How do I make an ellipse blink?

Question

I am trying to make a custom control in WPF. I want it to simulate the behavior of a LED that can blink.

There are three states to the control: On, Off, and Blinkin

Answer 1

You can do this with an animation that auto-reverses and repeats (this is for Silverlight):

<UserControl
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
    xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
    x:Class="Blinker.MainPage"
    Width="640" Height="480" Loaded="UserControl_Loaded">
    <UserControl.Resources>
        <Storyboard x:Name="Blink" AutoReverse="True" RepeatBehavior="Forever">
            <ColorAnimationUsingKeyFrames BeginTime="00:00:00"
              Storyboard.TargetName="ellipse"
              Storyboard.TargetProperty="(Shape.Fill).(SolidColorBrush.Color)">
                 <EasingColorKeyFrame KeyTime="00:00:01" Value="Gray"/>
            </ColorAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
         </Storyboard>
    </UserControl.Resources>
    <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="White">
         <Ellipse x:Name="ellipse" Fill="Green" Stroke="Black"/>
    </Grid>
</UserControl>

and then start the animation when the control loads or when a property is set - you don't need a dependency property unless you

private bool blinking;
public bool IsBlinking
{
    get
    {
       return blinking;
    }
    set
    {
        if (value)
        {
             this.Blink.Begin();
        }
        else
        {
             this.Blink.Stop();
        }

        this.blinking = value;
    }
}

or on startup:

private void UserControl_Loaded(object sender, System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs e)
{
    this.Blink.Begin();
}

Here is another way to do it in WPF - using the VisualStateManager - that will also work in Silverlight:

<UserControl
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006"
mc:Ignorable="d"
x:Class="BlinkerApp.Blinker"
x:Name="UserControl"
d:DesignWidth="100" d:DesignHeight="100">
<Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot">
    <VisualStateManager.VisualStateGroups>
        <VisualStateGroup x:Name="BlinkStates">
            <VisualState x:Name="Blinking">
                <Storyboard AutoReverse="True" RepeatBehavior="Forever">
                    <ColorAnimationUsingKeyFrames BeginTime="00:00:00" Storyboard.TargetName="ellipse" Storyboard.TargetProperty="(Shape.Fill).(SolidColorBrush.Color)">
                        <SplineColorKeyFrame KeyTime="00:00:01" Value="Gray"/>
                    </ColorAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
                </Storyboard>
            </VisualState>
            <VisualState x:Name="Stopped"/>
        </VisualStateGroup>
    </VisualStateManager.VisualStateGroups>
    <Ellipse x:Name="ellipse" Fill="Green" Stroke="Black"/>
</Grid>

and then have the IsBlinking property switch the visual state:

namespace BlinkerApp
{
    using System.Windows;
    using System.Windows.Controls;

/// <summary>
/// Interaction logic for Blinker.xaml
/// </summary>
public partial class Blinker : UserControl
{
    private bool blinking;

    public Blinker()
    {
        this.InitializeComponent();
    }

    public bool IsBlinking
    {    
        get    
        {       
            return blinking;    
        }    

        set    
        {        
            if (value)        
            {
                VisualStateManager.GoToState(this, "Blinking", true);
            }        
            else        
            {
                VisualStateManager.GoToState(this, "Stopped", true);
            }        

            this.blinking = value;    
        }
    }       
}
}

Answer 2

To allow for greater control of the blink rate and such in your code behind, I'd suggest having a routed event in your UserControl called Blink:

public static readonly RoutedEvent BlinkEvent = EventManager.RegisterRoutedEvent("Blink", RoutingStrategy.Direct, typeof(RoutedEventHandler), typeof(LedControl));
public event RoutedEventHandler Blink
{
    add { AddHandler(BlinkEvent, value); }
    remove { RemoveHandler(BlinkEvent, value); }
}

In your code behind you can set up a timer to raise the event however often you like (this also gives you the opportunity to blink the light a single time whenever you want:

RaiseEvent(new RoutedEventArgs(LedControl.Blink));

Now in XAML, the following code would make a glow visible, and set the fill property of your ellipse (ledEllipse) to a bright green radial gradient, then return the fill value to a dim 'unlit' green (which you could change to gray if you like). You can simply change the duration to make the blink last longer.

<UserControl.Triggers>
    <EventTrigger RoutedEvent="local:LedControl.Blink">
        <EventTrigger.Actions>
            <BeginStoryboard>
                <Storyboard>
                    <DoubleAnimation Storyboard.TargetName="glow"
                                     Storyboard.TargetProperty="Opacity"
                                     To="100"
                                     AutoReverse="True"
                                     Duration="0:0:0.075" />
                    <ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetName="ledEllipse"
                                                  Storyboard.TargetProperty="Fill"
                                                  Duration="0:0:0.15">
                        <ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames.KeyFrames>
                            <DiscreteObjectKeyFrame KeyTime="0:0:0.01">
                                <DiscreteObjectKeyFrame.Value>
                                    <RadialGradientBrush>
                                        <!--bright Green Brush-->
                                        <GradientStop Color="#FF215416" Offset="1"/>
                                        <GradientStop Color="#FE38DA2E" Offset="0"/>
                                        <GradientStop Color="#FE81FF79" Offset="0.688"/>
                                    </RadialGradientBrush>
                                </DiscreteObjectKeyFrame.Value>
                            </DiscreteObjectKeyFrame>
                            <DiscreteObjectKeyFrame KeyTime="0:0:0.15" >
                                <DiscreteObjectKeyFrame.Value>
                                    <RadialGradientBrush>
                                        <!--dim Green Brush-->
                                        <GradientStop Color="#FF21471A" Offset="1"/>
                                        <GradientStop Color="#FF33802F" Offset="0"/>
                                        <GradientStop Color="#FF35932F" Offset="0.688"/>
                                    </RadialGradientBrush>
                                </DiscreteObjectKeyFrame.Value>
                            </DiscreteObjectKeyFrame>
                        </ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames.KeyFrames>
                    </ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
                </Storyboard>
            </BeginStoryboard>
        </EventTrigger.Actions>
    </EventTrigger>
</UserControl.Triggers>

Also, I am directly referencing the ellipse 'ledEllipse' and it's corresponding DropShadowEffect 'glow' which are defined in the ledControl as following (redLight is just another radial gradient brush that I start my led's fill property at):

<Ellipse x:Name="statusLight" Height="16" Width="16" Margin="0" Fill="{DynamicResource redLight}" >
    <Ellipse.Effect>
        <DropShadowEffect x:Name="glow" ShadowDepth="0" Color="Lime" BlurRadius="10" Opacity="0" />
    </Ellipse.Effect>
</Ellipse>

Note: The DropShadowEffect was introduced in .Net 3.5, but you could remove that if you don't want a glow effect (but it looks nice on a solid color contrasting background).