone programs
• If you know any Graphic Designers it is worth getting them on your development team
20

Project Templates and Components
• Windows Phone SDK provides a
set of project templates
• Each of them maps onto a
particular style of application
21

Application Templates
• Windows Phone App
• Basic single page app
• Windows Phone Databound App
• Project for creating a Windows Phone application using List and navigation controls with
a basic Model-View-ViewModel architecture
• Windows Phone Pivot App
• User can “pivot” between different screens by flicking left and right
• Windows Phone Panorama application
• A single panoramic background with pages of controls that the user
can pan between
22

Application Types
• Three application types provide quite different user experiences
• Select the one that you feel is the most appropriate
23

Introduction to XAML
Layout
3/17/201424

The Contoso Cookbook Recipe Details Page
• This is a Pivot page that displays details of a recipe
• Picture and directions on one pane
• Ingredients list on another pane

Pivot Pages
• <phone:PhoneApplicationPage
x:Class="ContosoCookbook.RecipeDetailPage"
... />
<Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="Transparent">
<phone:Pivot Title=“PIVOT APPLICATION">

<phone:PivotItem Header=“item1">
<Grid>
</Grid>
</phone:PivotItem>

<phone:PivotItem Header=“item2">
<Grid>
</Grid>
</phone:PivotItem>
</phone:Pivot>
</Grid>
</phone:PhoneApplicationPage>
26
Pivot
Control
Pivot
Headers
Pivot
Items
Control

XAML and Objects
• Every XAML element is a declaration of an object
• XAML stands for XML Application Markup Language
• XAML is a way of describing a UI using XML
• This is a declarative way of expressing your UI
• XAML elements == objects in the System.Windows.Controls
namespace
• Each of the items on the screen of the application shown
is a graphical rendering of an object

XAML Display Elements
• Pivot title
• Pivot item headers
• Image
• TextBlock
• TextBlock
• TextBlock
28

Display Element Properties
• Each of the elements contains properties that define how it appears on the screen
• Position on the screen
• Height and width
• Font colour and size etc..
• These values are used by XAML when the display is drawn
• If these value are changed by the program the appearance of the element will change
29

XAML Element Class Hierarchy
• The XAML class hierarchy is
quite complex
• Everything is based on the FrameworkElement
class which contains the fundamental properties
of all elements
• You can derive your own components
if you wish
30
FrameworkElement
TextBlock
TextBox ContentControl
ButtonBase
Button
Control

Elements and XAML
31
<phone:PivotItem Header="recipe">
<Grid>
<Grid.RowDefinitions>
<RowDefinition Height="240"/>
<RowDefinition Height="*"/>
<RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
</Grid.RowDefinitions>
<Image x:Name="RecipeImage" Stretch="UniformToFill"/>
<ScrollViewer Grid.Row="1">
<TextBlock x:Name="DirectionsTextBlock" TextWrapping="Wrap" />
</ScrollViewer>
<StackPanel Grid.Row="2" Orientation="Horizontal">
<TextBlock Text="Prep time: " />
<TextBlock MinWidth="200" x:Name="PrepTimeTextBlock" />
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
</phone:PivotItem>

Grid Container Element
32
<Grid>
<Image x:Name="RecipeImage" Stretch="UniformToFill"/>
<TextBlock x:Name="DirectionsTextBlock" TextWrapping="Wrap" />
</ScrollViewer>
<StackPanel Grid.Row="2" Orientation="Horizontal" >
<TextBlock Text="Prep time: " />
<TextBlock MinWidth="200" x:Name="PrepTimeTextBlock" />
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
</phone:PivotItem>

• Alignment of UI elements is important!
• The magic number in Windows Phone UI is 12px, or multiples of 12
• Your page should have a nice, visually crisp line that is 24 pixels from the left of the
device‟s screen
• Gap between controls should be at least 12px
• Align on 12px increments
• …though 6px or 18px may also be appropriate
Alignment of Elements
3/17/201433

• Poor alignment of content with header
• Page Margin not 24px
• No spacing between elements
Fixing the Alignment of the Recipe Page

• Button at bottom of Designer window can be used to
show a 12px alignment Grid
• Useful for setting alignment of elements
• Available in Blend
• Now also available in Visual Studio
Visual Studio and Blend Alignment Grid

• All new projects include AlignmentGrid.png in the Assets folder
• You can overlay the grid at design and runtime by uncommenting
the XAML that shows it
• Included near the foot of MainPage.xaml
• Copy to other pages to show on those


Alignment Grid Overlay
36

Using the Alignment Grid
<Image Source="/Assets/AlignmentGrid.png" VerticalAlignment="Top"
Height="800" Width="480" Margin="0,-32,0,0"
Grid.Row="0" Grid.RowSpan="2" IsHitTestVisible="False" />

<Grid>
<Image x:Name="RecipeImage" Margin="12" Stretch="UniformToFill"/>
<TextBlock x:Name="DirectionsTextBlock" TextWrapping="Wrap" Margin="12,0,0,0" />
</ScrollViewer>
<StackPanel Grid.Row="2" Orientation="Horizontal" Margin="12" HorizontalAlignment="Left" >
<TextBlock Text="Prep time: " Margin="0" />
<TextBlock x:Name="PrepTimeTextBlock" />
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
</phone:PivotItem>
Use Margin Property to Insert Spacing
Microsoft confidential38

