Customizing Appearance: Styling dbiCalendar SilverlightdbiCalendar Silverlight is a flexible calendar control for Silverlight applications that provides built-in views, event handling, and customization options. Styling the control lets you match your application’s visual language, improve usability, and present calendar data in ways that fit users’ needs. This article walks through the principles, approaches, and practical steps to customize the appearance of dbiCalendar Silverlight — from simple color changes to full template overhauls.
Overview of Styling Options
dbiCalendar Silverlight exposes multiple layers you can style:
- Colors, fonts, and spacing (properties and resources)
- Day, week, and month view item templates
- Headers, footers, and navigation controls
- Event (appointment) templates — how events look inside cells
- Special-day or range highlighting (holidays, selected ranges)
- Animations and visual states for interactions (mouse-over, selection)
Start small (colors and fonts) to get immediate results, then move to templates for deep customization.
Tools and Files You’ll Use
- Visual Studio (with Silverlight project support)
- XAML files (App.xaml, Page/UserControl XAML where dbiCalendar is placed)
- Code-behind (C#) for dynamic style changes or data-driven visuals
- Resource dictionaries for sharable styles
- dbiCalendar documentation and API reference for template names and exposed properties
Basic Theming: Colors, Fonts, and Resources
dbiCalendar supports standard Silverlight styling mechanisms via properties and resource lookups. Use App.xaml or a resource dictionary to centralize colors and font families.
Example resource definitions (App.xaml or Theme.xaml):
<ResourceDictionary xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"> <SolidColorBrush x:Key="CalendarBackground" Color="#FFFFFF"/> <SolidColorBrush x:Key="CalendarHeaderBackground" Color="#2B579A"/> <SolidColorBrush x:Key="CalendarHeaderForeground" Color="#FFFFFF"/> <SolidColorBrush x:Key="CalendarTodayBackground" Color="#FFF2CC"/> <FontFamily x:Key="CalendarFont">Segoe UI</FontFamily> </ResourceDictionary> Apply these resources to the dbiCalendar control or its subparts. Many high-level properties accept brushes directly; otherwise, you’ll override templates (next sections).
Styling Headers and Navigation
Headers and navigation controls (month name, previous/next buttons) are often exposed as named parts in control templates. You can edit the control template to change the header’s layout or to replace buttons with icons.
Sample structural changes:
- Change header background and foreground using brushes.
- Replace textual navigation with Path/Icon elements.
- Add a compact view toggle in the header area.
If the control exposes properties like HeaderBackground or NavigationStyle, set them directly. Otherwise, copy the default control template, locate the header region, and modify it.
Customizing Day Cells (Month/Week View)
Day cells are the basic building blocks. You can control:
- Cell padding and borders
- Background for weekends, selected day, today
- How date numbers are displayed (font size, alignment)
- Whether events are clipped or shown as summaries
Override the DayCellTemplate (or equivalent) to create a custom DataTemplate. Example pattern:
<DataTemplate x:Key="CustomDayCellTemplate"> <Grid Background="{Binding Background}"> <Border BorderBrush="{StaticResource CalendarCellBorder}" BorderThickness="0,0,0,1" Padding="4"> <StackPanel> <TextBlock Text="{Binding Date.Day}" FontFamily="{StaticResource CalendarFont}" Foreground="{Binding DateForeground}" FontWeight="Bold"/> <!-- Events presenter --> <ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding Events}"> <ItemsControl.ItemTemplate> <DataTemplate> <Border Background="{Binding EventColor}" CornerRadius="2" Padding="2" Margin="0,2,0,0"> <TextBlock Text="{Binding Title}" FontSize="11" Foreground="White" TextTrimming="CharacterEllipsis"/> </Border> </DataTemplate> </ItemsControl.ItemTemplate> </ItemsControl> </StackPanel> </Border> </Grid> </DataTemplate> Bind the calendar’s DayCellTemplate property to use this DataTemplate. Adjust virtualization or event truncation logic for performance and clarity.
