The UI was designed in Expression Blend, although I admit that I often went back to editing the XML manually. Maybe this is how you are supposed to use Blend, or I just don't know yet how to do this in Blend. One thing to note is that even though the application is localized, the UI still shows up both in Blend and in the Visual Studio 2008 editor. For the curious, I am using Approach #1 from my CodeProject Article on localization. (You will need to download and install the ResXFileCodeGeneratorEx addin to compile the sample.)

I must admit that I borrowed some ideas from Josh Smith's article on Model View Controller Unit Testing WPF. Let us focus on the commands for now:

public static class Commands
{
    public static readonly RoutedUICommand Button1Command;
    public static readonly RoutedUICommand Button2Command;
 
    static Commands()
    {
        Button1Command = new RoutedUICommand(Strings.Button1, "Button1Command",
            typeof (Commands));
        Button2Command = new RoutedUICommand(Strings.Button2, "Button2Command",
            typeof (Commands));
    }
}

So this is just a static class containing static commands that are initialized as soon as the class is referenced for the first time. Note that the names come from a string resource, and this helps in the localization. Now how do we use the commands?

This code is part of the MainWindow.xaml, right under the Window tag. What it does is tell WPF that we wish to intercept the commands we list under the <Window.CommandBindings> tag. Now the command itself comes from the static class I just showed. Note the use of the 'DemoApplication' namespace identifier; for this to work we have to define/import the namespace which is done as an attribute of the Window tag like so:

xmlns:DemoApplication="clr-namespace:DemoApplication;assembly="

The command also has two attributes, the CanExecute and Executed, which point to code-behind found in the MainWindow.cs. The CanExecute determines if the command is available, and the Executed delegate is fired when the command is invoked. Here is what the implementation looks like:

private void Button1_CanExecute(object sender, CanExecuteRoutedEventArgs e)
{
    e.CanExecute = true;
}
 
private void Button1_Executed(object sender, ExecutedRoutedEventArgs e)
{
    MessageBox.Show(Strings.TextIs + mViewModel.EditBoxContents, Strings.ButtonPressed);
}
 
private void Button2_CanExecute(object sender, CanExecuteRoutedEventArgs e)
{
    e.CanExecute = true;
}
 
private void Button2_Executed(object sender, ExecutedRoutedEventArgs e)
{
    mViewModel.EditBoxContents = Strings.ResetText;
}

Now we have the commands defined and created and hooked up the delegates that actually handle the commands (and if the command is available), it is time to hook up the command to both to the buttons and to the menus.

 
<Menu DockPanel.Dock="Top">
  <MenuItem Header="{x:Static Properties:Strings.TopLevelMenu}" >
    <MenuItem Header="{x:Static Properties:Strings.Button1}"
              Command="{x:Static DemoApplication:Commands.Button1Command}" >
      <MenuItem.Icon>
        <Image Source="Icons/control_play.png"/>
      </MenuItem.Icon>
    </MenuItem>
    <MenuItem Header="{x:Static Properties:Strings.Button2}"
              Command="{x:Static DemoApplication:Commands.Button2Command}" >
      <MenuItem.Icon>
        <Image Source="Icons/control_stop.png"/>
      </MenuItem.Icon>
    </MenuItem>
  </MenuItem>
</Menu>
 
<Button Content="{x:Static Properties:Strings.Button1}"
        Command="{x:Static DemoApplication:Commands.Button1Command}"
        Grid.Row="1"
        VerticalAlignment="Top" />
<Button Content="{x:Static Properties:Strings.Button2}"
        Command="{x:Static DemoApplication:Commands.Button2Command}"
        Grid.Column="1"
        Grid.Row="1"
        VerticalAlignment="Top" />
 

The localized app in French looks as follows:


The English version is here:


Enough for now - good night!

Despite the problems, I was able to attend 4 of the practices and the concert – I also played the soprano recorder. Here the choir part of the material we sang:

 I really liked the last piece, both from the melody and text wise. The text goes as follows:

The concert was a good one, even though relatively few people attended. For me, the goal is not to impress people, but to sing joyfully onto the Lord, and to be with people who enjoy making music in an unpretentious setting. A recording of all of the music is available here if you are interested.

-----------

It's like hot, running water,
When you're tired of the pressure
And there's no room for mistake

It's like hot, (like hot) running water, (running water)
As it runs through your fingers,
Living in burning pain

Love's like hot (like hot), running water (running water),
Once it runs through your fingers,
Painful in every way

How it hurts to lose a partner,
How it hurts to lose a friend.

There is no wound, but still there is agonizing pain

When you're tired of the pressure,
There is no room for mistakes,
And the words don't seem to make it right,
No matter what you say

It's like hot, (like hot) running water, (running water)
As it runs to your fingers,
Living in burning pain

Love's like hot, (like hot) running water (running water...)
Once it runs through your fingers,
Painful in every way

How it hurts to lose a partner,
How it hurts to lose a friend.

There is no wound, but still there is agonizing pain

When you're tired of the pressure,
There is no room for mistakes,
And the words don't seem to make it right,
No matter what you say
 

Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."