• You can set colors and font sizes for elements directly in XAML:
<TextBlock x:Name="DirectionsTextBlock" TextWrapping="Wrap"
Margin="12,0,0,0" Foreground="White" FontSize="12" />
</ScrollViewer>
<TextBlock Text="Prep time: " Margin="0" Foreground="White"/>
<TextBlock x:Name="PrepTimeTextBlock" Foreground="LightGray" FontSize="24" />
</StackPanel>
• This is generally a BAD IDEA!
• Difficult to match builtin styles
• Difficult to work with Windows Phone Themes
Applying Styles to Elements

Foreground Colors and Themes

<Grid>
<Image x:Name="RecipeImage" Margin="12" Stretch="UniformToFill"/>
Margin="12,0,0,0" Style="{StaticResource PhoneTextSmallStyle}" />
</ScrollViewer>
<TextBlock Text="Prep time: " Margin="0" Style="{StaticResource PhoneTextNormalStyle}" />
<TextBlock x:Name="PrepTimeTextBlock" Style="{StaticResource PhoneTextSubtleStyle}" />
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
</phone:PivotItem>
Use Built-In Styles
Microsoft confidential43

New in VS2012 – Apply Styles in Visual Studio

Design-time data is essential for
designers toget the full benefits
ofWYSIWYG designing
Blend allows you tocreate
sample data, toimport it
from XMLor generate it
from an existing class
Generating Design-Time Data
47

Creating Sample Data From Class

Edit Design-Time Data Format and Values
EasilyeditthenumberofwordsExpressionBlend
generatesforeachstringfield
Editthemaximumlengthofeachword

Edit Design-Time Data Format and Values
Edit the sample data XMLfile that Blend
generates

Data Binding
• Simplest way to program UI controls is to write your own “glue” to get and set properties
of controls
• e.g. , textBox1.Text = "Hello, world";
• In complex applications, such code quickly becomes unwieldy and error prone.
• Use XAML data binding to link your UI to a class in your application that contains your
application data
• A data class that is a source for data binding is called a ViewModel
• UI controls can get their display values automatically from properties of the viewmodel
class
• Changing the property, updates the display
• User input can automatically update the bound property of the viewmodel class

Data Binding in XAML
• Properties of controls can be bound to a public property of a data object
• In the example above, the Text property of the TextBlock is bound to the Directions
property of some data source
• Define the data source by setting
• The DataContext property of any containing FrameworkElement-derived class (a
containing control, the page, or the frame),
• or
• The ItemsSource property of a List control
Margin="12,0,0,0" Text="{Binding Directions}" />

Data Binding Modes
• The Mode property determines how changes are synchronized between the target control
and data source
• OneTime – Control property is set once to the data value and any subsequent changes are
ignored
• OneWay – Changes in the data object are synchronized to the control property, but changes in
the control are not synchronized back to the data object
• TwoWay – Changes in the data object are synchronized to the control property and vice-versa
Margin="12,0,0,0" Text="{Binding Directions, Mode=OneWay}" />

INotifyPropertyChanged
 Data objects that take part in OneWay or TwoWay binding must implement the
INotifyPropertyChanged interface
 This interface requires only that the object publishes the PropertyChanged event
 Object must fire the PropertyChanged event whenever the value of one of its
public properties changes
 The XAML runtime subscribes to this event and uses it to update databound UI
elements
public class ItemViewModel : INotifyPropertyChanged
{
public event PropertyChangedEventHandler PropertyChanged;
…
}

ViewModel Implementation in Windows Phone 7.1
Old style of implementation was error-prone because of use of „magic strings‟
{
private string _id;
/// Sample ViewModel property; this property is used to identify the object.
public string ID
{
get { return _id; }
set {
if (value != _id)
{
_id = value;
NotifyPropertyChanged("ID");
}
}
}
private void NotifyPropertyChanged(String propertyName)
{
PropertyChangedEventHandler handler = PropertyChanged;
if (null != handler)
{
handler(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
}
}
}

ViewModel Implementation in Windows Phone 8.0
New style of implementation – CallerMemberName Attribute
{
private string _id;
public string ID
{
get { return _id; }
set { this.SetProperty(ref this._id, value); }
}
protected bool SetProperty<T>(ref T storage, T value, [CallerMemberName] String propertyName = null)
{
if (object.Equals(storage, value)) return false;
storage = value;
this.OnPropertyChanged(propertyName);
return true;
}
protected void OnPropertyChanged([CallerMemberName] string propertyName = null)
{
var eventHandler = this.PropertyChanged;
if (eventHandler != null)
eventHandler(this, new PropertyChangedEventArgs(propertyName));
}
}

