Using the Source Code Editor for XAML in Visual Studio
Apologies for the delay in the short series on
What's new in WPF 3.5 but I've been out of action working on a very cool project that you'll hopefully be hearing about soon. In the meantime, try this little tip.
If, like me, you prefer to hand craft your XAML (but you're not nuts enough to use Notepad) then you've probably found that Cider (the WPF designer built into Visual Studio) can sometimes get a little in the way.
Most of us have probably tried using the Visual Studio's XML editor for our XAML files but have yearned for Cider's intellisense which isn't available in the XML editor. If any of this rings a bell then you'll be pleased to hear that you can actually use the
Source Code (Text) Editor for your XAML files which will give you all the syntax highlighting and intellisense you've enjoyed from Cider without the designer window.
Just right click on a .xaml file and choose 'Open With' which will presnet you with the dialog shown above. You can even change the default using the Set Default button. Happy days.
Sure, Cider has it's uses and I wouldn't discount it entirely but if all you want is some intellisense for in a Xaml editor then this is the way to go.
Post By
Josh Twist
02:32
08 Feb 2008
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Comments:
Posted by
Rob
@
08 Feb 2008
10:01
Dude. You rock!
Posted by
Ryan Cromwell
@
08 Feb 2008
11:00
That just made my day.
Posted by
Jan
@
11 Feb 2008
02:47
Thanks! This was really helpful!
Posted by
Philipp
@
11 Feb 2008
06:48
And there's still Kaxaml, which just rocks. I usually prefer it over VS2008 for quick XAML editing :)
Posted by
Nyi Nyi Than
@
11 Feb 2008
20:41
Thanks for your tips. U save my time.
Posted by
Mike Brown
@
22 Feb 2008
07:38
Or you could always just swap the designer and code view in Cider, then minimize the designer.
Posted by
Kavan
@
15 Apr 2008
20:27
I've been using VS since it was born and I've been going crazy because the visual designer was killing IntelliSense after a while.
Now it is truly happy days.
Thanks,
Kavan