Xpert360 Lightning Emerald Theme Pack Released

Lightning Series - Emerald Theme Pack

Another new pack of 8 Lightswitch Themes has been released!

Simple, elegant and unique  themes inspired by shades of green are compatible with all Standard Shells. These 8 Themes add a professional, business flavour to your Lightswitch application.

The theme pack contains the following 8 themes

• Emerald Dark
• Emerald Dark Lite
• Apricot
• Watermelon
• Avocado
• Shamrock
• Light Green
• Grape

For more screen shots please go to the Xpert360 Theme Pack Gallery.

It is the third Theme Pack to be released by Xpert360 and can be downloaded here.

The themes in the pack target the LightSwitch Silverlight Client v2+ that comes with Visual Studio 2012. They have been tested against the LightSwitch Cosmopolitan Shell and the LightSwitch Standard Shell.

We have an internal application to import, edit and generate LightSwitch themes to make the work a lot easier and faster. The Cosmopolitan theme contains references to more than 500 colors! The Theme Generator application is itself written in LightSwitch.

The theme pack can be obtained from the XPert360 Product page. This is the gallery posting – Xpert360 Lightning - Emerald Theme Pack[V2,V3,SL]

Xpert360 Lightning Office Theme Pack Released

Lightning Series - Office Theme Pack

Another new pack of 8 Lightswitch Themes has been released!

Simple, elegant and unique Office inspired themes which are compatible with all Standard Shells. These 8 Themes add a professional, business flavour to your Lightswitch application.

The theme pack contains the following 8 themes

• Office Blue
• Office Silver
• Light Blue
• Light Blue (Lite)
• Office Black
• Visual Studio 2012
• Dark Blue
• Dark Blue (Lite)

For more screen shots please go to the Xpert360 Theme Pack Gallery.

It is the second Theme Pack to be released by Xpert360 and can be downloaded here.

The themes in the pack target the LightSwitch Silverlight Client v2+ that comes with Visual Studio 2012. They have been tested against the LightSwitch Cosmopolitan Shell and the LightSwitch Standard Shell.

We have an internal application to import, edit and generate LightSwitch themes to make the work a lot easier and faster. The Cosmopolitan theme contains references to more than 500 colors! The Theme Generator application is itself written in LightSwitch.

The theme pack can be obtained from the Xpert360 Product Page. This is the gallery posting – Xpert360 Lightning - Office Theme Pack[V2,V3,SL]

Chocolate Theme Pack Sample – Mint Choc Chip

Lightning Series - Mint Choc Chip Theme

To celebrate the release of the  Xpert360 Chocolate theme pack Xpert360 have released this free theme based around mint choc chip and shades of green and chocolate with an added chocolate image. It is the third free chocolate theme and the fifth in a collection of free holiday and festive themes to be released by Xpert360 and can be downloaded from here.

Mint Choc Chip Theme

Mint Choc Chip Validation error

Mint Choc Chip Calendar

The theme targets the LightSwitch Silverlight Client v2+ that comes with Visual Studio 2012. It has been tested against the LightSwitch Cosmopolitan Shell and the LightSwitch Standard Shell.

We have an internal application to import, edit and generate LightSwitch themes to make the work a lot easier and faster. The Cosmopolitan theme contains references to more than 500 colors! The Theme Generator application is itself written in LightSwitch. The theme is free and can be obtained from the Visual Studio Extensions gallery. This is the gallery posting – Xpert360Lightning -Mint Choc Chip Theme[V2,V3,SL] We hope you like it!

Xpert360 Lightning Chocolate Theme Pack Released

Lightning Series - Chocolate Theme Pack

A pack of 8 Lightswitch Themes has been released!

Simple, elegant and unique Shades of Chocolate and compatible with all Standard Shells. These 8 Themes  add a professional, business flavour to your application.

The theme pack contains the following 8 themes

• Easter Egg
• Dark Chocolate
• Chocolate Orange
• Mint Chocolate
• Milk Chocolate
• Chilli Chocolate
• Chocolate Lite
• Dark Chocolate Lite

Easter Egg Theme

Dark Chocolate Theme

Chocolate Orange Theme

Mint chocolate theme

Milk Chocolate Theme

Chilli Chocolate Theme

Chocolate Lite Theme

Dark Chocolate Lite theme

For more screen shots please go to the Xpert360 Theme Pack Gallery.