Binding to Lists
•List controls can bind to collections of items
•Set the ItemsSource property to a collection of data objects
• For one way or two way databinding to work, this must be an ObservableCollection
• Items inside an ObservableCollection need to implement INotifyPropertyChanged
<ListBox x:Name="IngredientsLIstBox"
ItemTemplate="{StaticResource StringTemplate}"
ItemsSource="{Binding Ingredients}"/>

Observable Collections
60
/// <summary>
/// A collection for ItemViewModel objects.
/// </summary>
public ObservableCollection<ItemViewModel> Items { get; private set; }
public void LoadData()
{
this.Items.Add(new ItemViewModel() { ID = "0", LineOne = "runtime one", LineTwo = ... });
this.Items.Add(new ItemViewModel() { ID = "1", LineOne = "runtime two", LineTwo = ... });
this.Items.Add(new ItemViewModel() { ID = "2", LineOne = "runtime three", LineTwo = ... });
}

MVVM
• MVVM stands for Model – View – ViewModel
• MVVM is an architectural pattern that employs Databinding and strict separation of concerns
• Model – a class or classes that exposes the data of your application, either fetched from local
data storage or externally such as a web service
• ViewModel – a class or classes that has properties and methods that can be used to databind
to a View
• View – a class or classes that implement the presentation functionality of your
application, displaying data and accepting user input. A View should contain no application
logic and is bound to a ViewModel class
• See
• Implementing the Model-View-ViewModel Pattern in a Windows Phone Application:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsphone/develop/gg521153(v=vs.92).aspx
• MVVMLite framework: http://galasoft.ch/mvvm/

LongListSelector
• ListBox++
• Flat lists
• Grouped lists – with headers
• Jump List
• Supports full UI and data virtualization
• Formerly in the Silverlight Toolkit
• Now in ROM for good performance
• Use instead of ListBox – this is the
preferred List control!

List Item Rendering
• All Lists – ListBox, LongListSelector – have no default rendering for
data items
• If you simply bind the ItemsSource property to a collection of
objects, all you get displayed in the list for each item is the name of
the data object type
<Grid x:Name="ContentPanel" Grid.Row="1" Margin="12,0,12,0">
<phone:LongListSelector x:Name="lstGroups"
ItemsSource="{Binding ItemGroups}"
SelectionChanged="lstGroups_SelectionChanged" >
</phone:LongListSelector>
</Grid>
3/17/201465

Generating Lists from Design-time Data
• In Blend, if you drag a collection from the Data window onto the design surface while in
List mode, it generates a ListBox and attempts a default rendering for list items
• Manually change to a phone:LongListSelector in the XAML
66
„List‟ mode

Lists and Templates
• All the different elements that affect how a list displays content can be customised
• Each aspect is controlled by a template. For the LongListSelector, there are many:
• GroupFooterTemplate – area that shows at end of each group if LLS used to show grouped items
• GroupHeaderTemplate – area that shows at top of each group if LLS used to show grouped items
• ItemTemplate – layout for each data item
• JumpListStyle – layout of items in the Jump List, if enabled
• ListFooterTemplate – area that shows at the foot of the whole list
• ListHeaderTemplate – area that shows at the top of the whole list
• To change the layout of how each data item displays, we need to modify the ItemTemplate
3/17/201467

• Right-click on the list control, then
access the Edit Additional Templates
menu
• Design the controls in the
template
Modifying the ItemTemplate in Blend
3/17/201468

<phone:PhoneApplicationPage.Resources>
<DataTemplate x:Key="RecipeDataGroupTemplate">
<Grid Margin="5" >
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="150"/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="*"/>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<RowDefinition/>
<RowDefinition/>
<Image Source="{Binding BackgroundImage}" Width="150" Stretch="UniformToFill" Grid.RowSpan="2"/>
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Title}" Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="0" Style="{StaticResource …}"/>
<TextBlock Text="{Binding Description}" Grid.Column="1" Grid.Row="1" Style="{StaticResource …}" />
</Grid>
</DataTemplate>
</phone:PhoneApplicationPage.Resources>
DataTemplate in XAML

Demo 5:
Data Templates and
Lists
70

Review
• Windows Phone Design has five key principles:
• Clean, Light, Open, Fast
• Celebrate Typography
• Alive in Motion
• Content, Not Chrome
• Authentically Digital
• Windows Phone applications use XAML to express the design of their user interface
• The design is expressed in a XAML text file that defines and arranges display elements
• There are a set of project templates for applications based on the Windows Phone design
• In Blend, you can create design-time data to aid during design of a UI
• Databinding in XAML allows you to declaratively markup UI elements to link them to a property
of a data class
• List controls define layout using XAML Templates

The information herein is for informational
purposes only an represents the current view of
Microsoft Corporation as of the date of this
presentation. Because Microsoft must respond
to changing market conditions, it should not be
interpreted to be a commitment on the part of
Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the
accuracy of any information provided after the
date of this presentation.
© 2012 Microsoft Corporation.
All rights reserved. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista and other product names are or may be registered trademarks and/or trademarks in the U.S. and/or other countries.
MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION
IN THIS PRESENTATION.

Windows Phone 8 - 2 Designing WP8 Applications

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