XAML Power Toys

Current Version 4.0.0.0, Last Update 10 February 2009

Table Of Contents

Introduction

XAML Power Toys is a Visual Studio 2008 SP1 Multi-AppDomain Add-In that empowers WPF & Silverlight developers while working in the XAML editor.  Its Line of Business form generation tools, Grid tools,  DataGrid and ListView generation really shorten the XAML page layout time.

It’s accessed through commands in the XAML editor context menu and the Solution Explorer item context menu.

XAML Power Toys generates .NET 3.5 SP1 WPF compliant XAML and Silverlight 2 compliant XAML.

This version of XAML Power Toys is compatible with Silverlight 2.0 RTM.

I’ve tagged edited areas in the document with New, to identify new paragraphs and videos for version 4.0.

Requirements

  • Visual Studio 2008 with SP1
  • For Silverlight Development, install the latest Silverlight 2 as detailed on Scott Guthrie’s blog. (If you’re not doing Silverlight development this is not required.)
  • Windows XP, Vista, Server 2003 or Server 2008

Goal

The primary goal of XAML Power Toys is to deliver tools that enable developers to quickly layout and maintain Line of Business Application forms using the UI controls that ship with Visual Studio.

You’ll notice that the below features are business form focused.  This does not limit the use of the software, I’m just providing the current target project type.

New Features In v4.0

Added Two New Videos that cover these new features.  Please watch them.

Please review the Control Defaults section below, new options have been added.

  • Extract properties to a Style allows selecting a control, choosing desired properties and have those selected properties extracted to a newly created style
  • Create ViewModel Class from a VB.NET or C# code window.  Easily create a ViewModel stub that includes commands and exposed data class.
  • Group into GroupBox
  • Option to generate x:Name for controls
  • Option to add ForeReRead converter to TextBox bindings (both VB.NET & C# converters included in source and binary downloads.  Converter is also included in the OceanFramework.WPF namespace.)
  • Option to add TargetNullValue to TextBox.Text bindings when Source property is Nullable
  • Corrected secondary application domain load issue reported by DevExpress.  This fix also solves another edge case secondary application domain load issue.

Feature Set

  • Create ViewModel Class - from a VB.NET or C# code window, easily create a ViewModel stub that includes commands and exposed data class.
  • Create WPF or Silverlight DataGrid For Selected Class - quickly create a DataGrid complete with bindings that are easily associated with properties on the source class
  • Create WPF ListView For Selected Class – quickly create a ListView complete with bindings that are easily associated with properties on the source class
  • Create Business Form For Selected Class – quickly create a form complete with bindings that are easily associated with properties on the source class
  • Create Business Form – quickly create a form complete with bindings if desired 
  • Show Fields List For Selected Class – display a list of class fields similar to Microsoft Access.  Allows dragging of fields to create controls
  • Extract Properties To Style – allows selecting a control, choosing desired properties and have those selected properties extracted to a newly created style
  • Group Into – allows selecting one or more controls and group them inside a new parent control.  Many options provided
  • Change Grid To Flow Layout – allows selecting of one of more control and will remove all MinWidth, MinHeight, Margin properties and will set all row and column definitions to Auto.
  • Chainsaw Minimize Cider Designer XAML – allows selecting of one or more controls and will remove all MinWidth, MinHeight, x:Name, Name, Margin properties and will set all row and column definitions to Auto.
  • Remove Margins – allows selecting one or more controls and removes the Margin property from them
  • Edit Grid Column and Rows – allows selecting a grid and then add or remove rows and columns
  • Set Defaults For Created Controls – allows customizing the initial properties that are set when the software creates a new control
  • About Box – see the version of XAML Power Toys installed on your system.  The current version of XAML Power Toys is always displayed at the top of this page below the title.

Screen Shots

Solution Explorer Content Menu

v31SolutionExplorerMenu

 

Solution Explorer Content Menu

v31SolutionExplorerMenu2

XAML Editor Content Menu

v33Menu

VB.NET and C# Code Window Content Menu

v4CodeWindowContextMenu

Select Class Using Class Picker

The “Create Form, ListView or DataGrid From Selected Class” and “Fields List From Selected Class” XAML Editor commands both open this class picker form.  This form displays all projects and referenced assemblies, except Microsoft assemblies.  If you need to view the Microsoft assemblies, I’ve provided a button that will reload the form with all assemblies and references assemblies including the Microsoft ones.  After selecting the class you press the “Next…” button and you’ll be taken to the appropriate form.

