VisualState that starts collapsed interfers with other animations in WPF .NET 4

I am using .net 4, vs2010 and have created a user control that needs to start collapsed and transparent (opacity 0) and become visible and opaque in response to a button click.

<UserControl x:Class="Ihi.LeadRetrieval.Client.Views.HelpView"
                     xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
                     xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
                     xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" 
                     xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008"
                     xmlns:i="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/2010/interactivity" 
                     xmlns:ei="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/2010/interactions"
                     mc:Ignorable="d" 
                     d:DesignHeight="300" d:DesignWidth="300">
<Grid x:Name="HelpGrid" Visibility="Collapsed" Opacity="0">
    <VisualStateManager.VisualStateGroups>
        <VisualStateGroup x:Name="HelpStateGroup">
            <VisualStateGroup.Transitions>
                <VisualTransition GeneratedDuration="0:0:0.5">
                    <VisualTransition.GeneratedEasingFunction>
                        <CircleEase EasingMode="EaseInOut"/>
                    </VisualTransition.GeneratedEasingFunction>
                </VisualTransition>
            </VisualStateGroup.Transitions>
            <VisualState x:Name="HelpOpen">
            <Storyboard>
                <DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetProperty="(UIElement.Opacity)" Storyboard.TargetName="HelpGrid">
                    <EasingDoubleK开发者_StackOverflow中文版eyFrame KeyTime="0" Value="0.95"/>
                </DoubleAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
                <ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames Storyboard.TargetProperty="(UIElement.Visibility)" Storyboard.TargetName="HelpGrid">
                    <DiscreteObjectKeyFrame KeyTime="0" Value="{x:Static Visibility.Visible}"/>
                </ObjectAnimationUsingKeyFrames>
            </Storyboard>
            </VisualState>
            <VisualState x:Name="HelpClosed">
            </VisualState>
        </VisualStateGroup>
    </VisualStateManager.VisualStateGroups>
    <Border Background="#00427A" CornerRadius="3">
        <DockPanel Margin="5">
            <ContentPresenter DockPanel.Dock="Bottom" Margin="12,10,0,0" Content="{Binding Path=Detail}" Style="{StaticResource HelpText}"/>
            <Label Style="{StaticResource HelpHeaderText}" Content="{Binding Path=Header}" DockPanel.Dock="Left" MaxHeight="50"/>
            <Button x:Name="CloseHelpButton" Style="{StaticResource HelpButtonStyle}" Content="X" HorizontalAlignment="Right" VerticalAlignment="Top" DockPanel.Dock="Right" MaxHeight="50">
                <i:Interaction.Triggers>
                    <i:EventTrigger EventName="Click">
                        <ei:GoToStateAction x:Name="CloseAction" StateName="HelpClosed"/>
                    </i:EventTrigger>
                </i:Interaction.Triggers>
            </Button>
        </DockPanel>
    </Border>
</Grid>

However, when I target this control from a parent user control and trigger the HelpOpen visual state, I notice that the help control is appears abruptely after the animation completes - it does not fade in as expected.

<view:HelpView x:Name="helpView" />
<Button x:Name="ButtonOpen" Margin="0,0,25,0" VerticalAlignment="Top" Content="Open">
   <i:Interaction.Triggers>
        <i:EventTrigger EventName="Click">
            <ei:GoToStateAction TargetObject="{Binding ElementName=helpView}" StateName="HelpOpen"/>
        </i:EventTrigger>
   </i:Interaction.Triggers>
</Button>

I believe this is because the help control is becoming visible only at the end of the animation and thus the transition of increasing opacity isn't rendered.

Is there a way to specify that the visibility property be set to visible before the opacity value is adjusted?

---

I'm not sure if you found the answer to your question, but it might help to know that a transition and a visual state are two different timelines.

It is easiest to edit your transition and state in blend. The sequence of events is this:

1. Begin in state A
2. Some trigger causes a "Go to state" B
3. The transition from state A to B plays (0.5 seconds). There are no changes to opacity or visibility in your transition
4. The state B is applied/played. Here is where your opacity and visibility changes are, and since state B has a duration of 0 seconds, they occur immediately

What I usually do is explicitly create the transition in blend (either ->stateB, stateA->, or stateA->stateB, etc). Then you can adjust when the visibility change is applied and when the opacity change begins/ends.