A WPF Digital Clock

• Download digitalclock_demo - 296.91 KB
• Download digitalclock_src - 212.87 KB

Introduction

This article presents a digital clock written using C# .Net 3.5 and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), with a version supporting styling using the RibbonStyleHandler from the Ribbon Control Library (and hence allowing styling consistent with RibbonWindow applications).

Using the Code

This is VERY simple, to create a new clock window, make a new instance of DigitalClockWindow! To add a control to an existing window, use DigitalClockControl.

About the Code

The DigitalClock class is comprised of DigitalClockDots and DigitalClockElement. The DigitalClockDots class is a UIElement representing two dots to separate hours from minutes from seconds. DigitalClockElement represents the following states: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Hence the DigitalClock is a Grid of DigitalClockElement DigitalClockElement DigitalClockDots DigitalClockElement DigitalClockElement DigitalClockDots DigitalClockElement DigitalClockElement.

The DigitalClockControl and DigitalClockWindow classes contain a thread for updating the clock when AutoUpdate is set to true, otherwise the clock may be updated via the .CurrentTime property of DigitalClockControl.

DigitalClockControl contains three properties for styling, DigitBrush the Brush used to render the digits (0 to 9), DotBrush the Brush used to render the separating dots, and ClockBackground the background of the clock. DigitalClockDots contains a single property RenderBrush for setting the brush used to render the dots. DigitalClockElement contains a similar property RenderBrush for setting the brush used to render the graphic components. Furthermore it also contains a Value property for setting the value to display (in the range 0 to 9).

Ribbon Styled Clock

In version 1.0.0.1 RibbonClockControl and RibbonClockWindow have been added which inherit from DigitalClockControl and DigitalControlWindow respectively; they add automatic styling based on the RibbonStyleChanged event, and can be seen in use in the CIRIP project (a Computational Intelligent Railway Intervention Planner).

References

ribboncontrol.aspx - The Ribbon Control library used in styling the control.

History

Version 1.0.0.0 - Initial build

Version 1.0.0.1 - Separated Ribbon styling from clock.

Version 1.0.0.1 - Added AutoUpdate and CurrentTime properties to allow display of custom times

Version 1.0.0.1 - Added RibbonClockControl and Window with Ribbon styling

Version 1.0.0.1 - Refactored controls to allow resizing

Version 1.0.0.1 - Changed clock from Window to UserControl and added DigitalClockWindow

Version 1.0.0.1 - Fixed bug where update thread kept process alive