Animation using the UIThread

Some of the animations (SplitBrTextBoxStyle & SlideBrTextBoxStyle) requires the UIThread for to create the visual transition through animation. For this these the two styles will have the Property EnableDependentAnimation="True" in some of their animations.

This means the animation will use the UIThread rather than the compositor to animate the value change in the properties.

This is done because e.g. the width / height because these properties can't be visually transformed without the UIThread redrawing the control for each frame of the animation.

Ultimately the use of UIThread for animations can lead to a decrease in UI performance while animating and should be avoided at all costs unless you have no other option.

Final words

Creating the control was rather fun and there's a lot of unexplored possibilities. The control as it is right now doesn't contain any other visual states other than Collapse and Expanded. For the same reason it's not ready for a production environment but was created to give you a general idea of the possibilities.

Feel free to reach out to me with your thoughts on the control and the styles. I'd love to hear from you in the comments.

/Deani

P.S Make sure you follow me on twitter @deanihansen for more news, design tips, articles and how-to's.