Place storyboard in application resources

Question

I need to use the same storyboard in several places therefore I placed the storyboard inside my Application.Resources . When I try to execute the storyboard the only problem is that I need to reference the target that I want to animate. Here is my storyboard:

    <System:String x:Key="target">border2</System:String>
    <Storyboard x:Key="stHeight">
        <DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames 
            Storyboard.TargetProperty="(FrameworkElement.Height)" 
            Storyboard.TargetName="{DynamicResource target}"> 
            <EasingDoubleKeyFrame KeyTime="0:0:1" Value="90">
                <EasingDoubleKeyFrame.EasingFunction>
                    <CircleEase EasingMode="EaseOut"/>
                </EasingDoubleKeyFrame.EasingFunction>
            </EasingDoubleKeyFrame>
        </DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
    </Storyboard>

the way I animate a different object's height is by changing the dynamic resource target. I was able to do so when the storyboard was in the current window. But now that I want to place it in the application resources I don't know how to reference the target property.

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EDIT

The solution that I posted earlier works nice but sometimes it is hard to create complex animations with code. so another alternate solution that I worked out was to create the storyboard with expression blend. so I drag a random control to the main window in expression blend and create a random animation. let's say the animation comes out as:

         <Storyboard x:Key="Storyboard1">
            <DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetProperty="(UIElement.RenderTransform).(TransformGroup.Children)[3].(TranslateTransform.X)" Storyboard.TargetName="grid">
                <EasingDoubleKeyFrame KeyTime="0:0:1" Value="90"/>
            </DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
            <DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetProperty="(UIElement.RenderTransform).(TransformGroup.Children)[3].(TranslateTransform.Y)" Storyboard.TargetName="grid">
                <EasingDoubleKeyFrame KeyTime="0:0:1" Value="103"/>
            </DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
            <PointAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetProperty="(UIElement.RenderTransformOrigin)" Storyboard.TargetName="grid">
                <EasingPointKeyFrame KeyTime="0:0:1" Value="0.75,0.5"/>
            </PointAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
            <DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetProperty="(UIElement.RenderTransform).(TransformGroup.Children)[2].(RotateTransform.Angle)" Storyboard.TargetName="grid">
                <EasingDoubleKeyFrame KeyTime="0:0:1" Value="75"/>
            </DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
        </Storyboard>

then I copy that code and paste it in on my working window NOT IN THE APP.XAML.

and then in my code let's say I have a:

<Border Name="brdBorder" BorderBrush="Silver" BorderThickness="1" Margin="328,104,0,0"  Background="#FFE52E2E" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Width="94" Height="100" VerticalAlignment="Top" >
    <Border.RenderTransform>
        <TransformGroup>
            <ScaleTransform/>
            <SkewTransform/>
            <RotateTransform/>
            <TranslateTransform/>
        </TransformGroup>
    </Border.RenderTransform>
</Border>

for some reason the transform group has to be there in order to animate the object. anyways so let's say that I have that boarder in my working window and I want to animate it with the same animation that I created with expression blend. what I will do in code is:

Storyboard sb1 = FindResource("Storyboard1") as Storyboard;

foreach (var child in sb1.Children)
{
    Storyboard.SetTargetName(child, brdBorder.Name);
}

sb1.Begin(this);

and then I am able to animate that border on my working window. The nice part of this is that I am able to apply the same animation to multiple objects (that is the purpose of creating a resource I think) the problem comes when I try to place the storyboard in a resource dictionary or in the app.xaml file. when I do that, c# is able to find the storyboard but the properties of the storyboard are read only therefore I get the error:

Cannot set a property on object 'System.Windows.Media.Animation.DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames' because it is in a read-only state.

---

The reason why I wanted to do this is to apply the same animation to multiple objects. A work around solution was to build the basic animation with code and then the more complex animation such as the easing function etc save it as a resource. Let me show you what I mean.

In my resources file I placed the following resource:

   <EasingDoubleKeyFrame x:Key="pleaseWork">
        <EasingDoubleKeyFrame.EasingFunction >
            <BackEase EasingMode="EaseOut" Amplitude="1"/>
        </EasingDoubleKeyFrame.EasingFunction>
    </EasingDoubleKeyFrame>

In expresion blend you can build a more complex ease function. Then with code behind I will create a basic storyboard:

DoubleAnimation animation = new DoubleAnimation();
            animation.To = 336;   // final value
            //animation.From = 0;
            //animation.BeginTime = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(0); 
            animation.Duration = new Duration(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(5)); // how much time should animation last
            // here comes the magic:
            // note that I can bind to EasingDoubleKeyFrame in my resource file in xaml
            animation.EasingFunction = ((EasingDoubleKeyFrame)FindResource("pleaseWork")).EasingFunction; // apply the easing function 
            Storyboard.SetTarget(animation, groupBox1);  // what object will be animated?
            Storyboard.SetTargetProperty(animation, new PropertyPath(FrameworkElement.HeightProperty)); // what property will be animated

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

This enabled me to use the same storyboard on multiple objects.

Answer 1

You do not need to reference the target anywhere, you can just create one locally, this is one of the great features of dynamic resource lookup, e.g.

<!-- No more target here! -->
<Application.Resources>
    <Storyboard x:Key="SB_Height" x:Shared="False">
        <DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetProperty="(FrameworkElement.Height)"
                Storyboard.TargetName="{DynamicResource AnimationTarget}">
            <EasingDoubleKeyFrame KeyTime="0:0:1" Value="90">
                <EasingDoubleKeyFrame.EasingFunction>
                    <CircleEase EasingMode="EaseOut" />
                </EasingDoubleKeyFrame.EasingFunction>
            </EasingDoubleKeyFrame>
        </DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
    </Storyboard>
</Application.Resources>

<!-- Somewhere else... -->
<Button Name="mybutton" Content="Test" Height="20">
    <Button.Resources>
        <sys:String x:Key="AnimationTarget">mybutton</sys:String>
    </Button.Resources>
    <Button.Triggers>
        <EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Button.Click">
            <BeginStoryboard Storyboard="{StaticResource SB_Height}"/>
        </EventTrigger>
    </Button.Triggers>
</Button>