I was using the XamlPad from the .NET SDK, so I did a quick search for something similar but with more features and utility.
My search turned up multiple alternatives, so I was wondering if anyone had any specific recommendations on which XamlPad alternative to choose.
As others have said, Kaxaml* is a great alternative to XamlPad. Kaxaml is great for quickly testing out layouts. And has some great snippets that show how to style basic UIElements and Brushes.
However, Kaxaml looses the ability to render the layout as soon as you start getting into !OOB namespaces.
IIRC, VS2010 has much better support for XAML. Can't wait :)
* link is to the GitHub project; the project's .com website is now being squatted and is NSFW.
I use Kaxaml
Update: Kaxaml is no longer maintained; as of November 2020, the .com domain redirects to an adult website.
Related
I am learning about how to localize a project and using a book as a tutorial. I've added the UICulture to the .csproj and assembly files:
[assembly: NeutralResourcesLanguage("en-US", UltimateResourceFallbackLocation.Satellite)]
But now the book says to update the elements with the UID and I don't know where to do it.
I have to invoke the msbuild (not sure form where) and need to use
msbuild/t:updateuid ProjectName.csproj.
How do I do this?
If I may suggest an alternative approach. I never liked the "default" Microsoft approach to localization in WPF, so way back in 2008 I started looking for alternatives. I eventually settled on a solution described in an article named "Simple WPF Localization" on CodeProject. It's a XAML markup extension and it also allows you to change languages on the fly, etc. Very simple to use.
The author now has a more capable, "advanced" version: Advanced WPF Localization that allows you to localize images, brushes, margins, etc. (it's all at the top of the article).
There are a few other such "libraries" available (some are on CodeProject as well), but I've been using this one for 3.5 years with no issues whatsoever. Might be worth looking into if the approach fits what you're doing.
If you have any links to nice animations, effects, basically any Silverlight resources please list them here.
Searching in google frustrates me, but it is probably due to me not knowing Silverlight and it's terminology that well.
Another good place to start sampling themes and applications, is here: Microsoft Expression Gallery
Download Silverlight Toolkit and look for Themes\Xaml folder. here is an online sample of those themes. Look for Theme Browser link in the bottom left.
I'm looking for a skinning library for Windows Forms.
I see this question asked a few times on StackOverflow, but always people looking for free/open source solutions. I don't mind paying for a skinning library. Googling around I see DevExpress's controls support some kind of skinning, and there's also skincrafter.com (though I'm unclear if that supports Windows Forms). Anyone familiar with either of these products or can recommend something better?
I'd like "full" skinning support, but I might be happy with something simple like Firefox Personas/Chrome Themes.
I'm used to using the DotNetBar controls but they don't seem to support skinning, other than basic color themes.
I use DevExpress WinForms and I'm very happy with them.
However, developing custom controls that look good in all of their included skins can be quite challenging.
We are implementing an application that needs dockable windows, similar to Visual Studio 2005/2008, but with multiple "docking sites", unlike VS's single one. Does anyone have a recommendation on a good library for this - either OSS or commercial? I am aware that Infragistics has one, as well as Divelement's SandDock and WPF-Dock from DevComponents, as well as ActiPro's Docking & MDI product. There is also one on CodeProject. Has anyone used any of these libraries? Was the experience good or bad? If you have experience with one of them, does it support multiple "docking sites"?
The one from Codeproject is the AvalonDock - we use it for more then half a year now, but we're far from release yet so we have the flexibility. Before ending up with AvalonDock we tried Infragistix, ActiPro, SandDock and may be some others.
Even though AvalonDock is not 100% bug free (well what is?) there are no major ones, it is very stable, fast and has all the functionality. It does support multiple docking sites.
Its an open source project and is in active development, so bugs are beeing found and fixed. Good experience so far.
I've been using the ActiPro library for several months and it's done me well. It does support multiple docking sites. The support is outstanding and you get some other controls (date picker, etc) that are missing from WPF. To me, for $150 it's money well spent. It worked out of the box, no fuss.
We used to use Divelements for WinForm controls but we think Actipro has better support, so we switched for WPF.
Just my two cents.
Don't forget AvalonDock on GitHub (part of WPF Toolkit). I've seen it mentioned in other places.
Initially I was going to use the ActiPro library (mostly because I am already using their ribbon), but I might give AvalonDock a chance since it is open source.
Anybody have any feedback/comments on AvalonDock?
I use DotNetBar, because it has ribbon/dock and more controls, and it's inexpensive. It's great.
http://www.devcomponents.com/dotnetbar-wpf/
SandDock is alright. We used it for a POC phase of a project. I found some pretty bad bugs in their layout saving mechanism. It generated XML, but then couldn't load this XML back; it threw an exception! I actually read through all the generated XML and had to write code to modify the XML slightly after each time it was generated. It did not seem like it was a well thought out design; I was hoping for common WPF base types like
Infragistics is a bit better but buggy. In fact, if you try running it on a machine that only has .Net 3.0 and no .Net 3.5, it doesn't work correctly. Have an outstanding dev issue with Infragistics and I don't know if they've made any progress on a fix for this. I've also had it crash a few times when floating a window and dragging it around (suspect this has to do with the .Net 3.0/3.5 issue above). I've found styling this control to be pretty un-intuitive.
I tried all the libraries listed here and they're all buggy to some extent. Although they are pricy I would recommend Telerik and Infragistics. Nevron merits a mention because their library is the best I've seen but it's for WinForms.
1 year later ...
AvalonDock is now stable and robust.
There's also an "AvalonDock wrapper" that simplifies working with it without reducing its possibilities.
See http://sofawpf.codeplex.com/
Here is another one:
http://www.essentialobjects.com/Products/EOWpf/DockView.aspx
This one has a number of built-in skins that you can switch dynamically. It also has many individual controls (such as a "Splitter" control) that you can use independently.
The explorer control in Windows Vista is very handy and I would like to be able to incorporate it in an application written in WPF. I've been unable to find a stock control that is part of the Framework. This application is being specifically developed for Windows Vista and therefore, having the same look and feel as the OS is desirable.
One could use the Microsoft.Win32.OpenFileDialog, but the problem with that is that it looks nothing like Vista's so it sticks out like a sore thumb.
Any thoughts on a good implementation would be most helpful. I would like to stay away from Third Party components if possible, but am definitely open to all suggestions.
Actipro makes a really good WPF breadcrumb control. There's also an open source WPF breadcrumb control that I might actually give a try.
I haven't yet tried it but look at VistaBridge... It gives you all the Vista look dialog boxes!
There is a replacement for the Microsoft.Win32 file dialogs on my blog that gives you the Vista look without the complexity of VistaBridge and is also backward compatible with XP.
http://www.nbdtech.com/blog/archive/2008/07/15/Vista-style-open-and-save-dialogs-with-WPF-without-using.aspx
At the risk of sounding self-serving, the best Breadcrumb control for WPF you can find is here:
http://www.teraque.com/Products/Explorer-Chrome-Suite
I've spent a year trying to reverse engineer the Window's Vista control because none of the off-the-shelf products provided the right look-and-feel. You will run into the limitations of all of the suggestions above sooner or later. And, having been through it myself, I can tell you that trying to embark on developing the controls yourself will take you months. The oddities surrounding the overflow logic alone will be enough to eat up two months just to get it right.
Good luck. If there's anything I can answer for you, please feel free to contact me.
Donald Roy Airey
Donald.Roy.Airey#teraque.com
If you are coding for the .net Framework 3.5, calling for the common dialog should display the correct Vista era dialog.
Sorry, appears I was mistaken. In previous projects, I was using this library to call the Vista dialogs.