# Step 1 of 5: Creating the Project

## Content

In this step, you'll begin in Expression Blend to create a Silverlight application using **CoverFlow for Silverlight**. You will also add a **StackPanel** control, a **TextBlock** control, and a folder containing three album cover images to the project.

Complete the following steps:

1. In Expression Blend, select **File \| New Project**.
2. In the New Project dialog box, select the Silverlight project type in the left pane and, in the right-pane, select Silverlight Application + Website.
3. Enter a Name and Location for your project, select a Language in the drop-down box, and click **OK**. Blend creates a new application, which opens with the MainPage.xaml file displayed in Design view.
4. Add a StackPanel control to your project by completing the following steps:
    1. On the menu, select **Window \| Assets** to open the Assets tab.
    2. In the **Assets** panel, enter "StackPanel" into the search bar. The **StackPanel** control's icon appears.
    3. Double-click the **C1CoverFlow** icon to add the control to your project.
5. Add a **C1CoverFlow** control to the **StackPanel** control by completing the following steps:
    1. In the **Objects and Timeline** panel, select **[StackPanel]**.
    2. In the **Assets** panel, enter "C1CoverFlow" into the search bar. The **C1CoverFlow** control's icon appears.
    3. Double-click the **C1CoverFlow** icon to add the control to the **StackPanel**.
6. Add a **TextBlock** control to the **StackPanel** control by completing the following steps:
    1. In the **Objects and Timeline** panel, select **[StackPanel]**.
    2. In the **Assets** panel, enter "TextBlock" into the search bar. The **TextBlock** control's icon appears.
    3. Double-click the **TextBlock** icon to add the control to the **StackPanel**.

In the **Objects and Timeline** tab, the layout hierarchy looks as follows:

![](https://cdn.mescius.io/document-site-files/images/babf1807-69aa-4d8a-96b6-d6c6d9325368/silverlightdocuments/documents/graphics/c1coverflow/quickstart/step1_hierarchy.png)

7. Add album covers to the project by completing the following steps:
    1. In the **Projects** panel, right-click the project to open its context menu and select **Add New Folder**; name the new folder “Images”.
    2. Right-click the **Images** folder and select **Add Existing Item**. The **Add Existing Item** dialog box opens.
    3. Navigate to the following location:
        * **In XP**
            C:\\Documents and Settings\\\<username>\\My Documents\\ComponentOne Samples\\Studio for Silverlight\\QuickStart\\QuickStart
        * **Windows 7/Vista**
            C:\\Users\\\<username>\\Documents\\ComponentOne Samples\\Studio for Silverlight\\QuickStart\\QuickStart
    4. Select **cover1.jpg**, **cover2.jpg**, and **cover3.jpg**.
    5. Click **Open** to close the **Add Existing Item** dialog box and to add the images to the folder. The images are added to the **Images** folder.

In this step, you created a project and added a **C1CoverFlow** control, a **StackPanel** control, and a **TextBlock** control to it; in addition, you added a folder with three album images to the project. In the next step, you’ll customize the controls by setting a few properties.