AnimationTimeline Class (System.Windows.Media.Animation)

.NET Framework Class Library

AnimationTimeline Class

Defines a segment of time over which output values are produced. These values are used to animate a target property.

Namespace: System.Windows.Media.Animation
Assembly: PresentationCore (in PresentationCore.dll)

Syntax

Visual Basic (Declaration)

Public MustInherit Class AnimationTimeline _
    Inherits Timeline

Visual Basic (Usage)

Dim instance As AnimationTimeline

public abstract class AnimationTimeline : Timeline

Visual C++

public ref class AnimationTimeline abstract : public Timeline

JScript

public abstract class AnimationTimeline extends Timeline

XAML

This class is abstract; see Inheritance Hierarchy for derived non-abstract classes usable in XAML.

Remarks

An AnimationTimeline is a type of Timeline object that generates output values based on its timing progress. All animation types inherit from AnimationTimeline.

Freezable Features: Because it inherits from the Freezable class, the AnimationTimeline class provides several special features: AnimationTimeline objects can be declared as resources, shared among multiple objects, made read-only to improve performance, cloned, and made thread-safe. For more information about the different features provided by Freezable objects, see the Freezable Objects Overview.

Notes to Inheritors:

To create a custom animation, override or implement the following members:

CreateInstanceCore – If your new class is concrete, you must override CreateInstanceCore to return a new instance of your class.
GetCurrentValue – Override this method to return the current value of your animation. It takes three parameters: a default origin value, a default destination value, and an AnimationClock. Use the AnimationClock to obtain the current time or progress for the animation. You can choose whether to use the default origin and destination values.
IsDestinationDefault – Override this property to indicate whether your animation uses the default destination value specified by the GetCurrentValue method.
TargetPropertyType – Override this property to indicate the Type of output your animation produces.

If the class does not use dependency properties to store its data or it requires extra initialization after creation, you might need to override additional methods; see the Freezable Objects Overview for more information.

For more information about creating custom animations, see the Custom Animations Overview.

Examples

This example shows one way to apply an animation to a property without using a Storyboard.

Note:
This functionality is not available in Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML). For information about animating a property in XAML, see How to: Animate a Property by Using a Storyboard.

To apply a local animation to a property, use the BeginAnimation method. This method takes two parameters: a DependencyProperty that specifies the property to animate, and the animation to apply to that property.

The following example shows how to animate the width and background color of a Button.

Visual Basic

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
'''This sample demonstrates how to apply non-storyboard animations to a property.
'''To animate in markup, you must use storyboards.
'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

Imports System
Imports System.Windows
Imports System.Windows.Navigation
Imports System.Windows.Media
Imports System.Windows.Media.Animation
Imports System.Windows.Shapes
Imports System.Windows.Controls

Namespace Microsoft.Samples.Animation.LocalAnimations

    ' Create the demonstration.
    Public Class LocalAnimationExample
        Inherits Page

        Public Sub New()

            WindowTitle = "Animate Property Example"
            Dim myStackPanel As New StackPanel()
            myStackPanel.Margin = New Thickness(20)

            ' Create and set the Button.
            Dim aButton As New Button()
            aButton.Content = "A Button"

            ' Animate the Button's Width.
            Dim myDoubleAnimation As New DoubleAnimation()
            myDoubleAnimation.From = 75
            myDoubleAnimation.To = 300
            myDoubleAnimation.Duration = New Duration(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(5))
            myDoubleAnimation.AutoReverse = True
            myDoubleAnimation.RepeatBehavior = RepeatBehavior.Forever

            ' Apply the animation to the button's Width property.
            aButton.BeginAnimation(Button.WidthProperty, myDoubleAnimation)

            ' Create and animate a Brush to set the button's Background.
            Dim myBrush As New SolidColorBrush()
            myBrush.Color = Colors.Blue

            Dim myColorAnimation As New ColorAnimation()
            myColorAnimation.From = Colors.Blue
            myColorAnimation.To = Colors.Red
            myColorAnimation.Duration = New Duration(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(7000))
            myColorAnimation.AutoReverse = True
            myColorAnimation.RepeatBehavior = RepeatBehavior.Forever

            ' Apply the animation to the brush's Color property.
            myBrush.BeginAnimation(SolidColorBrush.ColorProperty, myColorAnimation)
            aButton.Background = myBrush

            ' Add the Button to the panel.
            myStackPanel.Children.Add(aButton)
            Me.Content = myStackPanel
        End Sub
    End Class
End Namespace

/*

   This sample demonstrates how to apply non-storyboard animations to a property.
   To animate in markup, you must use storyboards.

