Canvas child animation in c++ code

Question

I want to animate the position of child element in canvas.  I have the following:

DoubleAnimation^ da = ref new DoubleAnimation();
TimeSpan ts = { 10000000 }; // 1 second.
Windows::UI::Xaml::Duration dur(ts);
da->Duration = dur;
da->EnableDependentAnimation = true;
Storyboard^ sb = ref new Storyboard();
sb->Children->Append ( da );
Storyboard::SetTargetProperty ( sb, L"Canvas.Top" );
Storyboard::SetTarget ( sb, _rect );
...
da->To = 10.0;
sb->Begin();

However, the call to Begin() will generate the following exception:

"No installed components were detected."

What is the proper way to do this in the c++ code?

---

SAP

Answer 1

The first argument to the SetTargetProperty and SetTarget should be da not sb.  Also place these statements before Append.

Storyboard::SetTargetProperty ( da, L"Canvas.Top" );
Storyboard::SetTarget ( da, _rect );
sb->Children->Append ( da );

Answer 2

Thank you.  I have now made that correction.  However I still get the same exception.

---

SAP

Answer 3

The syntax for animating the Canvas.Top property requires parenthesis enclosure like this "(Canvas.Top)"

The following works for me:

    <Grid Background="{StaticResource ApplicationPageBackgroundThemeBrush}">
        <Canvas >
            <Rectangle x:Name="_rect" Width="20" Height="25" Fill="Red"/>
        </Canvas>
        <Button Click="Button_Click">Start</Button>
    </Grid>

void HelpWithAnimation::MainPage::Button_Click(Platform::Object^ sender, Windows::UI::Xaml::RoutedEventArgs^ e)
{
	DoubleAnimation^ da = ref new DoubleAnimation();
	TimeSpan ts = { 10000000 }; // 1 second.
	Windows::UI::Xaml::Duration dur(ts);
	da->Duration = dur;
	da->EnableDependentAnimation = true;
	Storyboard^ sb = ref new Storyboard();
	sb->Children->Append ( da );
	Storyboard::SetTargetProperty ( da, L"(Canvas.Top)" );
	Storyboard::SetTarget ( da, _rect );
	da->To = 10.0;
	sb->Begin();
}

Answer 4

I would suggest to use TranslateTransform rather than Canvas and making sure it is initialize BEFORE attempting to use sb.Begin()

For me I had the same error as you and the detail after the error was that it wasn't able to resolve TranslateTransform.  That's true because I was setting all my storyboard and trying to start it but the RenderTransform was never set to anything before.