The TreeView is grouped by assembly, namespace and then the classes are sorted by name.

v34SelectClass

Create Business Form For A Class

This form has drag and drop enabled.  Also features a contracted view of fields.

Allows setting required properties.  Data binding validation and other properties are determined from your default control settings.

v31CreateWPFDataGrid

StringFormat Selector

Makes selecting a StringFormat very easy.  Displays the format string and example side by side.

v31FormatPicker

Create Business Form

This was a version one feature.  Allows creating a form when not class is available.  Great for roughing out Grids and populating with controls.

v31CreateBusinessForm

Fields List

Similar to the Microsoft Access Fields List, this allows dragging a field to the XAML Editor and the field and/or label control will be created for you, with all data bindings set for the property.  This floats on top of Visual Studio and you can collapse it.  The fields list is a great tool when you need to add a new field to an existing layout.

v33FieldsList 

Control Defaults

XAML Power Toys allows developers to determine how controls are created by the software.  The developer can describe how each platforms controls are rendered.  Developers can determine which data binding validation properties are set automatically and exactly which properties are set when the control is created.  In the below example, I have set the WPF TextBox to have the HorizontalAlignment and VerticalAlignment properties set.

New  ForceReRead Converter – VB.NET & C# converters included in source and binary downloads.  Converter is also included in the OceanFramework.WPF namespace.

New  The ForceReRead converter is discussed in this MSDN Form Post.  This converter is necessary for TextBox bindings where the Source property “could” be changing the property in the Setter.  Example, the user enters “wa” in the TextBox.  The Source property State Setter is called and “wa” passed.  The State Setter then sets the Value to WA.  Without this converter, the data binding pipeline will not re-read the property and display the new “WA” value in the TextBox.  With the converter, “WA” is displayed in the TextBox.

New  The ForceReRead converter is not added if the TextBox.Text binding has the StringFormat property is set because it is not needed.  If you edit the generated TextBox.Text binding and need to add another converter to your code instead of the ForceReRead converter your converter will force the value to be re-read by the data binding pipeline.

New  TargetNullValue – when TextBox.Text property is data bound to a Nullable Source, setting the TargetNullValue=” will allow the Source property to be set to Nothing (null) without generating a binding exception.  Without this property a converter would be required to set the value to Nothing (null).  This enables an empty string in a TextBox to correctly set the Source to Nothing (null).

v4ControlDefaults

The below image shows the setup for the Silverlight Toolkit Label control.  The imported name space is “controls” and the entire value is entered, “controls:Label”

Also new to the Control Defaults dialog box is the DatePicker for Silverlight and WPF.

v35LabelDefaults

Videos

I’m begging every developer in the strongest possible terms, please view the below videos. They will get you up and running and productive in a very short time.

The video links require Microsoft Silverlight 1.0.  If you do not have it, you will be prompted to install it when you click one of the links.  After the short installation is completed, close the browser window that you did the install in and re-click the video you want to watch.   You can also download it here. Windows XP or Vista required.

  XAML Power Toys Installation and Setup  MUST VIEW   Set Control Settings (7:13)  Please View 
  Create ViewModel For Model (8:53)  New   Version 4 Control Settings (11:10)  New Please View 
  Create Business Form (5:19)   Build Form For Class (9:33)
  Edit Grid Row Columns (7:22)   Fields List For Class(6:11)
  Grid Tools (Remove Margins, Chainsaw) (5:22)   Group Into (7:28 )
  Silverlight DataGrid For Class (9:53)   WPF DataGrid For Class(6:59)
  WPF ListView For Class (7:18 )  

Overview

If you’re reading this and have not watched the above videos, please do so now, especially the Installation and Setup video.  (thank you!)  I won’t be repeating the content of the videos below.  They are short and to the point.  You’ll be up and running, saving lots of time in just a few minutes.

I’m supplying the source code for those who have authored Visual Studio Add-In’s or who want to look under the covers.  Visual Studio Add-In’s are not the difficult to write, but there is a new programming API to learn.

The XAML Power Toys UI is WPF which made the coding very easy.  There is one hurtle I had to get past.  The XAML Power Toys Add-In does not program against any object model, it is really just manipulating text.  There is no object model available in Visual Studio Add-In’s to program against which is why the Add-In has the developer selecting text in the XAML editor.  The add-in then processes that selected text.  The Grid Row and Column Editor does some pretty slick stuff, all without any real object model to program against.  This was my first crack and working with the XMLDocument so any feedback on better techniques will be well received.

