Silverlight™ 3 Programmer's Reference

Chapter 7. Layout

Controlling the layout of an application's user interface is a problem that has long plagued developers. Over the years, rich client developers have written thousands of lines of code solely devoted to the repositioning of user interface elements in the application as its window size changes. Web developers have long struggled with the multitude of positioning schemes available to them, starting with HTML tables and progressing to CSS layout, and — adding insult to injury — dealing with different browser interpretations of these layout schemes.

Microsoft looked to address many of the basic problems in application user interface layout with Windows Presentation Foundation by creating a powerful, yet flexible and highly extensible new layout system, and, thankfully, they have brought most of those layout concepts into the world of Silverlight. Through the use of layout containers and panels, the Silverlight layout system gives you a level of layout control that was previously difficult, if not impossible, to achieve.

In this chapter, you will look at the basics of the Silverlight layout system and how you can use it to create flexible application user interfaces. This chapter walks you through the core concepts of the layout system, then looks at the panels included in the Silverlight that implement these concepts. You will also learn how simple it is to take advantage of the layout system by building your own custom panel that includes your own layout logic. Finally, ...