Pro WPF in C# 2010: Windows Presentation Foundation in .Net 4

This is a highly impressive book for getting one up to speed on anything and everything one needs to know about developing in WPF. If you are a WPF developer or aspiring developer, you are most likely at a disservice if this isn't on your desk. One of the most important things is that time after time, difficult or complex subjects were excellently elucidated. I have Matthew's books for Pro .NET 2.0 Windows Forms and Custom Controls, and Pro ASP.NET 3.5, but despite my appreciation of these works (and how much he taught me from them), I thought there were a number of times that he failed to simply and quickly elucidate a subject. Important points were buried in pages of code (please note: not a judgment on those whole books, just parts of them). For the bulk of this book that I have examined and read, this is NOT the case. I was sort of expecting, for a bulky book like this (size wise), that the quality would be less than excellent. NOT so! You're understanding will be thoroughly enriched. No work is perfect by any stretch, but to have as many goodies as there are in this book, all in one book, it's a must have. Bests: The index is perhaps the largest index I have ever seen for a book like this, at a whopping 81 (large) pages. It almost invalidates the need for computer searching of the text. This makes it a TERRIFIC resource, coupled with the fact that Matthew covered almost everything there is to cover (at least in a small manner). Chapters on Resources - ch 10: you've gotta thoroughly understand resources as the foundation for Styles and Templates; another book on WPF that I appreciate much, didn't even talk about ResourceDictionaries, dissapointingly. Styles (ch 11), Templates (ch 17), and then Custom Controls (ch 18) (all of these flow into one another) were what I needed to understand much better, and this really took me to the next level. He even illustrates advanced concepts like overriding the measuring and arrangement of a panel. An excellent resource for WPF development.

I'd like to say that it is a super book on latest WPF techniques for both tutorial and reference. It may be the most comprehensive book that readers can read from cover to cover, or refer any topic randomly. The only suggestion I'd like to say is: Since the book is titled as "Pro", should it include some design patterns specific to WPF, such as MVP, MVVM, etc? I recommend this book for any developers who are serious about WPF programming.

I was fortunate enough to get a review copy of "Pro WPF in C# 2010: Windows Presentation Foundation in .NET 4", Matthew McDonald, Apress Publishing. I have already read almost everything Matthew has written on Smart Client (we used to call it "Windows") development, so I was looking forward to diving into the text. And it doesn't disappoint. Pro WPF is not a light read. If it's in the framework, Matthew covers it. This makes it a very good reference book, but a bit daunting as a straight read. Working through the code samples in each chapter helps to really sink in the information. The code samples (also available as a download from Apress) are well written and succinct, and do a great job illustrating the points of each chapter. If you haven't done WPF development, you will discover that it requires a concerted effort to become an effective resource in WPF. (Of course, you could just go about writing Windows Forms styled apps in WPF, but that would be silly.) "Pro WPF in C# 2010" does a great job of explaining and illustrating these differences. If you are already experienced in WPF, but need to upgrade your skills to what's new in .NET 4, each chapter has a highlight of what's new in .NET 4. (This is my favorite feature, since I have "Pro WPF in C# 2008"). It's a great way to quickly get detailed information on the new features without having to scour each of the chapters. In the end, the only issue that I have with this edition is there were more typos than I expected in the new content. Those will certainly get resolved with the next edition, but if that's my only complaint, than I have to rate it as a "must read".

I have the first and second edition of this book (Pro WPF: Windows Presentation Foundation in .NET 3.0, Pro WPF in C# 2008), so I was hesitant in buying this version. I had not destroyed the Pro WPF in C# 2008 book, like I did Pro WPF: Windows Presentation Foundation in .NET 3.0, so I didn't really need a new copy of the book. I am glad that I did buy it because there are plenty of new features covered in this version making it worth the purchase, at least to me. This version of the book has also been reorganized. Chapters have been moved and renamed to fit new functionality. Here is what is new in this release: --New DataGrid, Calendar, WebBrowser, Ribbon (separate download), and DatePicker controls --Visual State Manager --Easing Functions --Cached Composition (Bitmap caching) --Windows 7 taskbar and multitouch support Matthew has added content for all the topics listed above, Some of the highlights of the book I like: --The coverage of animation easing. --The new Windows 7 taskbar coverage. --His in-depth coverage of printing. --His Custom Elements chapter. --The new chapter on Application Add-Ins. --The chapter on using ClickOnce with WPF. --Everything is gone into in depth. This is not a brush over the topic book. --The usability of the code makes the book all that much more valuable. The book focuses on WPF only. It has a few pages on LINQ, but that i s about it as far as the rest of the .NET 3.5 framework goes. In other words, the book does not cover how to best use WPF in relationship to WCF, WF, or LINQ. This does not take anything away from the book because Matthew does not claim that the book does this. I only mention it because his ASP.NET 3.5 book does go into LINQ application integration. The downloadable code is very well organized and is very usable. I highly recommend this book to anyone getting into WPF with .NET 4.0.