Creating Business Forms, ListViews and DataGrids

I want to emphasize a requirement when creating a business form for a class.  You must ensure that the project that contains the class has been built.  If you make any changes to the source class that you want to make a form for, you must rebuild the project so that the add-in can property reflect the properties of the source class.

When selecting a file from the solution explorer by right clicking on it, the file name must match the class name.  If you have multiple classes in one file, or a class in a file with a different name, then use the Class Selector in the XAML Editor to create your business form, ListView or DataGrid.

Enhance Your Design Time Experience

Mark Boulter, Ben Wulfe and I have come up with a solution for displaying design time data in Visual Studio’s Cider Designer and I have posted that solution in this blog post;  Viewing Design Time Data in Visual Studio 2008 Cider Designer in WPF and Silverlight Projects.

This solution provides design time data for WPF and Silverlight projects.  It is especially helpful when working with DataTemplates, DataGrids and ListViews.  This solution is very easy to implement and also works in Expression Blend.

The below image is the Cider Designer displaying design time data for a Silverlight application.  Design time data cut my layout time by 75% because I didn’t have to re-run the project between edits.

SilverlightOne

Installation

Ensure that you have installed Visual Studio 2008 SP1.

For Silverlight Development, install the latest Silverlight 2 as detailed on Scott Guthrie’s blog. (If you’re not doing Silverlight development this is not required.)

Upgrading from Version 1 or 2 to 3.x?  Please use Control Panel and remove XAML Power Toys before installing the package.

Upgrading from Version 3.0 to 3.x?  Just run the install package.

First Time Use

The first time you use XAML Power Toys please edit and save your Control Default Settings.  If you do not do this, and you access a feature that needs them, default settings will be created, saved and a dialog box will display, informing you of the action just taken.  By editing and saving your Control Default Settings before using XAML Power Toys, you’ll not only avoid this intrusive dialog box, but you’ll know and can control how controls are created by XAML Power Toys.

Control Default Settings are now being saved in the installation directory so that you’ll never lose your settings again.  This file is not replaced during a re-installation or during a Control Panel removal.  You can also easily backup your settings.

Add-In Macro Security

In order for Visual Studio to discover XAML Power Toys, the XAMLPowerToys.Addin file must be in a path in the below dialog box.  Additionally the .Addin file contains a path to the actual Add-In.

We are all developers, and I really don’t want someone changing my system registry or security settings without my knowledge and consent.

So, I have added this additional installation step that is fully explained in the above Installation and Setup video.  All that is required, is that you add the path the XAML Power Toys to your Visual Studio Add-In and Macro Security settings.  Now you are in full control of allowing or not allowing the Add-In to load or even be known by Visual Studio.

v31Security

Downloads

After downloading the below package you must rename the extension from .DOC to .zip.  This is a requirement of WordPress.com.

Remember – Please build your projects before attempting to create forms or using the Field List.

Please set your Control Defaults after installing, new options have been added.

Download XAML Power Toys v4.0 Release Installer (992 KB)

Download XAML Power Toys v4.0 Source Code not required (507 KB)

Silverlight 2.0 ComboBox Data Binding Bug

When testing the Silverlight ComboBox column, I found that under certain circumstances the initial data binding of the ComboBox does not select the item pointed to in the DataContext.  This occurs when the DataContext is set before the ComboBox.ItemsSource is populated and the ComboBox has it’s data bindings established in the XAML markup.  If the ComboBox items are populated in XAML with <ComboBoxItems> this does not apply and the ComboBox works normally.

Let’s look at an example that provides a solution.  The below XAML is a Silverlight DataGridTemplateColumn with a ComboBox.  The ComboBox is associated with the “Id” property on the DataContext.  Notice the ComboBox Loaded event handler.  In addition, when XAML Power Toys emits a Silverlight ComboBox, I have placed a short comment in the XAML spit, reminding you to use this pattern.

<data:DataGridTemplateColumn Header="Id" SortMemberPath="Id">
    <data:DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate>
        <DataTemplate>

            <ComboBox Loaded="cboCustomerId_Loaded" />

        </DataTemplate>
    </data:DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate>
</data:DataGridTemplateColumn>

The below code is the event handler.  The ItemsSource is populated first and then the data binding to the SelectedItem property is established.  Remember, the DataContext has already been establish when the DataGrid was created.  Writing your code following this pattern ensures that the ComboBox will select the correct item when the data bindings are established.

