Silverlight: use GradientBrush resource for state animation

Question

I have a set of controls (Button, ToggleButton) I want to have the same style, so I have created a few gradient brushes for normal/disabled/enabled states in my ResourceDictionary, e.g. "ButtonFillBrush", "ButtonFillMouseOverBrush" etc. These are defined as global reusable Brush Resources.

I know it is possible to change individual stops of a gradient in a animation inside a state, for example:

<VisualState x:Name="MouseOver">
   <Storyboard>
      <ColorAnimation Duration="0" To="#FF041D06" Storyboard.TargetProperty="(Shape.Fill).(GradientBrush.GradientStops)[1].(GradientStop.Color)" Storyboard.TargetName="path" d:IsOptimized="True"/>
      <ColorAnimation Duration="0" To="#FF118519" Storyboard.TargetProperty="(Shape.Fill).(GradientBrush.GradientStops)[0].(GradientStop.Color)" Storyboard.TargetName="backgroundRectangle" d:IsOptimized="True"/>
    </Storyboard>
</VisualState>

Now, I know it is possible in the VisualState Manager to do something like:

<VisualState x:Name="MouseOver">
   <Storyboard>
      <ColorAnimation Duration="0" To="ButtonFillMouseOverBrush" Storyboard.TargetProperty="(Shape.Fill).(GradientBrush)" Storyboard.TargetName="backgroundRectangle" d:IsOptimized="True"/>
    </Storyboard>
</VisualState>

Thanks!

Update: using the answer about the referring with the StaticResource and some more searching: http://wildermuth.com/2008/07/18/Animating_Brushes_with_ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames

<VisualState x:Name="MouseOver">
  <Storyboard>
    <ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetName="backgroundRectangle"                      
Storyboard.TargetProperty="Fill">
      <DiscreteObjectKeyFrame KeyTime="0:0:0" Value="{StaticResource ButtonFillMouseOverBrush}" />
    </ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
  </Storyboard>
</VisualState>

So, it would be nice to have a BrushAnimation or something...

Rogier

Answer 1

You can find more information regarding Resource Dictionaries & the use of them here. However for your color animation question a lot of information regarding Silverlight animations (including color animations) can be found on this link Silverlight Animations Quickstart