It is the first Theme Pack to be released by Xpert360 and can be downloaded from here.

The themes in the pack target the LightSwitch Silverlight Client v2+ that comes with Visual Studio 2012. They have been tested against the LightSwitch Cosmopolitan Shell and the LightSwitch Standard Shell.

We have an internal application to import, edit and generate LightSwitch themes to make the work a lot easier and faster. The Cosmopolitan theme contains references to more than 500 colors! The Theme Generator application is itself written in LightSwitch.

The theme pack can be obtained from the Xpert360 Product Page. This is the gallery posting – Xpert360Lightning – Chocolate Theme Pack[V2,V3,SL]

Spring Time Flowers Theme

Lightning Series - Spring Time Theme

This theme is based around  spring time flowers with vibrant shades of spring. It is the fifth in a collection of free holiday and festive themes to be released by Xpert360 and can be downloaded from here.

Spring Flowers Theme

Validation error

The theme targets the LightSwitch Silverlight Client v2+ that comes with Visual Studio 2012. It has been tested against the LightSwitch Cosmopolitan Shell and the LightSwitch Standard Shell.

We have an internal application to import, edit and generate LightSwitch themes to make the work a lot easier and faster. The Cosmopolitan theme contains references to more than 500 colors! The Theme Generator application is itself written in LightSwitch. The theme is free and can be obtained from the Visual Studio Extensions gallery. This is the gallery posting – Xpert360Lightning – Spring Flowers Theme [V2,V3,SL] We hope you like it!

Chocolate Theme ready for Easter

Lightning Series - Easter Theme

This theme is based around Easter eggs and shades of chocolate, ready for Easter. It is the first of two Easter themes and the second in a collection of free holiday and festive themes to be released by Xpert360 and can be downloaded from here.

Easter Theme with Validation error

Easter Theme calendar

The theme targets the LightSwitch Silverlight Client v2+ that comes with Visual Studio 2012. It has been tested against the LightSwitch Cosmopolitan Shell and the LightSwitch Standard Shell.

We have an internal application to import, edit and generate LightSwitch themes to make the work a lot easier and faster. The Cosmopolitan theme contains references to more than 500 colors! The Theme Generator application is itself written in LightSwitch.

The theme is free and can be obtained from the Visual Studio Extensions gallery. This is the gallery posting – Xpert360Lightning – Easter Theme[V2,V3,SL]

We hope you like it!

Shamrock Theme ready for St Patrick’s Day

Lightning Series – Shamrock Theme

This theme is based around shamrocks and shades of green, ready for St  Patrick’s day. It is the first of a collection of free holiday and festive themes to be released by Xpert360 and can be downloaded from here.

Shamrock theme

The theme targets the LightSwitch Silverlight Client v2+ that comes with Visual Studio 2012. It has been tested against the LightSwitch Cosmopolitan Shell and the LightSwitch Standard Shell.

Shamrock Theme Extension

We have an internal application to import, edit and generate LightSwitch themes to make the work a lot easier and faster. The Cosmopolitan theme contains references to more than 500 colors! The Theme Generator application is itself written in LightSwitch.

LightSwitch Theme Generator

The theme is free and can be obtained from the Visual Studio Extensions gallery. This is the gallery posting – Xpert360Lightning – Shamrock Theme [V2,V3,SL]

We hope you like it!

PivotViewer Shorts Part 4: Restyle the ZoomSlider child controls

Introduction

By default the SL4 PivotViewer control displays a custom control for controling the zoom-level of the tile views. A few people have expressed a wish to totally reskin the control and this is a step along that path that hints at the technique needed to dig deeper into the PivotViewer visual tree.

 

This short post shows how to locate the UI element for the control bar, the ZoomSlider, all its visual elements and then alter their background.

 

PivotViewer ZoomSlider Re-Styling

 

Locating the UI Elements

The flow of the code goes something like this:

• Locate the “PART_Container” in the tree. This is a Grid control.
• Or… go direct to the “PART_ControlBar” element.
• Locate the ControlBarView to access the child controls.
• Build a list of child controls using VisualTreeHelper.