Private Sub cboCustomerId_Loaded(ByVal sender As System.Object, _
                                 ByVal e As System.Windows.RoutedEventArgs)

    'combobox itemssource
    Dim ary As Integer() = {1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7}
    Dim cbo As ComboBox = CType(sender, ComboBox)
    cbo.ItemsSource = ary

    'combobox binding
    Dim objBinding As New Binding("Id") With {.Mode = BindingMode.TwoWay}
    cbo.SetBinding(ComboBox.SelectedItemProperty, objBinding)

End Sub

If you have a ComboBox on a UserControl and the ComboBox is being populated in code, you should follow this same above pattern if your ComboBox SelectedItem is bound to a DataContext.

Cool Usage Tips

I have written a blog post on how to select large amounts of XAML when performing a Group Into.  The blog post is Cool Usage Tip For XAML Power Toys.  Check it out and easily select large amounts of XAML when Grouping or working with Grids.

Here is a follow up blog post that provides another solution to selecting large portions of XAML:  Super Tip For XAML Power Toys

XAML Power Toys Walk Through’s

Pete O’Hanlon published a walk though for MOXAML Power Toys and XAML Power Toys working together to very quickly author a Silverlight LOB form.  Check it out.  Great job Pete and thank you!

Future of XAML Power Toys

Please post your feedback to this post and I’ll make required updates and add features as necessary.  The idea behind this project was to provide simple features that I need every day when working in the XAML editor.  If there are tasks that you find yourself manually doing a lot, please post a comment and I’ll look at the request.  If you have to submit a request that can’t be explained in a few sentences please send it to moleproject@yahoo.com.  You can include screen shots and longer text documents as required.

Have a great day.

Just a grain of sand on the worlds beaches.

192 Responses to “XAML Power Toys”

  1. XAML Power Toys « Karl On WPF - .Net Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys   [...]

  2. peteohanlon Says:

    Karl – any update on the update?

  3. Digilocity Says:

    Karl… I’ve search far and wide for the XAML Power Toys download, but it seems to be hiding. Can you help?

  4. MoXAMLPowerToys « Musings and frustrations Says:

    [...] Microsoft, MoXAMLPowerToys, WPF — peteohanlon @ 8:37 pm Inspired by the truly excellent XAML Power Toys from Karl Shifflett, I’m pleased to introduce MoXAMLPowerToys, which stands for More XAML [...]

  5. peteohanlon Says:

    Karl – I’ve started off a project called MoXAMLPowerToys (my tribute to XAMLPowerToys), where I’ll be adding additional productivity enhancements. It’s available on my blog.

  6. XAML Power Toys v2 Released (finally) Code Name: Hawaii « Karl On WPF - .Net Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys [...]

  7. leppie Says:

    The links are 404!

  8. Karl Shifflett Says:

    I have corrected the links.

    Sorry for the trouble.

    Cheers,

    Karl

  9. More MoXAML « Musings and frustrations Says:

    [...] As always, keep your comments coming in and let me know what else you’d like to see – and while you’re at it, don’t forget to download the original XAMLPowerToys. [...]

  10. Troubleshooting FileNotFoundException When Loading a Secondary AppDomain « Karl On WPF - .Net Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys [...]

  11. peteohanlon Says:

    Karl – can I say that this is fantastic stuff? Bring on the sprint – I want features.

  12. Karl Shifflett Says:

    Lot’s of very cool features coming this weekend!!!!

  13. XAML Power Toys 2.0.8 Released New Features « Karl On WPF - .Net Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys [...]

  14. tischnoetentoet Says:

    First of all, this looks very promising and useful!

    I have one request: is it possible for you to automatically create an x:Uid attribute to a label element so I don’t have to do this manually?

    Thanks in advance!

  15. Karl Shifflett Says:

    tischnoetentoet did you try adding it to your properties for the label?

    This video explains how to do this.

    http://silverlight.services.live.com/invoke/48184/XAMLPowerToysv208Accessories/iframe.html

    This feature was added to the lastest build.

    Add Property x:Uid and then include a value in the Value column like x or .

    Both fields are required entry so you’ll need to include a value in the value field.

