Is Databinding or TemplateBinding supported within the VisualStateManager?

Question

I am trying to delay an animation of a custom control based on a binding value. In the example below, I’d like the animation to start 5 seconds after the “SelectedAndHit” visual state is selected. However, it doesn’t seem possible to use template binding within the VisualStateManage.

Is TemplateBinding supported within the VisualStateManager? Is there any workaround?

<local:ButtonEx x:Name="Button01" AnimationBeginTime="00:00:05" />

public TimeSpan AnimationBeginTime
{
    get { return (TimeSpan)base.GetValue(ButtonEx.AnimationBeginTimeProperty); }
    set { base.SetValue(ButtonEx.AnimationBeginTimeProperty, value); }
}

public static readonly DependencyProperty AnimationBeginTimeProperty =
   DependencyProperty.Register("AnimationBeginTime", typeof(TimeSpan), typeof(ButtonEx), new PropertyMetadata(TimeSpan.Zero));

<Style TargetType="local:ButtonEx">
    <!-- ... -->

    <Setter Property="Template">
        <Setter.Value>
            <ControlTemplate TargetType="local:ButtonEx">
                <Grid x:Name="Container" RenderTransformOrigin="0.5, 0.5">
                    <VisualStateManager.VisualStateGroups>
                        <VisualStateGroup x:Name="CommonStates">
                            <VisualState x:Name="Normal" />
                            <VisualState x:Name="SelectedAndHit">
                                <Storyboard>
                                    <ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetName="Border" 
                                                                   Storyboard.TargetProperty="Background">
                                        <DiscreteObjectKeyFrame KeyTime="0" Value="{ThemeResource ButtonBackgroundColorSelectedAndHit}" />
                                    </ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames>

                                    <Storyboard>
                                        <DoubleAnimation
                                            Storyboard.TargetName="GridScaleTransform"
                                            Storyboard.TargetProperty="(ScaleTransform.ScaleX)"
                                            To="1.2" BeginTime="{TemplateBinding AnimationBeginTime}" Duration="00:00:00.300" AutoReverse="True">
                                            <DoubleAnimation.EasingFunction>
                                                <ExponentialEase EasingMode="EaseIn" />
                                            </DoubleAnimation.EasingFunction>
                                        </DoubleAnimation>

                                        <DoubleAnimation
                                            Storyboard.TargetName="GridScaleTransform"
                                            Storyboard.TargetProperty="(ScaleTransform.ScaleY)"
                                            To="1.2" BeginTime="{TemplateBinding AnimationBeginTime}" Duration="00:00:00.300" AutoReverse="True">
                                            <DoubleAnimation.EasingFunction>
                                                <ExponentialEase EasingMode="EaseIn" />
                                            </DoubleAnimation.EasingFunction>
                                       </DoubleAnimation>
                                    </Storyboard>
                                </Storyboard>
                            </VisualState>

                        </VisualStateGroup>
                    </VisualStateManager.VisualStateGroups>

                    <Grid.RenderTransform>
                        <ScaleTransform x:Name="GridScaleTransform" />
                    </Grid.RenderTransform>

                    <!-- ... -->
                </Grid>
            </ControlTemplate>
        </Setter.Value>
    </Setter>
</Style>

Answer 1

I confirm that WinRT doesn't support Binding/TemplateBinding within a style. To workaround the issue I wrote code to manually update the BeginTime of the Storyboard. That way I had full control on when the Storyboard begins.