Timeline Class
Defines a segment of time.
System.Windows.Threading::DispatcherObject
System.Windows::DependencyObject
System.Windows::Freezable
System.Windows.Media.Animation::Animatable
System.Windows.Media.Animation::Timeline
System.Windows.Media.Animation::AnimationTimeline
System.Windows.Media.Animation::TimelineGroup
System.Windows.Media::MediaTimeline
Assembly: PresentationCore (in PresentationCore.dll)
The Timeline type exposes the following members.
| Name | Description | |
|---|---|---|
![]() | Timeline() | Initializes a new instance of the Timeline class. |
![]() | Timeline(Nullable<TimeSpan>) | Initializes a new instance of the Timeline class with the specified BeginTime. |
![]() | Timeline(Nullable<TimeSpan>, Duration) | Initializes a new instance of the Timeline class with the specified BeginTime and Duration. |
![]() | Timeline(Nullable<TimeSpan>, Duration, RepeatBehavior) | Initializes a new instance of the Timeline class with the specified BeginTime, Duration, and RepeatBehavior. |
| Name | Description | |
|---|---|---|
![]() | AccelerationRatio | Gets or sets a value specifying the percentage of the timeline's Duration spent accelerating the passage of time from zero to its maximum rate. |
![]() | AutoReverse | Gets or sets a value that indicates whether the timeline plays in reverse after it completes a forward iteration. |
![]() | BeginTime | Gets or sets the time at which this Timeline should begin. |
![]() | CanFreeze | Gets a value that indicates whether the object can be made unmodifiable. (Inherited from Freezable.) |
![]() | DecelerationRatio | Gets or sets a value specifying the percentage of the timeline's Duration spent decelerating the passage of time from its maximum rate to zero. |
![]() | DependencyObjectType | Gets the DependencyObjectType that wraps the CLR type of this instance. (Inherited from DependencyObject.) |
![]() | Dispatcher | Gets the Dispatcher this DispatcherObject is associated with. (Inherited from DispatcherObject.) |
![]() | Duration | Gets or sets the length of time for which this timeline plays, not counting repetitions. |
![]() | FillBehavior | Gets or sets a value that specifies how the Timeline behaves after it reaches the end of its active period. |
![]() | HasAnimatedProperties | Gets a value that indicates whether one or more AnimationClock objects is associated with any of this object's dependency properties. (Inherited from Animatable.) |
![]() | IsFrozen | Gets a value that indicates whether the object is currently modifiable. (Inherited from Freezable.) |
![]() | IsSealed | Gets a value that indicates whether this instance is currently sealed (read-only). (Inherited from DependencyObject.) |
![]() | Name | Gets or sets the name of this Timeline. |
![]() | RepeatBehavior | Gets or sets the repeating behavior of this timeline. |
![]() | SpeedRatio | Gets or sets the rate, relative to its parent, at which time progresses for this Timeline. |
| Name | Description | |
|---|---|---|
![]() | DesiredFrameRate | Gets or sets the desired frame rate for this timeline and its child timelines. |
| Name | Description | |
|---|---|---|
![]() | AllocateClock | Creates a Clock for this Timeline. |
![]() | ApplyAnimationClock(DependencyProperty, AnimationClock) | Applies an AnimationClock to the specified DependencyProperty. If the property is already animated, the SnapshotAndReplace handoff behavior is used. (Inherited from Animatable.) |
![]() | ApplyAnimationClock(DependencyProperty, AnimationClock, HandoffBehavior) | Applies an AnimationClock to the specified DependencyProperty. If the property is already animated, the specified HandoffBehavior is used. (Inherited from Animatable.) |
![]() | BeginAnimation(DependencyProperty, AnimationTimeline) | Applies an animation to the specified DependencyProperty. The animation is started when the next frame is rendered. If the specified property is already animated, the SnapshotAndReplace handoff behavior is used. (Inherited from Animatable.) |
![]() | BeginAnimation(DependencyProperty, AnimationTimeline, HandoffBehavior) | Applies an animation to the specified DependencyProperty. The animation is started when the next frame is rendered. If the specified property is already animated, the specified HandoffBehavior is used. (Inherited from Animatable.) |
![]() | CheckAccess | Determines whether the calling thread has access to this DispatcherObject. (Inherited from DispatcherObject.) |
![]() | ClearValue(DependencyProperty) | Clears the local value of a property. The property to be cleared is specified by a DependencyProperty identifier. (Inherited from DependencyObject.) |
![]() | ClearValue(DependencyPropertyKey) | Clears the local value of a read-only property. The property to be cleared is specified by a DependencyPropertyKey. (Inherited from DependencyObject.) |
![]() | Clone | Creates a modifiable clone of this Timeline, making deep copies of this object's values. |
![]() | CloneCore | Makes the instance a clone (deep copy) of the specified Freezable using base (non-animated) property values. (Inherited from Freezable.) |
![]() | CloneCurrentValue | Creates a modifiable clone of this Timeline object, making deep copies of this object's current values. |