    Cheers,

    karl

  16. tischnoetentoet Says:

    Nice, thank you very much :)

  17. tischnoetentoet Says:

    Sorry for my 2nd question. When I right-click on a class -> Show Field List of Class, I see the public properties of the class (which is what I need). However, if I right-click on a class -> Create Form … For Class, I get too much information but none of them belongs to the class.

    The Window title says: Create business form for class: Patient(which is correct). However, the class properties available are all UI properties, but the class has no base class. Even more simple, the class definition is like below:

    public class Patient
    {
    #region Variables
    private int _id = 0;
    private string _initials = “”;
    private string _lastName = “”;
    private string _maidenName = “”;
    private DateTime _birthDay = DateTime.MinValue;
    private string _gender = “”;
    #endregion

    #region Constructor & destructor
    public Patient(int id, string initials, string lastName, string maidenName, DateTime birthDay, string gender)
    {
    // Store values
    _id = id;
    _initials = initials;
    _lastName = lastName;
    _maidenName = maidenName;
    _birthDay = birthDay;
    _gender = gender;
    }
    #endregion

    #region Properties
    ///
    /// Gets the ID
    ///
    public int ID
    {
    get
    {
    return _id;
    }
    }

    ///
    /// Gets the initials
    ///
    public string Initials
    {
    get
    {
    return _initials;
    }
    }

    ///
    /// Gets the last name
    ///
    public string LastName
    {
    get
    {
    return _lastName;
    }
    }

    ///
    /// Gets the maiden name
    ///
    public string MaidenName
    {
    get
    {
    return _maidenName;
    }
    }

    ///
    /// Gets the birthday
    ///
    public DateTime BirthDay
    {
    get
    {
    return _birthDay;
    }
    }

    ///
    /// Gets the gender
    ///
    public string Gender
    {
    get
    {
    return _gender;
    }
    }
    #endregion

    #region Methods
    #endregion
    }

    In your video, you simply select the class and all works like it should. Am I missing something? I am using v2.0.8.0.

  18. mstrobel Says:

    Nice work, Karl. Perhaps you would consider turning this into an open-source project on CodePlex? I’m sure many of us would be interested in contributing.

    Regards,
    Mike

  19. Karl Shifflett Says:

    Mike,

    I have posted the source code so anyone can modify it.

    Anyone can submit suggestions to me and I’ll consider and add the feature.

    I’m also providing the ability for others to write fetures that I can dynamically discover and load.

    If you want to be part of this, send me a link to your blog.

    Cheers,

    Karl

  20. Karl Shifflett Says:

    tischnoetentoet,

    I have tried to duplicate your problem but can’t. I used your class and it worked as advertised.

    I’m doing some addition testing and coding tonight. Check on Friday for an update and see if this solves your issue.

    Currently I only have one machine to test on. I just moved in and have not unpacked yet. Soon.

    Cheers,

    Karl

  21. XAML Power Toys 3.1.0.2 Has Silverlight 2 Support! « Karl On WPF - .Net Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys [...]

  22. Silverlight Travel » Blog Archiv » XAML Power Toys auch fuer Silverlight Says:

    [...] Das Schweizer-Messer für WPF-Silverlight Von Karl Shifflett [...]

  23. peteohanlon Says:

    The new version of XAML Power Toys is a sure fire hit. It is, to the designer world, what Mole is for the debugging world. A top notch 10 out of 5 from me.

  24. XAML Power Toys for Silverlight Says:

    [...] been working on another project called XAML Power Toys.  What is it?  In his own [...]

  25. chauey Says:

    hi, where is the link to download the videos? there link in the blog i think points to http://www.microsoft.com/silverlight/, which then i have no idea where to go from there.. i searched for xaml power toys on that page… or do i just have to watch it from those other links from the SL 1 video player? i rather download the videos… thanks.

    -chau
    DNAfor.NET

  26. chauey Says:

    oh, “you can download it here” probably refers to the SL1, and not the videos… any place to download the videos?

  27. XAML Power Toys for Silverlight and WPF | DavideZordan.net Says:

    [...] original post and the installer is available here. « Delphi Prism: a plug-in for Visual [...]

  28. Karl Shifflett Says:

    Chauey,

    You can copy the link url from the video links. I’m not sure how to provide a direct link from Silverlight streaming.

    I’ll see what I can do for you.

    On the good side, the videos all stream at 250KB, which by Internet standards is pretty low for a video.

