WPF Carousel Panel Control

Click here to watch the WPF animated content container control video. (Duration: 1:33)

Revolutionary in its user interface, the xamCarouselPanel™ control for Windows® Presentation Foundation (WPF) provides a powerful tool for creating uniquely interactive presentations to developers and designers alike. It lays out and navigates through its contents as if they were on a revolving carousel or conveyor belt, while taking full advantage of WPF's enhanced rendering capabilities for polished effects like reflection and transparency. Where the carousel panel shines is when your users could get more value from focusing on one or a few objects in a sequence and seeing nearby objects in perspective.

 

Animated Path Enhances User Perspective

Objects swing into the user's central focus along an animated path or continuous circuit and can then recede away naturally into the background to reflect the user's shifting attention. Special visual effects can be placed along the customizable path you have prescribed to give users a sense of three-dimensional perspective in defiance of the confines of their two-dimensional display. For example, you can make objects appear larger when they are in the forefront, and smaller as they move farther away until they ultimately vanish from sight.

 

Extensible Foundation for Carousel Behavior

Designed as a container control, you benefit from an easily employed extensibility model: any objects you place into the xamCarouselPanel immediately take advantage of its carousel-like qualities for navigation and layout. We found the carousel functionality so fundamental to WPF applications that several of our other UI controls like the xamCarouselListBox™ and xamDataCarousel™ have been built based on the xamCarouselPanel's capabilities. You can leverage your skills from working with xamCarouselPanel in these other controls when tackling more specialized scenarios.

 

Features at a Glance

  • Carousel behavior – xamCarouselPanel presents users with a linear sequence of objects that follow your choice of a path or continuous circuit.
  • Navigation model – xamCarouselPanel allows users to navigate by using a four-button navigational sub-element--the Carousel Panel Navigator--which you can completely customize.
  • Stunning effects – xamCarouselPanel can create a sense of depth or motion by applying visual effects to affect the transparency, scale, and skew of objects as they move into and out of a user's focus.
  • Item reflections – xamCarouselPanel optionally paints a partial reflection of an object beneath it to give the display area the feel of a glossy or reflective surface.
  • Microsoft Expression® Blend integration – xamCarouselPanel integrates seamlessly into the Blend environment and supports paths prescribed using the Blend ArtBoard.