Using Expression Blend 2.5 from the March preview release for a few weeks now I have learned a handful of tricks/features that are not life-changing but definitely useful to know or at least notice. Here is my list:
Changing Options
Changing Options
The tips in this section can be accessed by going into the Tools > Options Menu
Default Document View
The default Expression Blend document window view is "Design View". I for one like the Split view much better and prefer it as the default option. Using the Document settings tab you can configure the default selection for opened windows making it less annoying having to switch each time.
Changing UI Theme
By default a very dark theme is used in Blend but an additional option is built in that can lighten things up.
Under the Workspace menu the Theme selector lets you choose between the Dark or Light theme.
As you can see in the screenshots below the difference is subtle but I find the Light Theme much more pleasant on the eyes.
| Dark Theme | Light Theme |
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Toolbar
Asset Library
The Asset Library button (arrow-like button in the toolbar) can be a little confusing to use at first when your not used to its display view.
In these screenshots tabs like System Controls, Media or Custom Controls almost look like explorer column filters but they are actually Tabs.
As an example the Custom Controls are located under the Custom Controls tabs so use these tabs as filters to find the right controls or items you want to drag into the design surface.
Properties & Events
Properties Search
I really have to give the creator of Expression Blend credit here. This is a small feature but makes a big productivity boost (and I hope its implemented into VS 2008 service packs or future versions)
Using the Search box you can filter down your proprieties to the exact item your looking for, this is very helpful and wont require you to search open/close various sections just to find what you need.
In the example above I use the word "Font" to filter down all the Font related properties. Works great!
Creating Events
Since Expression Blends works on top of a Visual Studio projects controls have the concept of events and their names can be assigned directly from Blend interface.
To get into this menu go to the properties window and click on the icon with a yellow thunderbolt as shown below on the right.
In the above screenshot if I typed in the name TextBoxControl_GotFocus (or any other name) into the GotFocus field it would add the appropriate code-behind event placeholder.
Note: If you did not create a code-behind file for your XAML page this wont work and result in an error.
