• Download source code - 450 KB

The Mango beta of the Windows Phone 7 SDK saw the inclusion of a new way to display the progress of asynchronous operations within the phone's system tray. This is done using the new ProgressIndicator class, which is a DependencyObject that hooks in to the native progress bar in the system tray, and allows you to display a text message in the system tray, along with allowing you to control the progress bar that can handle both determinate and indeterminate states.

While the ProgressIndicator supports data-binding, the downside is that bindings need to be set up in the page code-beside; which is not very elegant. See the following example of a page constructor wiring up a ProgressIndicator:

public FooView()
{
    InitializeComponent();
    DataContext = new FooViewModel();

    Loaded += (o, args) =>
    {
        var progressIndicator = SystemTray.ProgressIndicator;
        if (progressIndicator != null)
        {
            return;
        }

        progressIndicator = new ProgressIndicator();

        SystemTray.SetProgressIndicator(this, progressIndicator);

        Binding binding = new Binding("Busy") { Source = ViewModel };
        BindingOperations.SetBinding(
            progressIndicator, ProgressIndicator.IsVisibleProperty, binding);

        binding = new Binding("Busy") { Source = ViewModel };
        BindingOperations.SetBinding(
            progressIndicator, ProgressIndicator.IsIndeterminateProperty, binding);

        binding = new Binding("Message") { Source = ViewModel };
        BindingOperations.SetBinding(
            progressIndicator, ProgressIndicator.TextProperty, binding);
    };
}

While completing my latest chapter of Windows Phone 7 Unleashed, on local databases, I spent a few minutes writing a wrapper for the ProgressIndicator. The ProgressIndicatorProxy, as it's called, can be placed in XAML, and doesn't rely on any code-beside:

<Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="Transparent">
    <u:ProgressIndicatorProxy IsIndeterminate="{Binding Indeterminate}" 
                                Text="{Binding Message}" 
                                Value="{Binding Progress}" />
</Grid>

The element itself has no visibility; its task is to attach a ProgressIndicator to the system tray, and to provide bindable properties that flow through to the ProgressIndicator instance.

When the element's Loaded event is raised, it instantiates a ProgressIndicator, assigns it to the system tray, and binds its properties to the ProgressIndicatorProxy object's properties. The class is shown in the following excerpt:

public class ProgressIndicatorProxy : FrameworkElement
{
    bool loaded;

    public ProgressIndicatorProxy()
    {
        Loaded += OnLoaded;
    }

    void OnLoaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        if (loaded)
        {
            return;
        }

        Attach();

        loaded = true;
    }

    public void Attach()
    {
        if (DesignerProperties.IsInDesignTool)
        {
            return;
        }

        var page = this.GetVisualAncestors<PhoneApplicationPage>().First();

        var progressIndicator = SystemTray.ProgressIndicator;
        if (progressIndicator != null)
        {
            return;
        }

        progressIndicator = new ProgressIndicator();

        SystemTray.SetProgressIndicator(page, progressIndicator);

        Binding binding = new Binding("IsIndeterminate") { Source = this };
        BindingOperations.SetBinding(
            progressIndicator, ProgressIndicator.IsIndeterminateProperty, binding);

        binding = new Binding("IsVisible") { Source = this };
        BindingOperations.SetBinding(
            progressIndicator, ProgressIndicator.IsVisibleProperty, binding);

        binding = new Binding("Text") { Source = this };
        BindingOperations.SetBinding(
            progressIndicator, ProgressIndicator.TextProperty, binding);

        binding = new Binding("Value") { Source = this };
        BindingOperations.SetBinding(
            progressIndicator, ProgressIndicator.ValueProperty, binding);
    }

    #region IsIndeterminate

    public static readonly DependencyProperty IsIndeterminateProperty
        = DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached(
            "IsIndeterminate",
            typeof(bool),
            typeof(ProgressIndicatorProxy), new PropertyMetadata(false));

    public bool IsIndeterminate
    {
        get
        {
            return (bool)GetValue(IsIndeterminateProperty);
        }
        set
        {
            SetValue(IsIndeterminateProperty, value);
        }
    }

    #endregion

    #region IsVisible

    public static readonly DependencyProperty IsVisibleProperty
        = DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached(
            "IsVisible",
            typeof(bool),
            typeof(ProgressIndicatorProxy), new PropertyMetadata(true));

    public bool IsVisible
    {
        get
        {
            return (bool)GetValue(IsVisibleProperty);
        }
        set
        {
            SetValue(IsVisibleProperty, value);
        }
    }

    #endregion

    #region Text

    public static readonly DependencyProperty TextProperty
        = DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached(
            "Text",
            typeof(string),
            typeof(ProgressIndicatorProxy), new PropertyMetadata(string.Empty));

    public string Text
    {
        get
        {
            return (string)GetValue(TextProperty);
        }
        set
        {
            SetValue(TextProperty, value);
        }
    }

    #endregion

    #region Value

    public static readonly DependencyProperty ValueProperty
        = DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached(
            "Value",
            typeof(double),
            typeof(ProgressIndicatorProxy), new PropertyMetadata(0.0));

    public double Value
    {
        get
        {
            return (double)GetValue(ValueProperty);
        }
        set
        {
            SetValue(ValueProperty, value);
        }
    }

    #endregion
}

The sample code included with this post contains a View Model with three properties, as listed:

• Indeterminate, a Boolean that provides the IsIndeterminate value of the ProgressIndicator.
• Progress: a double that is the source property of the Value property of the ProgressIndicator. This takes effect when the ProgressIndicator.IsIndeterminate property is true.
• Message: a string value displayed via the ProgressIndicator.

The page is bound to an instance of the MainPageViewModel. The ProgressIndicatorProxy binds to the three ViewModel properties. In addition, a ToggleSwitch is used to control the indeterminate state of the ProgressIndicator via the Indeterminate property in the ViewModel, and a Slider controls the ProgressIndicator's Value property in the same manner. See the following excerpt:

<u:ProgressIndicatorProxy IsIndeterminate="{Binding Indeterminate}" 
                            Text="{Binding Message}" 
                            Value="{Binding Progress}" />
    
<Grid x:Name="ContentPanel" Grid.Row="1" Margin="12,0,12,0">
    <StackPanel>
        <toolkit:ToggleSwitch 
            IsChecked="{Binding Indeterminate, Mode=TwoWay}" 
            Header="Indeterminate" />

        <Slider Value="{Binding Progress, Mode=TwoWay}"
                Maximum="1" LargeChange=".2" />
    </StackPanel>
</Grid>

The sample page is shown in Figure 1.

Note that there is no requirement to use the MVVM infrastructure located in the sample. And that the ProgressIndicatorProxy is entirely independent. I will, however, be releasing Calcium for Windows Phone 7 soon, which contains a cavalcade of useful components for building MVVM apps for WP7.

The custom ProgressIndicatorProxy provides a simple way to harness the new ProgressIndicator from your XAML. I hope you find it useful.

• Download latest version of sample here

If you are interested in up-to-the-minute WP7 info, check out the Windows Phone Experts group on LinkedIn.