![]() | CloneCurrentValueCore | Makes the instance a modifiable clone (deep copy) of the specified Freezable using current property values. (Inherited from Freezable.) |
![]() | CoerceValue | Coerces the value of the specified dependency property. This is accomplished by invoking any CoerceValueCallback function specified in property metadata for the dependency property as it exists on the calling DependencyObject. (Inherited from DependencyObject.) |
![]() | CreateClock() | Creates a new, controllable Clock from this Timeline. If this Timeline has children, a tree of clocks is created with this Timeline as the root. |
![]() | CreateClock(Boolean) | Creates a new Clock from this Timeline and specifies whether the new Clock is controllable. If this Timeline has children, a tree of clocks is created with this Timeline as the root. |
![]() | CreateInstance | Initializes a new instance of the Freezable class. (Inherited from Freezable.) |
![]() | CreateInstanceCore | When implemented in a derived class, creates a new instance of the Freezable derived class. (Inherited from Freezable.) |
![]() | Equals | Determines whether a provided DependencyObject is equivalent to the current DependencyObject. (Inherited from DependencyObject.) |
![]() | Finalize | Allows an object to try to free resources and perform other cleanup operations before it is reclaimed by garbage collection. (Inherited from Object.) |
![]() | Freeze() | Makes the current object unmodifiable and sets its IsFrozen property to true. (Inherited from Freezable.) |
![]() | FreezeCore | Makes this Timeline unmodifiable or determines whether it can be made unmodifiable. (Overrides Animatable::FreezeCore(Boolean).) |
![]() | GetAnimationBaseValue | Returns the non-animated value of the specified DependencyProperty. (Inherited from Animatable.) |
![]() | GetAsFrozen | Creates a frozen copy of the Freezable, using base (non-animated) property values. Because the copy is frozen, any frozen sub-objects are copied by reference. (Inherited from Freezable.) |
![]() | GetAsFrozenCore | Makes this instance a clone of the specified Timeline object. (Overrides Freezable::GetAsFrozenCore(Freezable).) |
![]() | GetCurrentValueAsFrozen | Creates a frozen copy of the Freezable using current property values. Because the copy is frozen, any frozen sub-objects are copied by reference. (Inherited from Freezable.) |
![]() | GetCurrentValueAsFrozenCore | Makes this instance a frozen clone of the specified Timeline. Resource references, data bindings, and animations are not copied, but their current values are. (Overrides Freezable::GetCurrentValueAsFrozenCore(Freezable).) |
![]() ![]() | GetDesiredFrameRate | Gets the desired frame rate of the specified Timeline. |
![]() | GetHashCode | Gets a hash code for this DependencyObject. (Inherited from DependencyObject.) |
![]() | GetLocalValueEnumerator | Creates a specialized enumerator for determining which dependency properties have locally set values on this DependencyObject. (Inherited from DependencyObject.) |
![]() | GetNaturalDuration | Returns the length of a single iteration of this Timeline. |
![]() | GetNaturalDurationCore | Returns the length of a single iteration of this Timeline. This method provides the implementation for GetNaturalDuration. |
![]() | GetType | Gets the Type of the current instance. (Inherited from Object.) |
![]() | GetValue | Returns the current effective value of a dependency property on this instance of a DependencyObject. (Inherited from DependencyObject.) |
![]() | InvalidateProperty | Re-evaluates the effective value for the specified dependency property (Inherited from DependencyObject.) |
![]() | MemberwiseClone | Creates a shallow copy of the current Object. (Inherited from Object.) |
![]() | OnChanged | Called when the current Freezable object is modified. (Inherited from Freezable.) |
![]() | OnFreezablePropertyChanged(DependencyObject, DependencyObject) | Ensures that appropriate context pointers are established for a DependencyObjectType data member that has just been set. (Inherited from Freezable.) |
![]() | OnFreezablePropertyChanged(DependencyObject, DependencyObject, DependencyProperty) | This member supports the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) infrastructure and is not intended to be used directly from your code. (Inherited from Freezable.) |
![]() | OnPropertyChanged | Overrides the DependencyObject implementation of OnPropertyChanged to also invoke any Changed handlers in response to a changing dependency property of type Freezable. (Inherited from Freezable.) |
![]() | ReadLocalValue | Returns the local value of a dependency property, if it exists. (Inherited from DependencyObject.) |
![]() | ReadPreamble | Ensures that the Freezable is being accessed from a valid thread. Inheritors of Freezable must call this method at the beginning of any API that reads data members that are not dependency properties. (Inherited from Freezable.) |
![]() | SetCurrentValue | Sets the value of a dependency property without changing its value source. (Inherited from DependencyObject.) |
![]() ![]() | SetDesiredFrameRate | Sets the desired frame rate of the specified Timeline. |
