For this reason, WPF controls are often called lookless
controls??”they define the functionality of a control, but they don??™t have a hard-wired
???look.???
??? Declarative user interfaces. In the next chapter, you??™ll consider XAML, the markup
standard you use to define WPF user interfaces. XAML allows you to build a window
without using code. Impressively, XAML doesn??™t limit you to fixed, unchanging user
interfaces. You can use tools such as data binding and triggers to automate basic user
interface behavior (such as text boxes that update themselves when you page through
a record source, or labels that glow when you hover overtop with the mouse), all without
writing a single line of Visual Basic.
??? Object-based drawing. Even if you plan to work at the lower-level visual layer (rather
than the higher-level element layer), you won??™t work in terms of painting and pixels.
Instead, you??™ll create shape objects and let WPF maintain the display in the most optimized
manner possible.
You??™ll see these principles at work throughout this book. But before you go any further, it??™s
time to learn about a complementary standard. The next chapter introduces XAML, the
markup language used to define WPF user interfaces.
CHAPTER 1 n INTRODUCING WPF 21
XAML
XAML (short for Extensible Application Markup Language, and pronounced ???zammel???) is a
markup language used to instantiate .
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