How to count up by using Double Animation instead of by using Timer

Question

The following code is counting up starting from 1 to forever by using Timer.

XAML codes:

<Window x:Class="MainWindow"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
Title="MainWindow" Height="350" Width="525">
<Grid>
    <Label x:Name="myLabel"/>
</Grid>
</Window>

vb.net codes:

Class MainWindow

Dim myDispatcherTimer As New Windows.Threading.DispatcherTimer With {.Interval = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(1)}

Private Sub MainWindow_Loaded(sender As Object, e As RoutedEventArgs) Handles Me.Loaded
    AddHandler myDispatcherTimer.Tick, AddressOf Me.Hello
    myDispatcherTimer.Start()
End Sub

Public Sub Hello()
    Static myStatic As Integer = 0
    myStatic = myStatic + 1
    myLabel.Content = myStatic
End Sub

End Class

I want to count up by using Double Animation instead of by using Timer.

Is it possible?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You may create an attached property of type double that sets the Content property of any ContentControl (e.g. a Label) to which it is applied.

public static class Counter
{
    public static readonly DependencyProperty CountProperty =
        DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached(
            "Count", typeof(double), typeof(Counter),
            new PropertyMetadata(0d, CountPropertyChanged));

    public static double GetCount(DependencyObject obj)
    {
        return (double)obj.GetValue(CountProperty);
    }

    public static void SetCount(DependencyObject obj, double value)
    {
        obj.SetValue(CountProperty, value);
    }

    private static void CountPropertyChanged(
        DependencyObject obj, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs args)
    {
        if (obj is ContentControl control)
        {
            control.Content = string.Format("{0:F0}", args.NewValue);
        }
    }
}

Then animate that property by an appropriate DoubleAnimation.

<Label>
    <Label.Triggers>
        <EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Loaded">
            <BeginStoryboard>
                <Storyboard>
                    <DoubleAnimation
                        Storyboard.TargetProperty="(local:Counter.Count)"
                        From="0" By="1" Duration="0:0:1"
                        IsCumulative="True" RepeatBehavior="Forever"/>
                </Storyboard>
            </BeginStoryboard>
        </EventTrigger>
    </Label.Triggers>
</Label>

---

Since you apparently only want to show integer values, you may as well use an Int32Animation with an attached property of type int.

public static class Counter
{
    public static readonly DependencyProperty CountProperty =
        DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached(
            "Count", typeof(int), typeof(Counter),
            new PropertyMetadata(0, CountPropertyChanged));

    public static int GetCount(DependencyObject obj)
    {
        return (int)obj.GetValue(CountProperty);
    }

    public static void SetCount(DependencyObject obj, int value)
    {
        obj.SetValue(CountProperty, value);
    }

    private static void CountPropertyChanged(
        DependencyObject obj, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs args)
    {
        if (obj is ContentControl control)
        {
            control.Content = args.NewValue;
        }
    }
}

with

<Storyboard>
    <Int32Animation
        Storyboard.TargetProperty="(local:Counter.Count)"
        From="0" By="1" Duration="0:0:1"
        IsCumulative="True" RepeatBehavior="Forever"/>
</Storyboard>