Lab 6 - Creating a Great User Experience

A user’s experience with an application is the perception of how it works. No matter how solid the backend is, if it’s easy to use the user will think it’s a great product. Silverlight enables you to quickly add small pieces of functionality that can greatly improve the user experience. This lab is designed to introduce developers to Expression Blend.

In the lab you'll create a menu that transitions between an opened and closed states. Along the way you'll learn how to use Blend to create states, work with behaviors, and integrate MVVM with Blend.

You'll start by create opened and closed states for the menu. Next, you’ll add behaviors to the Settings button to toggle between states without writing code. Finally, you’ll integrate the MVVM pattern into Blend. The Silverlight application that you'll create is shown next:

You Will Benefit from this Lab if:

• You are interested in adding interactivity to your application with little cost
• You have little experience with Expression Blend
• You want to integrate existing application design patterns with Blend

You Will Learn:

• Key features of Expression Blend
• How to create visual states
• Add interactivity without adding additional code
• About behaviors that integrate with MVVM
• How data binding works within Blend

Business Requirements for the Silverlight application include:

1. Create visual states for a settings menu
2. Add interactivity with behaviors
3. Integrate an existing ViewModel using Blend
4. Change the states based on values in the ViewModel