If you have ever created images or designed graphics and
graphical web sites, you must be familiar with Fireworks, Photoshop and other
graphics designer tools. Recently, Microsoft launched a new product called
Microsoft Expression, which allows developers to create interactive graphics and
much more.
Now you may be wondering, how come I have stopped coding
and started working with a graphics tool? Well, the best part of Microsoft
Expression is it supports XAML. What does that mean? It means, I can create my
graphics using the designer and in the background, the designer generates XAML
code for me. Neat. Huh?
Download and Installation
You can download a free community version of Expression
tools from the following site:
http://www.microsoft.com/products/expression/en/default.mspx
Microsoft Expression Versions
Microsoft Expression comes in three flavors - Graphics
Designer, Interactive Designer, and Web Designer.
Figure 1. Microsoft Expression Versions
Here are the definitions of these versions with their
differences:
Microsoft Expression Graphic Designer brings together
the best of vector and pixel-based capabilities, letting you explore new
creative and cutting edge possibilities.
Microsoft Expression Interactive Designer helps you
create streamlined, innovative and just plain beautiful applications. Users
experience increased satisfaction, while you develop in a flexible, productive
environment.
Microsoft Expression Web Designer gives you all the
powerful tools you'll need to produce high-quality, standard-based Web sites the
way you want them. Take advantage of the best of dynamic Web site design,
enabling you to design, develop, and maintain exceptional standards-based Web
sites.
Put it to Work
I downloaded the Interactive Designer and after
installing, when you launch the tool, you will see Figure 2, where you can
select from installed samples, click on User Guilde, Tutorials, and Online
Community.
Figure 2.
Clicking on Tutorials launches the help document. As you
can see from Figure 3, you direct goes to the tutorials galary.
Figure 3.
So now you can drag drawing objects from the Tools to
the Design area and change colors and so on. See Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Now here comes the good part. If you click on XAML Code
tab, you will see Figure 5. As you can see, here is our XAML code. Now you can
even take this XAML code and use in your Avalon applications.
Figure 5.
The editor is still missing the color coding, auto
intellisense and other features but I am sure these will be added in the next
versions of the product.
Summary
This article was an introduction to Microsoft Expression
tools. The article discussed where to download the tool, it's versions, and how
to create simple graphics in it. If you do not have Visual Studio 2005, you may
want to try this tool to learn XAML programming.