*/

using System;
using System.Windows;
using System.Windows.Navigation;
using System.Windows.Media;
using System.Windows.Media.Animation;
using System.Windows.Shapes;
using System.Windows.Controls;

namespace Microsoft.Samples.Animation.LocalAnimations
{

    // Create the demonstration.
    public class LocalAnimationExample : Page 
    {




        public LocalAnimationExample()
        {


            WindowTitle = "Local Animation Example";
            StackPanel myStackPanel = new StackPanel();
            myStackPanel.Margin = new Thickness(20);                     


            // Create and set the Button.
            Button aButton = new Button();
            aButton.Content = "A Button";

            // Animate the Button's Width.
            DoubleAnimation myDoubleAnimation = new DoubleAnimation();
            myDoubleAnimation.From = 75;
            myDoubleAnimation.To = 300;
            myDoubleAnimation.Duration =  new Duration(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(5));
            myDoubleAnimation.AutoReverse = true;
            myDoubleAnimation.RepeatBehavior = RepeatBehavior.Forever;

            // Apply the animation to the button's Width property.
            aButton.BeginAnimation(Button.WidthProperty, myDoubleAnimation);       

            // Create and animate a Brush to set the button's Background.
            SolidColorBrush myBrush = new SolidColorBrush();
            myBrush.Color = Colors.Blue;            

            ColorAnimation myColorAnimation = new ColorAnimation();
            myColorAnimation.From = Colors.Blue;
            myColorAnimation.To = Colors.Red;
            myColorAnimation.Duration =  new Duration(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(7000));
            myColorAnimation.AutoReverse = true;
            myColorAnimation.RepeatBehavior = RepeatBehavior.Forever;

            // Apply the animation to the brush's Color property.
            myBrush.BeginAnimation(SolidColorBrush.ColorProperty, myColorAnimation);           
            aButton.Background = myBrush;

            // Add the Button to the panel.
            myStackPanel.Children.Add(aButton);
            this.Content = myStackPanel;
        }
    }

}

Visual C++

/*

   This sample demonstrates how to apply non-storyboard animations to a property.
   To animate in markup, you must use storyboards.

*/

using namespace System;
using namespace System::Windows;
using namespace System::Windows::Navigation;
using namespace System::Windows::Media;
using namespace System::Windows::Media::Animation;
using namespace System::Windows::Shapes;
using namespace System::Windows::Controls;


namespace Microsoft {
   namespace Samples {
      namespace Animation {
         namespace LocalAnimations {
            // Create the demonstration.
            public ref class LocalAnimationExample : Page {

            public: 
               LocalAnimationExample ()
               {
                  WindowTitle = "Local Animation Example";
                  StackPanel^ myStackPanel = gcnew StackPanel();
                  myStackPanel->Margin = Thickness(20);

                  // Create and set the Button.
                  Button^ aButton = gcnew Button();
                  aButton->Content = "A Button";

                  // Animate the Button's Width.
                  DoubleAnimation^ myDoubleAnimation = gcnew DoubleAnimation();
                  myDoubleAnimation->From = 75;
                  myDoubleAnimation->To = 300;
                  myDoubleAnimation->Duration = Duration(TimeSpan::FromSeconds(5));
                  myDoubleAnimation->AutoReverse = true;
                  myDoubleAnimation->RepeatBehavior = RepeatBehavior::Forever;

                  // Apply the animation to the button's Width property.
                  aButton->BeginAnimation(Button::WidthProperty, myDoubleAnimation);

                  // Create and animate a Brush to set the button's Background.
                  SolidColorBrush^ myBrush = gcnew SolidColorBrush();
                  myBrush->Color = Colors::Blue;

                  ColorAnimation^ myColorAnimation = gcnew ColorAnimation();
                  myColorAnimation->From = Colors::Blue;
                  myColorAnimation->To = Colors::Red;
                  myColorAnimation->Duration = Duration(TimeSpan::FromMilliseconds(7000));
                  myColorAnimation->AutoReverse = true;
                  myColorAnimation->RepeatBehavior = RepeatBehavior::Forever;

                  // Apply the animation to the brush's Color property.
                  myBrush->BeginAnimation(SolidColorBrush::ColorProperty, myColorAnimation);
                  aButton->Background = myBrush;

                  // Add the Button to the panel.
                  myStackPanel->Children->Add(aButton);
                  this->Content = myStackPanel;
               };
            };
         }
      }
   }
}

For the complete sample, see Local Animations Sample.

A variety of animation classes in the System.Windows.Media.Animation namespace exist for animating different types of properties. For more information about animating properties, see Animation Overview. For more information about dependency properties (the type of properties that are shown in these examples) and their features, see Dependency Properties Overview.

There are other ways to animate without using Storyboard objects; for more information, see Property Animation Techniques Overview.

More Code

How to: Animate a Property by Using a Storyboard

This example shows how to use a Storyboard to animate properties. To animate a property by using a Storyboard, create an animation for each property that you want to animate and also create a Storyboard to contain the animations.

Inheritance Hierarchy

Thread Safety

Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.

Platforms

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003

The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

Version Information

.NET Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 3.0

Reference

AnimationTimeline Members

System.Windows.Media.Animation Namespace

Other Resources

Custom Animations Overview

Custom Animation Sample

Animation Overview

Key-Frame Animations Overview

Storyboards Overview