WPF Fade Animation

Question

How would I make a control fade in/out when it becomes Visible.

Below is my failed attempt:

Answer 1

I realize this Question is a bit old, but I have only read it now and I have tweaked the code given by Anvaka. It supports binding to Visibility (only when binding mode is set to TwoWay). It also supports 2 different duration values for FadeIn and FadeOut.

Here is the class:

  public class VisibilityAnimation : DependencyObject
  {
    #region Private Variables

    private static HashSet<UIElement> HookedElements = new HashSet<UIElement>();
    private static DoubleAnimation FadeAnimation = new DoubleAnimation();
    private static bool SurpressEvent;
    private static bool Running;

    #endregion

    #region Attached Dependencies

    public static readonly DependencyProperty IsActiveProperty = DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached("IsActive", typeof(bool), typeof(VisibilityAnimation), new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(false, new PropertyChangedCallback(OnIsActivePropertyChanged)));
    public static bool GetIsActive(UIElement element)
    {
      if (element == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("element");
      return (bool)element.GetValue(IsActiveProperty);
    }
    public static void SetIsActive(UIElement element, bool value)
    {
      if (element == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("element");
      element.SetValue(IsActiveProperty, value);
    }

    public static readonly DependencyProperty FadeInDurationProperty = DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached("FadeInDuration", typeof(double), typeof(VisibilityAnimation), new PropertyMetadata(0.5));
    public static double GetFadeInDuration(UIElement e)
    {
      if (e == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("element");
      return (double)e.GetValue(FadeInDurationProperty);
    }
    public static void SetFadeInDuration(UIElement e, double value)
    {
      if (e == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("element");
      e.SetValue(FadeInDurationProperty, value);
    }

    public static readonly DependencyProperty FadeOutDurationProperty = DependencyProperty.RegisterAttached("FadeOutDuration", typeof(double), typeof(VisibilityAnimation), new PropertyMetadata(1.0));
    public static double GetFadeOutDuration(UIElement e)
    {
      if (e == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("element");
      return (double)e.GetValue(FadeOutDurationProperty);
    }
    public static void SetFadeOutDuration(UIElement e, double value)
    {
      if (e == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("element");
      e.SetValue(FadeOutDurationProperty, value);
    }

    #endregion

    #region Callbacks

    private static void VisibilityChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
      // So what? Ignore.
      // We only specified a property changed call-back to be able to set a coercion call-back
    }

    private static void OnIsActivePropertyChanged(DependencyObject d, DependencyPropertyChangedEventArgs e)
    {
      // Get the framework element and leave if it is null
      var fe = d as FrameworkElement;
      if (fe == null) return;

      // Hook the element if IsActive is true and unhook the element if it is false
      if (GetIsActive(fe)) HookedElements.Add(fe);
      else HookedElements.Remove(fe);
    }

    private static object CoerceVisibility(DependencyObject d, object baseValue)
    {
      if (SurpressEvent) return baseValue;  // Ignore coercion if we set the SurpressEvent flag

      var FE = d as FrameworkElement;
      if (FE == null || !HookedElements.Contains(FE)) return baseValue;  // Leave if the element is null or does not belong to our list of hooked elements

      Running = true;  // Set the running flag so that an animation does not change the visibility if another animation was started (Changing Visibility before the 1st animation completed)

      // If we get here, it means we have to start fade in or fade out animation
      // In any case return value of this method will be Visibility.Visible

      Visibility NewValue = (Visibility)baseValue;  // Get the new value

      if (NewValue == Visibility.Visible) FadeAnimation.Duration = new Duration(TimeSpan.FromSeconds((double)d.GetValue(FadeInDurationProperty)));  // Get the duration that was set for fade in
      else FadeAnimation.Duration = new Duration(TimeSpan.FromSeconds((double)d.GetValue(FadeOutDurationProperty)));  // Get the duration that was set for fade out

      // Use an anonymous method to set the Visibility to the new value after the animation completed
      FadeAnimation.Completed += (obj, args) =>
      {
        if (FE.Visibility != NewValue && !Running)
        {
          SurpressEvent = true;  // SuppressEvent flag to skip coercion
          FE.Visibility = NewValue;
          SurpressEvent = false;
          Running = false;  // Animation and Visibility change is now complete
        }
      };

      FadeAnimation.To = (NewValue == Visibility.Collapsed || NewValue == Visibility.Hidden) ? 0 : 1;  // Set the to value based on Visibility

      FE.BeginAnimation(UIElement.OpacityProperty, FadeAnimation);  // Start the animation (it will only start after we leave the coercion method)

      return Visibility.Visible;  // We need to return Visible in order to see the fading take place, otherwise it just sets it to Collapsed/Hidden without showing the animation
    }

    #endregion

    static VisibilityAnimation()
    {
      // Listen for visibility changes on all elements
      UIElement.VisibilityProperty.AddOwner(typeof(FrameworkElement), new FrameworkPropertyMetadata(Visibility.Visible, new PropertyChangedCallback(VisibilityChanged), CoerceVisibility));
    }    
  }