How do I style Buttons

Question

My UX designer handed me these, and I don't know where to start on styling my WPF application. Any help would be appreciated. Perhaps an example for one that I can extend for the other two.

These would be standard buttons in all other respects except the visual display. I don't think I need to implement a custom control.

Answer 1

The MSDN documentation on Button Styles will probably be of help to you. It gives an example of a WPF Button Template that you should be able to edit to your requirements. You can put the Xaml in Windows.Resources if the style is only going to be used on that Form, or you can edit the Application.xaml file and put the Style information in the Application.Resources Section if it it is to be used for the entire application.

---

Modified above style link to give you an example:

<Application x:Class="Application"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
StartupUri="MainWindow.xaml">
    <Application.Resources>
        <!--Control colors.-->
        <Color x:Key="ControlNormalColor">#FFC0C0CE</Color>
        <Color x:Key="ControlMouseOverColor">#FFAFA3B9</Color>
        <Color x:Key="DisabledControlColor">#FFF2F2F2</Color>
        <Color x:Key="DisabledForegroundColor">#FFBFBFBF</Color>
        <Color x:Key="ControlPressedColor">#FF211AA9</Color>

        <!-- FocusVisual -->

        <Style x:Key="ButtonFocusVisual">
            <Setter Property="Control.Template">
                <Setter.Value>
                    <ControlTemplate>
                        <Border>
                            <Rectangle Margin="2" StrokeThickness="1" Stroke="#60000000" StrokeDashArray="1 2" />
                        </Border>
                    </ControlTemplate>
                </Setter.Value>
            </Setter>
        </Style>

        <!-- Button -->
        <Style TargetType="Button">
            <Setter Property="SnapsToDevicePixels" Value="true" />
            <Setter Property="OverridesDefaultStyle" Value="true" />
            <Setter Property="FocusVisualStyle" Value="{StaticResource ButtonFocusVisual}" />
            <Setter Property="MinHeight" Value="29px" />
            <Setter Property="MinWidth"  Value="103px" />
            <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="#FFFFFFFF" />
            <Setter Property="Template">
                <Setter.Value>
                    <ControlTemplate TargetType="Button">
                        <Border TextBlock.Foreground="{TemplateBinding Foreground}" x:Name="Border">
                            <Border.Background>
                                <SolidColorBrush  Color="{DynamicResource ControlNormalColor}" />
                            </Border.Background>
                            <VisualStateManager.VisualStateGroups>
                                <VisualStateGroup x:Name="CommonStates">
                                    <VisualStateGroup.Transitions>
                                        <VisualTransition GeneratedDuration="0:0:0.5" />
                                        <VisualTransition GeneratedDuration="0" To="Pressed" />
                                    </VisualStateGroup.Transitions>
                                    <VisualState x:Name="Normal" />
                                    <VisualState x:Name="MouseOver">
                                        <Storyboard>
                                            <ColorAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetProperty="(Panel.Background).(SolidColorBrush.Color)"
                                                Storyboard.TargetName="Border">
                                                <EasingColorKeyFrame KeyTime="0" Value="{StaticResource ControlMouseOverColor}" />
                                            </ColorAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
                                        </Storyboard>
                                    </VisualState>
                                    <VisualState x:Name="Pressed">
                                        <Storyboard>
                                            <ColorAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetProperty="(Panel.Background).(SolidColorBrush.Color)"
                                                Storyboard.TargetName="Border">
                                                <EasingColorKeyFrame KeyTime="0" Value="{StaticResource ControlPressedColor}" />
                                            </ColorAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
                                        </Storyboard>
                                    </VisualState>
                                    <VisualState x:Name="Disabled">
                                        <Storyboard>
                                            <ColorAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetProperty="(Panel.Background).(SolidColorBrush.Color)"
                                                Storyboard.TargetName="Border">
                                                <EasingColorKeyFrame KeyTime="0" Value="{StaticResource DisabledControlColor}" />
                                            </ColorAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
                                            <ColorAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetProperty="(TextBlock.Foreground).(SolidColorBrush.Color)"
                                                Storyboard.TargetName="Border">
                                                <EasingColorKeyFrame KeyTime="0" Value="{StaticResource DisabledForegroundColor}" />
                                            </ColorAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
                                        </Storyboard>
                                    </VisualState>
                                </VisualStateGroup>
                            </VisualStateManager.VisualStateGroups>
                            <ContentPresenter Margin="2"
                            HorizontalAlignment="Center"
                            VerticalAlignment="Center"
                            RecognizesAccessKey="True" />
                        </Border>
                    </ControlTemplate>
                </Setter.Value>
            </Setter>
        </Style>

    </Application.Resources>
</Application>

Answer 2

Use styles to customize your UI controls.

See the following links for examples:

http://wpftutorial.net/Styles.html

http://geekswithblogs.net/cskardon/archive/2008/06/20/roundedbutton-button-style-wpf.aspx

http://gregandora.wordpress.com/2011/02/06/wpf-minimal-button-styling/