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.
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.
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