Part 2. The basics

So far we’ve been long on theory and short on code. Well, that’s all about to change. In the next five chapters, we’re going to build a real, working application in WPF—a calculator.

Granted, what you were looking for in your life was probably not another calculator implementation, but the calculator is good for covering the core concepts of WPF. Before we get to the calculator, in chapter 4, “Working with layouts,” we’ll discuss ways of laying out WPF applications. Then, in chapter 5, “The Grid panel,” we’ll introduce the most powerful layout control in WPF and use it to build the calculator.

The calculator demonstrates the basics of WPF development.

Chapter 6, “Resources, styles, control templates, and themes,” will demonstrate how you can use the style mechanisms of WPF to make the calculator a little prettier (although we’ll pass through several phases of uglier on the way).

In chapter 7, “Events,” we’ll show the new event capabilities of WPF (such as bubble-up and tunnel-down events) that make the calculator more responsive.

Finally, in chapter 8, “Oooh, shiny!” (our favorite chapter of the entire book), we’ll demonstrate how to soup up the calculator by adding glass buttons that glow when you press them and some reflections and other effects.