UWP Development, Order of Style Application and Scope of Application

The Universal Windows Platform (UWP) is a framework for developing applications that run on the Windows 10 operating system. With UWP, developers can provide a consistent user experience across various devices. In this article, we will take a closer look at an important topic in UWP development: ‘The Order and Scope of Style Application.’

1. Overview of UWP Styling

In UWP, styles determine the visual representation of UI elements. Using styles helps to adjust the appearance of controls and create a consistent design. Styles are primarily defined in XAML and can be applied in various ways.

2. Order of Style Application

In UWP, styles are applied in a defined order. This order is very important. When applying styles, the following order should be considered:

  1. Control Defaults: All controls in UWP have a default style. This default style is applied differently based on the built-in themes in UWP.
  2. Local Styles: Styles defined locally take precedence over default styles. These styles can be applied only to specific pages or controls.
  3. Styles Defined in Application Resources: Styles used globally across the application are defined in the resource dictionary (e.g., App.xaml). These styles provide consistency across the application.
  4. Theme-based Styles: Windows provides several color themes, including dark mode and light mode. These theme styles are applied based on the currently selected theme.

3. Scope of Style Application

In UWP, styles can be applied in various scopes.

  • Global App: Styles that can be used throughout the application can be defined in the ResourceDictionary of the App.xaml file.
  • Page-level: Styles for use within individual pages can be defined. This applies only to the UI elements of a specific page.
  • Control-level: Styles can be applied only to specific UI controls. In this case, the style is defined directly within the XAML of that control.

4. Example: Defining and Applying Styles

Below is an example of defining a simple style that can be applied to an Edit Box and a Button.

<Application.Resources>
    <Style x:Key="MyButtonStyle" TargetType="Button">
        <Setter Property="Background" Value="DodgerBlue"/>
        <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="White"/>
        <Setter Property="Padding" Value="10,5"/>
        <Setter Property="FontSize" Value="16"/>
        <Setter Property="BorderBrush" Value="Transparent"/>
        <Setter Property="BorderThickness" Value="2"/>
        <Setter Property="CornerRadius" Value="5"/>
    </Style>

    <Style x:Key="MyTextBoxStyle" TargetType="TextBox">
        <Setter Property="Background" Value="WhiteSmoke"/>
        <Setter Property="BorderBrush" Value="LightGray"/>
        <Setter Property="BorderThickness" Value="1"/>
        <Setter Property="Padding" Value="8"/>
        <Setter Property="FontSize" Value="14"/>
    </Style>
</Application.Resources>

The above code defines two styles. MyButtonStyle is a style for a button, and MyTextBoxStyle is a style for a text box. These styles are defined in Application.Resources for global use.

5. Example of Style Application

Here is how to apply the defined styles to UI elements:

<Grid>
    <Button Style="{StaticResource MyButtonStyle}" Content="Click Me"/>
    <TextBox Style="{StaticResource MyTextBoxStyle}" PlaceholderText="Enter text"/>
</Grid>

This code creates a Button and a TextBox with applied styles within a grid layout. The button uses MyButtonStyle, while the text box uses MyTextBoxStyle.

6. Conclusion

In UWP development, styles play an important role in creating a consistent user interface and enhancing branding. By understanding the order and scope of style application, developers can create more flexible and maintainable applications. If you gain real development experience through the style definitions and application methods discussed above, your UWP applications will be significantly improved.

We will continue to cover UWP development topics, sharing various styling techniques and best practices. Thank you!