Build an Outlook 2007 UI Clone

I got wind today of a great hands-on lab that demonstrates the steps needed to create a high-quality user interface for business applications using WPF and Expression Blend. Two engineers from Microsoft Switzerland, Ronnie Saurenmann and Ruihua Jin, have put together this 90-page lab that starts at File / New Project and ends with a facsimile of the Outlook 2007 user interface.

Along the way they demonstrate the use of data binding, templates, styles, and triggers; show how you can customize the ListView control to create a message listing; show how template binding works, and show how you can use code to customize and sort the list view.

There's lots to learn here - if you're wondering if WPF is just about data visualization or consumer-orientated graphical applications, this will help persuade you that it's also a great platform for building more traditional business software.

Download: Lab manual | Source project (Required to complete the lab.)

Knowldegebase, Microsoft Outlook 2007, Outlook 2007 UI