Interaction panel
The Interaction panel in Microsoft Expression Blend 2 helps you do the following tasks:
View the hierarchical structure of all objects on the artboard. For more information, see the Objects and properties overview.
Select objects so that you can modify them (move them around in the structure, modify them on the artboard, set their properties in the Properties panel, and so on). For more information, see Working with objects and properties, Layout, and Appearance.
Create and modify animation timelines. For more information, see Animation overview.
Create and modify templates for objects that are controls (Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Silverlight 2 projects only). For more information, see Style and template overview.
Create and modify triggers for selected objects (WPF projects only). For more information, see Triggers overview. A similar feature named States is available in Silverlight 2 projects. For more information, see Modify the appearance of a system control in different states.
The Interaction panel as it appears when you view the Animation workspace (F6) of a WPF project in Expression Blend 2—a timeline named FlyIn is selected
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Triggers
Note
The Triggers panel is not available in Microsoft Silverlight 1.0 or Silverlight 2projects. In Silverlight 1.0 projects, triggers are programmed using event handlers in code-behind files. For an example, see the Create a Silverlight 1.0 site that has interactivity quick start. In Silverlight 2 projects, a similar feature called States is available. For more information, see Modify the appearance of a system control in different states.
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List of triggers pertaining to the selected scope of the application (in this case, the main document scope). The Window.Loaded trigger is selected to view the related actions below. |
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List of actions that are related to the selected trigger. The Window.Loaded trigger has only one action. |
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Values of the action for the selected trigger. |
Objects and Timeline
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Objects view Shows the visual tree of a document. The hierarchical nature of the objects view lets you drill down to varying levels of detail. Layers can be added to the objects view to further organize the objects on the artboard, allowing them to be locked and hidden as a group. The width of the objects view can be adjusted by dragging the splitter to the left of the lock column to the desired width. |
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Record mode indicator Indicates when you are recording property changes in a timeline. |
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Storyboard picker See a list of storyboards you have created. |
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Storyboard options When a storyboard is selected, you can use this pop-up menu to duplicate, reverse, delete, rename, or close the storyboard. You can also create a new storyboard. |
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Playback controls These controls let you control storyboard playback and navigate through the timeline. You can also drag the playhead to navigate through (or scrub) the timeline. |
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Scope up Scopes the objects view back to the previous root element or previous scope. Scoping up is applicable only to objects with parent elements, such as when you change the style or template of a control. .gif "Note") Note:
Styles and templates are not available when you work with a Microsoft Silverlight 1.0 project.
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Record a keyframe Records a snapshot of the properties of the selected object at the current point in time. |
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Show/hide, Lock/unlock Visibility and locking for the objects view. |
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Playhead position on the timeline Shows the current time in milliseconds (HH:mm:xxx). You can also enter a time value directly in this field to jump to a particular point in time. The precision depends on the snap resolution set in the Snapping Options. |
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Timeline snapping options When timeline snapping is enabled, the next and previous frame buttons respect the snap resolution set in the Snap Resolution dialog box. The snap resolution also determines where on the timeline a keyframe can be set. |
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Playhead Indicates what point in time the animation is at. You can drag the playhead across the timeline to preview animation. This technique is called scrubbing. |
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Keyframes set on timelines Keyframes have different levels. The keyframes set for the Angle element are simple keyframes, the keyframes set for the RenderTransform element are compound keyframes, and the keyframes set for the Details object are object-level keyframes. For more information about keyframes, see "Keyframes" under Animation overview. |
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Change order of objects Sets the display order of objects. Click this button to arrange elements in the structure view by Z order (front-to-back) or by markup order (the order in which they appear in XAML view). |
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Timeline zoom Sets the zoom resolution of the timeline. Zooming in lets you edit an animation with more detail, and zooming out shows more of an overview of what is happening over longer periods of time. If you zoom in but cannot set a keyframe at the position in time that you want, verify that the snap resolution is set high enough. |
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Timeline composition area Shows the timeline, and lets you move keyframes around by dragging them or using their context menus. |