How to: Repeat an Animation

This example shows how to use the RepeatBehavior property of a Timeline in order to control the repeat behavior of an animation.

Example

The RepeatBehavior property of a Timeline controls how many times an animation repeats its simple duration. By using RepeatBehavior, you can specify that a Timeline repeats for a certain number of times (an iteration count) or for a specified time period. In either case, the animation goes through as many beginning-to-end runs that it needs in order to fill the requested count or duration.

By default, timelines have a repeat count of 1.0, which means they play one time and do not repeat. However, if you set the RepeatBehavior property of a Timeline to Forever, the timeline repeats indefinitely.

The following example shows how to use the RepeatBehavior property to control the repeat behavior of an animation. The example animates the Width property of five rectangles with each rectangle using a different type of repeat behavior.

<!-- RepeatBehaviorExample.xaml
     This example shows how to use the RepeatBehavior property to make a timeline repeat. -->
<Page 
  xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" 
  xmlns:x="https://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
  WindowTitle="RepeatBehavior Example">
  
  <Border HorizontalAlignment="Stretch">
    <StackPanel Margin="20">

      <!-- Create several rectangles to animate. -->
      <Rectangle Name="ForeverRepeatingRectangle" 
        Fill="Orange" Width="50" Height="20" />
      <Rectangle Name="FourSecondsRepeatingRectangle" 
        Fill="Orange" Width="50" Height="20" />
      <Rectangle Name="TwiceRepeatingRectangle" 
        Fill="Orange" Width="50" Height="20" />
      <Rectangle Name="HalfRepeatingRectangle" 
        Fill="Orange" Width="50" Height="20" />
      <Rectangle Name="OneSecondRepeatingRectangle" 
        Fill="Orange" Width="50" Height="20" />

    
      <!-- Create buttons to restart and stop the animations. -->
      <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" Margin="0,20,0,0">
        <Button Name="restartButton">Start Animations</Button>
        <Button Name="stopButton" Background="#669900FF">Stop</Button>
        
        <StackPanel.Triggers>
          <EventTrigger SourceName="restartButton" RoutedEvent="Button.Click">
            <BeginStoryboard Name="myBeginStoryboard">
              <Storyboard>
              
                <!-- Create an animation that repeats indefinitely. -->
                <DoubleAnimation 
                  Storyboard.TargetName="ForeverRepeatingRectangle" 
                  Storyboard.TargetProperty="Width" 
                  From="50" To="300" Duration="0:0:2" RepeatBehavior="Forever" />
          
                <!-- Create an animation that repeats for four seconds. As a result, the
                     animation repeats twice. -->          
                <DoubleAnimation 
                  Storyboard.TargetName="FourSecondsRepeatingRectangle" 
                  Storyboard.TargetProperty="Width"
                  From="50" To="300" Duration="0:0:2" RepeatBehavior="0:0:4" />

                <!-- Create an animation that repeats twice. -->
                <DoubleAnimation 
                  Storyboard.TargetName="TwiceRepeatingRectangle" 
                  Storyboard.TargetProperty="Width" 
                  From="50" To="300" Duration="0:0:2" RepeatBehavior="2x" />     
          
                <!-- Create an animation that repeats 0.5 times. The resulting animation
                     plays for one second, half of its Duration. It animates from 50 to 150. -->
                <DoubleAnimation 
                  Storyboard.TargetName="HalfRepeatingRectangle" 
                  Storyboard.TargetProperty="Width" 
                  From="50" To="300" Duration="0:0:2" RepeatBehavior="0.5x" />
          
                <!-- Create an animation that repeats for one second. The resulting animation
                     plays for one second, half of its Duration. It animates from 50 to 150. -->
                <DoubleAnimation 
                  Storyboard.TargetName="OneSecondRepeatingRectangle" 
                  Storyboard.TargetProperty="Width" 
                  From="50" To="300" Duration="0:0:2" RepeatBehavior="0:0:1" />          
              </Storyboard>
            </BeginStoryboard>
          </EventTrigger>        
          <EventTrigger SourceName="stopButton" RoutedEvent="Button.Click">
            <StopStoryboard BeginStoryboardName="myBeginStoryboard" />
          </EventTrigger>
        </StackPanel.Triggers>
      </StackPanel>
    </StackPanel>
  </Border>
</Page>

For the complete sample, see Animation Timing Behavior Sample.

See Also

Tasks

How to: Accumulate Animation Values During Repeat Cycles
How to: Specify Whether a Timeline Automatically Reverses

Concepts

Animation Overview

Other Resources

Animation and Timing How-to Topics
Animation and Timing
Animation and Timing Samples
Animation Timing Behavior Sample