Article
11/18/2011

VisualState Class

Microsoft Silverlight will reach end of support after October 2021. Learn more.

Represents the visual appearance of the control when it is in a specific state.

Inheritance Hierarchy

System.Object
System.Windows.DependencyObject
System.Windows.VisualState

Namespace: System.Windows
Assembly: System.Windows (in System.Windows.dll)

Syntax

'Declaration
<ContentPropertyAttribute("Storyboard", True)> _
Public NotInheritable Class VisualState _
    Inherits DependencyObject

[ContentPropertyAttribute("Storyboard", true)]
public sealed class VisualState : DependencyObject

<VisualState .../>

The VisualState type exposes the following members.

Constructors

	Name	Description
	VisualState	Initializes a new instance of the VisualState class.

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Properties

	Name	Description
	Dispatcher	Gets the Dispatcher this object is associated with. (Inherited from DependencyObject.)
	Name	Gets the name of the VisualState.
	Storyboard	Gets or sets a Storyboard that defines the appearance of the control when it is the state that is represented by the VisualState.

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Methods

	Name	Description
	CheckAccess	Determines whether the calling thread has access to this object. (Inherited from DependencyObject.)
	ClearValue	Clears the local value of a dependency property. (Inherited from DependencyObject.)
	Equals(Object)	Determines whether the specified Object is equal to the current Object. (Inherited from Object.)
	Finalize	Allows an object to try to free resources and perform other cleanup operations before the Object is reclaimed by garbage collection. (Inherited from Object.)
	GetAnimationBaseValue	Returns any base value established for a Silverlight dependency property, which would apply in cases where an animation is not active. (Inherited from DependencyObject.)
	GetHashCode	Serves as a hash function for a particular type. (Inherited from Object.)
	GetType	Gets the Type of the current instance. (Inherited from Object.)
	GetValue	Returns the current effective value of a dependency property from a DependencyObject. (Inherited from DependencyObject.)
	MemberwiseClone	Creates a shallow copy of the current Object. (Inherited from Object.)
	ReadLocalValue	Returns the local value of a dependency property, if a local value is set. (Inherited from DependencyObject.)
	SetValue	Sets the local value of a dependency property on a DependencyObject. (Inherited from DependencyObject.)
	ToString	Returns a string that represents the current object. (Inherited from Object.)

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Remarks

A VisualState specifies how the control looks when it is in a certain state. For example, when a Button is pressed, its border might be a different color than normal. The VisualState class has a Storyboard property that changes the appearance of the control. When the control enters the state that is specified by the VisualState.Name property, the Storyboard begins. When the control exits the state, the Storyboard stops.

The VisualStateGroup.States property contains VisualState objects. VisualStateGroup objects are added to the VisualStateManager.VisualStateGroups and are defined in the control's ControlTemplate. For information about how to create a ControlTemplate and VisualState objects for existing controls, see Customizing the Appearance of an Existing Control by Using a ControlTemplate.

Control authors use the VisualStateManager to transition between states by passing the name of VisualState objects to the GoToState method.

Examples

The following example creates a VisualStateGroup in the ControlTemplate of a Button called CommonStates and adds VisualState objects for the states, Normal, Pressed, and MouseOver. The Button also defines a state called Disabled that is in the CommonStatesVisualStateGroup, but the example omits it for brevity. For the entire example, see Customizing the Appearance of an Existing Control by Using a ControlTemplate.

Version Information

Silverlight

Supported in: 5, 4, 3

Silverlight for Windows Phone

Supported in: Windows Phone OS 7.1, Windows Phone OS 7.0

Platforms

For a list of the operating systems and browsers that are supported by Silverlight, see Supported Operating Systems and Browsers.

Thread Safety

Any public static (Shared in Visual Basic) members of this type are thread safe. Any instance members are not guaranteed to be thread safe.

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