Microsoft Silverlight Books

Learning Made Easy

This is the book. If you're wondering which book is best for learning WPF, you've found it. Having read portions of other books that cover the topic, and heard other people's opinions, one would think that WPF is a difficult environment to grasp. Not so, and this book proves it. Granted, it's a different model if you are used to WinForms or MFC approaches to Windows GUI's. It's a more complex tool, since it provides much more functionality. Solis does a good job in providing clear, understandable, and confidence-building material. Even though it's half the size of some other WPF volumes, he somehow manages to still cover the lion's share of topics as those other books. This is my first review on Amazon, but the author does such a great job, that I felt it necessary to let others know. Although it isn't tagged to a particular .NET version, he does have some material on the newer controls in 2010 (.NET 4.0). The coding examples are in C#, which stands to reason. As a long-time C++ developer, I have to admit that if one enters the managed environment, it's time to throw out other languages like C++, VB and Delphi, and stick to C#.

Claudio DeMarco
22 April, 2010

As advertised - visual and concise.

If you are new to WPF, or as in my case, you'd gotten your feet wet but are having trouble grasping the basics, this book is a perfect first stop. Dan Solis uses his illustrations to give the reader a useful perspective into the inner workings of WPF, though a few of the illustrations felt like they were included as a matter of principal to fit the title. Before reading this book I found myself mired in various online examples and tutorials, typically written to achieve very specific goals. Though I ultimately found these useful (particularly when revisiting them after reading the corresponding sections of this book), they didn't improve my fundamental understanding of the technology. Illustrated WPF gave me that foundation.

One aspect of the book I liked in particular is how the author used both XAML and imperative code to demonstrate how to use the technology - whereas online resources almost always only include the XAML. Though in practice you might rarely create WPF elements imperatively, this was extremely beneficial to me because it eliminated the "magic" of WPF.

I would not consider this book the end-all learning material, but rather a first step. WPF has far more depth than what is covered in this book, but I would recommend anyone who is diving into this unique technology to do it with this book.


N. Martin
12 February, 2010

Get started with WPF from this book

I have found this book to be the only one which I could follow until the end. I have purchased Nathan's unleashed and also had a glimpse on pro WPF, and I couldn't read them past the second chapter. Not to say that these are not good books, but somehow you must already know WPF before reading them.

What this book is not:
>> A thick reference volume on WPF
>> A volume covering advanced subjects

What this book is:
>> A book that makes clear to the reader the nuances of WPF like interconnection with a markup language XAML, data binding, dependency/attached properties, routing events etc, e.g. the basic stuff of WPF but also the most frustrating to a reader first entering the world of WPF. The author makes clear from the start what a WPF app. is composed of and what all these files are when you start a new WPF project in VS, etc.

After reading this book (which i repeat is very easy to follow) you can:

>> (At last) read many articles and subjects on various blogs in net about WPF
>> Read with confidence and clear mind more extended books
>> start to play with WPF

That's the best starting book on WPF I think

ps. sorry for the syntax and mispellings

P. Dimitrios
11 February, 2010

If you are a student of WPF, just buy it.

If you are a student of WPF and looking for something from a different prospective, this book is well worth it. The diagrams along with explanations provide different angle on learning and it helps overcome some material more difficult to absorb. In some cases, a little simplified for where I'm at (intermeddiate), but I stick to certain sections of interest. I'm still picking up many gems. The material/knowledge I've picked up has already paid off. The illustrations are well constructed and thought out. The book is well written, easier to absorb, and a little more entertaining than most.

Wilhelm Jenner
13 January, 2010

One Good Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

If you are a WPF architect, programmer or serious WPF student, you must get a copy of "Illustrated WPF" by Dan Solis. Solis has an uncanny ability to combine figures/diagrams with a few concise paragraphs to visually show how WPF actually works. It's like having a WPF guru explain WPF by drawing little pictures on a white board while she talks.

This book is well-suited for students learning WPF or experienced WPF programmers who need a quick refresher of key WPF concepts. The code samples are short and to the point. It does not have complicated samples which are found in many other WPF books.

Other WPF books typically describe a concept in text and then illustrate that concept using code samples and screen shots. The reader is left to translate the text into a mental image which he needs to really understand the concept. This is a significant obstacle for people trying to learn WPF. Solis literally draws you the "big picture" and shows you how the WPF pieces fit together visually. This is particularly evident in Solis's explanation of dependency properties and WPF commands, which are missing, glossed over or undecipherable in other books.

This book is an ideal complement to Microsoft's online documentation and other reference manuals. I use Solis's illustrations to trace what the documentation is trying to say. I've had a number of "ah-ha, I now see what that means" moments while studying the illustrations.

I often download code samples to see how other programmers have implemented a particular WPF feature. Samples from Microsoft tech evangelists or WPF Disciples are among my favorites. Unfortunately, samples by experts frequently have a snippet or two of arcane WPF usage, such as data binding, templates or animation in Xaml. Solis's book has helped me quickly unravel those code snippets without plowing through a whole chapter of another book.

Finally, if you liked Solis's "Illustrated C# 2008 (Windows.Net)" book you will definitely see that "Illustrated WPF" has the same approach and high value. I highly recommend both of them.


Evan Lim
10 December, 2009