![]() | SetValue(DependencyProperty, Object) | Sets the local value of a dependency property, specified by its dependency property identifier. (Inherited from DependencyObject.) |
![]() | SetValue(DependencyPropertyKey, Object) | Sets the local value of a read-only dependency property, specified by the DependencyPropertyKey identifier of the dependency property. (Inherited from DependencyObject.) |
![]() | ShouldSerializeProperty | Returns a value that indicates whether serialization processes should serialize the value for the provided dependency property. (Inherited from DependencyObject.) |
![]() | ToString | Returns a string that represents the current object. (Inherited from Object.) |
![]() | VerifyAccess | Enforces that the calling thread has access to this DispatcherObject. (Inherited from DispatcherObject.) |
![]() | WritePostscript | Raises the Changed event for the Freezable and invokes its OnChanged method. Classes that derive from Freezable should call this method at the end of any API that modifies class members that are not stored as dependency properties. (Inherited from Freezable.) |
![]() | WritePreamble | Verifies that the Freezable is not frozen and that it is being accessed from a valid threading context. Freezable inheritors should call this method at the beginning of any API that writes to data members that are not dependency properties. (Inherited from Freezable.) |
| Name | Description | |
|---|---|---|
![]() | Changed | Occurs when the Freezable or an object it contains is modified. (Inherited from Freezable.) |
![]() | Completed | Occurs when this timeline has completely finished playing: it will no longer enter its active period. |
![]() | CurrentGlobalSpeedInvalidated | Occurs when the rate at which time progresses for the timeline's clock changes. |
![]() | CurrentStateInvalidated | Occurs when the CurrentState property of the timeline's Clock is updated. |
![]() | CurrentTimeInvalidated | Occurs when the CurrentTime property of the timeline's Clock is updated. |
![]() | RemoveRequested | Occurs when the clock created for this timeline or one of its parent timelines is removed. |
| Name | Description | |
|---|---|---|
![]() ![]() | AccelerationRatioProperty | Identifies the AccelerationRatio dependency property. |
![]() ![]() | AutoReverseProperty | Identifies the AutoReverse dependency property. |
![]() ![]() | BeginTimeProperty | Identifies the BeginTime dependency property. |
![]() ![]() | DecelerationRatioProperty | Identifies for the DecelerationRatio dependency property. |
![]() ![]() | DesiredFrameRateProperty | Identifies the DesiredFrameRate attached property. |
![]() ![]() | DurationProperty | Identifies the Duration dependency property. |
![]() ![]() | FillBehaviorProperty | Identifies the FillBehavior dependency property. |
![]() ![]() | NameProperty | Identifies the Name dependency property. |
![]() ![]() | RepeatBehaviorProperty | Identifies the RepeatBehavior dependency property. |
![]() ![]() | SpeedRatioProperty | Identifies for the SpeedRatio dependency property. |
A timeline represents a segment of time. It provides properties that enable you to specify the length of that segment, when it should start, how many times it will repeat, how fast time progresses in that segment, and more.
Classes that inherit from the timeline class provide additional functionality, such as animation and media playback. The following are examples of some of the different types of specialized timelines available.
Animations: An AnimationTimeline is a type of timeline that produces output values. When you associate an animation with a property, the animation updates the property's value as it plays, thereby "animating" it. For an introduction to animations, see Animation Overview. For information about the different ways to apply animations, see the Property Animation Techniques Overview.
MediaTimelines: A MediaTimeline is a type of timeline that controls the playback of a media file.
ParallelTimelines: A ParallelTimeline is a type of timeline that groups other timelines.
Storyboards: A Storyboard is a special type of ParallelTimeline that provides object and property targeting information for the timelines it contains. For more information about Storyboard objects, see the Storyboards Overview.
For more information about using timelines, see the Animation Overview. For an introduction to the timing features of timelines, see the Timing Behaviors Overview.
Data Binding and Animating Timelines
Most timeline properties can be data bound or animated; however, because of the way the timing system works, data bound or animated timelines do not behave like other data bound or animated objects. To understand their behavior, it helps to understand what it means to activate a timeline.
When a timeline is applied, copies are made of the timeline and its child timelines. These copies are frozen (made read-only) and Clock objects are created from them. It's these clocks that do the actual work of animating the targeted properties. If a timeline was data bound or animated, a snapshot of its current values was made when its clock was created. Even though the original timeline might continue to change, its clock does not.