// Locate UI Elements
    ControlBarView ControlBar = (ControlBarView)this.GetTemplateChild(“PART_ControlBar”);
    Grid ctrlBarContent = (Grid)ControlBar.Content;
    DockPanel ctrlBarDockPanel = (DockPanel)ctrlBarContent.Children[2];
    ContentControl ZoomSlider = (ContentControl)ctrlBarDockPanel.Children[2];
    ContentControl cc1 = (ContentControl)ZoomSlider.Content;
//
// Build a list of the child controls
    var ctrls = GetChildsRecursive(cc1);
//
// Pick out controls and re-style as you wish 
    foreach (UIElement ctrl in ctrls)
    {
        string s = ctrl.GetType().ToString();
        switch (s)
        {
            case “System.Windows.Controls.Button”:
            Button b = (Button)ctrl;
            b.Background = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Orange);
            break;
        case “Microsoft.Pivot.Internal.Controls.ClickDragSlider”:
            ClickDragSlider cds3 = (ClickDragSlider)ctrl;
            cds3.Background = new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Green);
            break;
        default:
            break;
        }
    }
;

// Helper function for child controls
IEnumerable<DependencyObject> GetChildsRecursive(DependencyObject root)
{
    List<DependencyObject> elts = new List<DependencyObject>();
    elts.Add(root);
    for (int i = 0; i < VisualTreeHelper.GetChildrenCount(root); i++)
        elts.AddRange(GetChildsRecursive(VisualTreeHelper.GetChild(root, i)));
    return elts;
}

+

FAQ

If you want to try out the code there are a few things to watch out for.

+

You will need some internal Microsoft Pivot references and usings too. Depending upon the extent of your other customizations you will need these:

+

using System.Windows.Pivot;
using Microsoft.Pivot.Internal.Controls;
using Microsoft.Pivot.Internal.Model;
using Microsoft.Pivot.Internal.ViewModels;
using Microsoft.Pivot.Internal.Views;

+

Further things to do

• Xpert360 PivotViewer Blog Article Index
• The code should be nicely wrapped up and encapsulated in the CustomPivotViewer override class.
• PivotViewer Control – Public API
• Microsoft Silverlight Forums – PivotViewer Control
• Xpert360 Ltd – who allow time for blogging

Conclusion

This article is a brief guide to locating some visual elements of the Silverlight PivotViewer control in order to customize the styling of the ZoomSlider control. It targets the developer who has already started customizing the Silverlight PivotViewer control beyond the public API.

 

Any comments or request for future topics are welcome.

 

Adventures with PivotViewer Part 4: Augmented PDC10 reality – pivot the agenda

[News: the collection has been updated with links to the online session content...]

Microsoft PDC10 is upon us…

I was a little surprised that the Microsoft PDC team have not published a PivotViewer collection containing the agenda. We have already published a SQLBits 7 agenda and thought why not give PDC10 the same treatment.

So we did:
PDC10 agenda collection

Doing this gets easier and faster every time. That was a lot better experience than earlier attempts.

If you want to host the collection yourself or access and experiment with it locally using the Pivot application then feel free to do so. We hope it is a useful augmentation to your PDC10 experience. The ZIP contains copies of the dynamically created tiles and an Excel spreadsheet to match the static collection.
PDC2010.zip

Have fun!

Update, very simple PivotViewer client Silverlight 4 application to run with the collection deployed at http://localhost/PDC2010/PDC2010.cxml (I am using the latest Aug-2010 version of PivotViewer and the latest Sep-2010 Silverlight 4).
Simplest of sample client

Adventures with PivotViewer – Part 2 Themes and Integrated DataGrid

So we carried on with PivotViewer and created a sample Silverlight App to show what can be done.  The app has three themes that can be applied and two existing collections(Wikipedia Technology and Yoga) to showcase them.  The Desert Island theme has a transparent filter pane so the background skin shows through (the opacity can be tweaked!)

Oh, and we added a gridview of the data … heres the link

Here are some screenshots …

Display PivotViewer data in an integrated ‘Grid View’

PivotViewer Yoga Theme