Show GIF Images in Windows Phone 7.1

Introduction 

 

This article discusses how to load .gif extension images in Windows Phone 7.1. As we all know Windows Phone 7 supports .jpg and .png images, so this article will be very helpful if you want to show .gif images.

 

Getting Started

 

Create a Windows Phone Application using the following:

1. Open Visual Studio 2010.
2. "File" -> "New" -> "Project..."
3. Select "Silverlight for Windows Phone" from the Installed templates and choose "Windows Phone Application"
4. Enter the name and choose the location.
5. Click "OK".

First of all, right-click on Solutions Explorer and click "Manage NuGet Packages..." and search by name for ImageTools and click "Install".

 

 

Image 1

 

 

Image 2

 

As you can see, after installing it has added a few assemblies in your reference folder.

 

 

Image 3

 

Let's work on the UI part now.

 

First of all the following add namespace of image tools in the .xaml file:

xmlns:imagetools="clr-namespace:ImageTools.Controls;assembly=ImageTools.Controls"

Now add the following image convertor resource.

<phone:PhoneApplicationPage.Resources>
        <imagetools:ImageConverter x:Key="ImageConverter" />
</phone:PhoneApplicationPage.Resources>

Now add this:

<!--ContentPanel - place additional content here-->
        <Grid x:Name="ContentPanel" Grid.Row="1" Margin="12,0,12,0">
            <imagetools:AnimatedImage Source="{Binding Path=ImageSource, Converter={StaticResource ImageConverter}}" />
        </Grid>

Now let's work on the code part.

using Microsoft.Phone.Controls;
using ImageTools.IO.Gif;
using System.Windows.Media.Imaging;
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Media;
using System.IO;
using System.Text;
using ImageTools;
using System.Threading;
using System.Windows.Data;

// Constructor
        public MainPage()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
            ImageTools.IO.Decoders.AddDecoder<GifDecoder>();
            ImageSource = new Uri("http://i1118.photobucket.com/albums/k607/Ashe-kun/9285a6048c8a769fba5d.gif", UriKind.Absolute);
            thisthis.DataContext = this;
        }
        public Uri ImageSource { get; set; }

Finally, run the application to see the result.

 

 

Image 4

 

For more information, download the attached sample application.

 

Summary

 

In this article, we learned about Show GIF Images in Windows Phone 7.1.