Styling Appointments / Events
Appointments are where users spend most attention. Use an AppointmentTemplate (or event template) to control:
- Color-coding by category, priority, or resource
- Icons or status indicators (e.g., private, recurring)
- Multi-line titles, time display, and tooltips
- Interaction affordances (drag handles, resize grips)
Example appointment template snippet:
<DataTemplate x:Key="AppointmentTemplate"> <Grid> <Border Background="{Binding CategoryBrush}" CornerRadius="3" Padding="4"> <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" VerticalAlignment="Center"> <Image Source="{Binding Icon}" Width="14" Height="14" Margin="0,0,6,0"/> <TextBlock Text="{Binding Title}" Foreground="White" FontWeight="SemiBold"/> <TextBlock Text="{Binding TimeRange}" Foreground="#CCFFFFFF" Margin="8,0,0,0" FontSize="11"/> </StackPanel> </Border> </Grid> </DataTemplate> Set data-driven brushes in the appointment objects so the UI reflects categories without switching templates.
Conditional Styling and Converters
Use ValueConverters to map appointment properties to visual values (brushes, visibility, font styles). For example, map Priority -> BackgroundBrush or IsBusy -> Opacity.
C# example converter:
public class PriorityToBrushConverter : IValueConverter { public object Convert(object value, Type targetType, object parameter, CultureInfo culture) { switch ((Priority)value) { case Priority.High: return new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Red); case Priority.Medium: return new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Orange); default: return new SolidColorBrush(Colors.Gray); } } public object ConvertBack(...) => throw new NotImplementedException(); } Register converters in resources and use them in bindings inside templates.
Special-Day Highlighting (Holidays, Selected Ranges)
Implement special-day visuals by providing a collection of special date ranges and binding day cell backgrounds or overlays when a date falls into any range.
Approaches:
- Use a multi-binding or converter that checks date membership in a Specials collection.
- Provide an attached property or custom property on the calendar control to accept special-day collections.
- Add adorners or layers in the day cell template to render ribbons, dots, or badges.
Example UI element for holidays:
<Ellipse Width="6" Height="6" Fill="Red" HorizontalAlignment="Right" VerticalAlignment="Top" Visibility="{Binding IsHoliday, Converter={StaticResource BoolToVis}}"/> Responsive & Compact Layouts
Mobile or small-window layouts benefit from adaptive styling:
- Reduce font sizes and padding via VisualStateManager states (Normal, Compact).
- Collapse less-important UI like weekday names into initials.
- Change event presenters to show counts instead of full details (e.g., “+3 more”).
Define VisualStateGroups in your control template and trigger states from code-behind when container size changes.
Animations and Visual States
Add subtle animations for hover, selection, or navigation transitions to improve perceived performance. Use Storyboards in visual states:
- Fade/scale on appointment hover
- Slide/animate month transitions
- Pulse today’s cell with a subtle animation
Keep animations short (100–250ms) to avoid distraction.
Performance Considerations
Styling can affect performance. Keep these in mind:
- Avoid heavy element trees in each day cell; prefer lightweight shapes and TextBlocks.
- Use virtualization where possible (especially for timeline/agenda views).
- Reuse brushes and resources rather than creating new ones per item.
- For large datasets, render event summaries instead of full templates and show details on demand (tooltip or popup).
Putting It Together: Example Flow
- Create a theme ResourceDictionary with colors, fonts, and converters.
- Copy the default dbiCalendar templates you want to change into your project.
- Edit DayCellTemplate and AppointmentTemplate to use your resources and converters.
- Add VisualStates for compact/expanded modes and small animations.
- Test with real data—check performance at scale and tweak virtualization or summarization.
- Package styles into a reusable theme file for future projects.
Troubleshooting & Tips
- If changes don’t appear, ensure the control is using your template key or style and not a local inline setting.
- Use Blend or Visual Studio designer to preview templates and named parts.
- When in doubt, modify one template at a time to isolate layout issues.
- For accessibility, ensure sufficient contrast and expose keyboard focus visuals.
Example Resource + Template References
- Define shared brushes and fonts in App.xaml or a theme file.
- Bind templates via properties like DayCellTemplate, AppointmentTemplate, or by setting Style on the control.
- Use converters to map data to visuals and keep templates simple.
Customizing dbiCalendar Silverlight lets your calendar feel native to your app while keeping data clear and actionable. Start with a theme, then progressively refine templates and performance until you have a polished, responsive calendar UI.
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