For a timeline to reflect data binding or animation changes, its clock must be regenerated. Clocks are not regenerated for you automatically. The following are several ways to apply timeline changes:
If the timeline is or belongs to a Storyboard, you can make it reflect changes by reapplying its storyboard using a BeginStoryboard or the Begin method. This has the side effect of also restarting the animation. In code, you can use the Seek method to advance the storyboard back to its previous position.
If you applied an animation directly to a property using the BeginAnimation method, call the BeginAnimation method again and pass it the animation that's been modified.
If you are working directly at the clock level, create and apply a new set of clocks and use them to replace the previous set of generated clocks.
For an example of a data bound animation, see the Key Spline Animation Sample .
Using a Timeline as a Timer
A timeline's clock will only progress when there's an event hander associated with it or (in the case of an AnimationClock object) it is associated with a property. For this reason (and others), it's not recommended that you use a Timeline as a timer.
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.
The type of property determines the type of animation to use. For example, to animate a property that takes Double values, use a DoubleAnimation. The TargetName and TargetProperty attached properties specify the object and property to which the animation is applied.
To start a storyboard in Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML), use a BeginStoryboard action and an EventTrigger. The EventTrigger begins the BeginStoryboard action when the event that is specified by its RoutedEvent property occurs. The BeginStoryboard action starts the Storyboard.
The following example uses Storyboard objects to animate two Button controls. To make the first button change in size, its Width is animated. To make the second button change color, the Color property of the SolidColorBrush is used to set the Background of the button that is animated.
<!-- StoryboardExample.xaml Uses storyboards to animate properties. --> <Page xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" WindowTitle="Animate Properties with Storyboards"> <Border Background="White"> <StackPanel Margin="30" HorizontalAlignment="Left" MinWidth="500"> <TextBlock>Storyboard Animation Example</TextBlock> <!-- The width of this button is animated. --> <Button Name="myWidthAnimatedButton" Height="30" Width="200" HorizontalAlignment="Left"> A Button <Button.Triggers> <!-- Animates the width of the first button from 200 to 300. --> <EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Button.Click"> <BeginStoryboard> <Storyboard> <DoubleAnimation Storyboard.TargetName="myWidthAnimatedButton" Storyboard.TargetProperty="Width" From="200" To="300" Duration="0:0:3" /> </Storyboard> </BeginStoryboard> </EventTrigger> </Button.Triggers> </Button> <!-- The color of the brush used to paint this button is animated. --> <Button Height="30" Width="200" HorizontalAlignment="Left">Another Button <Button.Background> <SolidColorBrush x:Name="myAnimatedBrush" Color="Blue" /> </Button.Background> <Button.Triggers> <!-- Animates the color of the brush used to paint the second button from red to blue . --> <EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Button.Click"> <BeginStoryboard> <Storyboard> <ColorAnimation Storyboard.TargetName="myAnimatedBrush" Storyboard.TargetProperty="Color" From="Red" To="Blue" Duration="0:0:7" /> </Storyboard> </BeginStoryboard> </EventTrigger> </Button.Triggers> </Button> </StackPanel> </Border> </Page>
Note |
|---|
Although animations can target both a FrameworkElement object, such as a Control or Panel, and a Freezable object, such as a Brush or Transform, only framework elements have a Name property. To assign a name to a freezable so that it can be targeted by an animation, use the x:Name Directive, as the previous example shows. |
If you use code, you must create a NameScope for a FrameworkElement and register the names of the objects to animate with that FrameworkElement. To start the animations in code, use a BeginStoryboard action with an EventTrigger. Optionally, you can use an event handler and the Begin method of Storyboard. The following example shows how to use the Begin method.
For more information about animation and storyboards, see Animation Overview.
If you use code, you are not limited to using Storyboard objects in order to animate properties. For more information and examples, see How to: Animate a Property Without Using a Storyboard and How to: Animate a Property by Using an AnimationClock.
More Code
| How to: Animate in a Style | This example shows how to animate properties within a style. When animating within a style, only the framework element for which the style is defined can be targeted directly. To target a freezable object, you must "dot down" from a property of the styled element. |
| How to: Simplify Animations by Using Child Timelines | This example shows how to simplify animations by using child ParallelTimeline objects. A Storyboard is a type of Timeline that provides targeting information for the timelines it contains. Use a Storyboard to provide timeline targeting information, including object and property information. |
Windows 7, Windows Vista SP1 or later, Windows XP SP3, Windows Server 2008 (Server Core not supported), Windows Server 2008 R2 (Server Core supported with SP1 or later), Windows Server 2003 SP2
The .NET Framework does not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.
