How to trigger a wpf animation only if the mouse hovers for a long time?

Question

I am new to WPF animation.

I have a wpf application with 4 buttons. The 4 buttons have animations where the opacity of the button changes from 0.0 to 1.0 which gets triggered when the mouse hovers over that button.

The problem I am facing is that, even if the mouse slides over other buttons for a fraction of a second, the animations for those buttons are getting triggered.

Is there any way where I can trigger the animation only if the mouse stays on a button for a minimum of one second?

<Grid>
    <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
        <ColumnDefinition Width="2*"/>
        <ColumnDefinition Width="22.5*"/>
        <ColumnDefinition Width="2*"/>
        <ColumnDefinition Width="22.5*"/>
        <ColumnDefinition Width="2*"/>
        <ColumnDefinition Width="22.5*"/>
        <ColumnDefinition Width="2*"/>
        <ColumnDefinition Width="22.5*"/>
        <ColumnDefinition Width="2*"/>
    </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
    <Button x:Name="Button1" Grid.Column="1" Content="Button 1">
        <Button.Triggers>
            <EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Button.MouseEnter">
                <BeginStoryboard>
                    <Storyboard>
                        <DoubleAnimation From="0.0" To="1.0" Storyboard.TargetProperty="Opacity" Storyboard.TargetName="Button1" Duration="0:0:1"></DoubleAnimation>
                    </Storyboard>
                </BeginStoryboard>
            </EventTrigger>
        </Button.Triggers>
    </Button>
    <Button x:Name="Button2" Grid.Column="3" Content="Button2">
        <Button.Triggers>
            <EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Button.MouseEnter">
                <BeginStoryboard>
                    <Storyboard>
                        <DoubleAnimation From="0.0" To="1.0" Storyboard.TargetProperty="Opacity" Storyboard.TargetName="Button2" Duration="0:0:1"></DoubleAnimation>
                    </Storyboard>
                </BeginStoryboard>
            </EventTrigger>
        </Button.Triggers>
    </Button>
    <Button x:Name="Button3" Grid.Column="5" Content="Button 3">
        <Button.Triggers>
            <EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Button.MouseEnter">
                <BeginStoryboard>
                    <Storyboard>
                        <DoubleAnimation From="0.0" To="1.0" Storyboard.TargetProperty="Opacity" Storyboard.TargetName="Button3" Duration="0:0:1"></DoubleAnimation>
                    </Storyboard>
                </BeginStoryboard>
            </EventTrigger>
        </Button.Triggers>
    </Button>

    <Button x:Name="Button4" Grid.Column="7" Content="Button 4">
        <Button.Triggers>
            <EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Button.MouseEnter">
                <BeginStoryboard>
                    <Storyboard>
                        <DoubleAnimation From="0.0" To="1.0" Storyboard.TargetProperty="Opacity" Storyboard.TargetName="Button4" Duration="0:0:1"></DoubleAnimation>
                    </Storyboard>
                    </BeginStoryboard>
                </EventTrigger>
            </Button.Triggers>
    </Button>
    </Grid>

Thanks in Advance

Answer 1

I don't think this is something you can do in XAML. In code it would look something like this:

XAML

<Button Width="50" Height="50" Name="MyButton"> </Button>

CODE

public partial class MainWindow : Window
    {
        private DispatcherTimer timer;
        private DoubleAnimation animation;
        private Storyboard sb;

        public MainWindow()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            timer = new DispatcherTimer();
            timer.Interval = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1);
            timer.Tick += timer_Tick;

            MyButton.MouseEnter += (sender, e) =>
                {
                    timer.Start();
                };

            MyButton.MouseLeave += (sender, e) =>
                {
                    timer.Stop();
                };

            animation = new DoubleAnimation();
            animation.From = 1;
            animation.To = 0;
            animation.Duration = new Duration(TimeSpan.FromMilliseconds(1000));

            Storyboard.SetTarget(animation, MyButton);
            Storyboard.SetTargetProperty( animation, new PropertyPath(OpacityProperty));

            sb = new Storyboard();
            sb.Children.Add(animation);
        }

        private void timer_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            timer.Stop();
            sb.Begin();
        }
    }

Answer 2

Use BeginTime property and set it accordingly.

            <EventTrigger RoutedEvent="ButtonBase.MouseEnter">
                <BeginStoryboard x:Name="Sb">
                    <Storyboard>
                        <DoubleAnimation 
                               From="0" 
                               To="1" 
                               BeginTime="00:00:5"
                               Duration="00:00:5"                                   
                               Storyboard.TargetProperty="Opacity"/>
                    </Storyboard>
                </BeginStoryboard>
            </EventTrigger>
            <EventTrigger RoutedEvent="ButtonBase.MouseLeave">
                <StopStoryboard BeginStoryboardName="Sb"/>
            </EventTrigger>