    Have a great day,

    Karl

  29. brantob Says:

    Hi Karl,

    I’m getting an error when attempting to create a form for a class. I get a null reference exception. You can look at my blog post here to see the error image:

    http://brantob.wordpress.com/2008/10/

    - One other suggestion – due to virtualization issues, you probably want to save settings not under program files but under AppData/

    Thanks for the wonderful tool!!!
    -Brant

  30. brantob Says:

    My apologies!!! (it’s a WTFV – watch the ___ video). After I built the project, I don’t get the error. Sorry about the distraction. Although the virtualization suggestion may be valuable. Thanks for the great videos. – Brant

  31. XAML Powertoys Now with Silverlight 2.0 Support : Says:

    [...] Karl on WPF has just released an update of XAML Powertoys, with new (RC0)  Silverlight 2.0 support. Now if he’d just provide this as an Expression Blend add-in as well (smile). Anyway check this out.. [...]

  32. donburnett Says:

    It would be really nice if you could use the Chainsaw Feature without removing “NAMED” elements. Believe it or not, people do some odd stuff with coding inside the XAML which makes name very helpful to keep..

  33. benhayat Says:

    Hi Karl;

    This is a fantastic product, especially since we really won’t get any visual editing for Silverlight in VS2008 until VS2010. So your product has great timing.

    Two questions:
    a) As I’ve seen on several blogs that MSFT will release new components for SL RTW, particularly important for your product, is the “Label”. Will you be supporting these new components for the SL version?

    b) Would it be possible to run this program in Blend?

    Thanks!
    ..Ben

  34. dbaechtel Says:

    I tried to create a Businees form for Class in Silverlight 2 RC0 in VB for a simple class and got three compiler errors. I am including the XAML for your use. Please fix.

    Errors:
    Error 4 The attachable property ‘IsSharedSizeScope’ was not found in type ‘Grid’. C:\Projects\SilverlightApplication12\SilverlightApplication12\Page.xaml 39 60 SilverlightApplication12
    Error 5 The property ‘SharedSizeGroup’ was not found in type ‘ColumnDefinition’. C:\Projects\SilverlightApplication12\SilverlightApplication12\Page.xaml 41 25 SilverlightApplication12
    Error 6 The property ‘SharedSizeGroup’ was not found in type ‘ColumnDefinition’. C:\Projects\SilverlightApplication12\SilverlightApplication12\Page.xaml 42 25 SilverlightApplication12

  35. dbaechtel Says:

    Last post did not print XAML, so here is the VB Class that generated the errors.

    Public Class Employee
    Public Property FirstName() As String
    Get

    End Get
    Set(ByVal value As String)

    End Set
    End Property
    Public Property LastName() As String
    Get

    End Get
    Set(ByVal value As String)

    End Set
    End Property
    Public Property Position() As String
    Get

    End Get
    Set(ByVal value As String)

    End Set
    End Property
    Public Property Salary() As Decimal
    Get

    End Get
    Set(ByVal value As Decimal)

    End Set
    End Property
    Public Property HireDate() As Date
    Get

    End Get
    Set(ByVal value As Date)

    End Set
    End Property

    End Class

  36. Karl Shifflett Says:

    Brantob,

    Yep, watching the movie is a VERY GOOD THING. I’ll try and give a suggestion in the error message to rebuild the project.

    Cheers,

    Karl

  37. Karl Shifflett Says:

    donburnett,

    Great suggestion, I’ll add a feature to CHAINSAW without removing the names.

    I did this because the designer names everything that gets dragged into it.

    Thank you again.

    Cheers,

    Karl

  38. Karl Shifflett Says:

    benhayat,

    I didn’t know that Silverlight RTM will have a label.

    As soon as it ships, I’ll check out the new goodness and update XAML Power Toys that night.

    Thank you for the heads up!!

    Cheers,

    karl

  39. Karl Shifflett Says:

    dbaechtel ,

    Great catch. I assume that you used the button row feature of the form. That is where the grid sharedscopesize code is.

    Just look at the buttons and clear those properties.

    I didn’t test as well as I thought.

    I will correct this when RTM is released.

    Cheers and thank you!!

    Karl

  40. XAML Power Toys v.3.1.0.2 Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys v.3.1.0.2 Оценок нетCurrently 0/5 Stars.12345 Tags: silverlight, tools, visual studio Categories: [...]

  41. Ben Hayat Says:

    Kark, the following list I picked up from Shawn Burke’s site:
    http://blogs.msdn.com/sburke/archive/2008/09/17/control-freak.aspx

    ——————–
    Here’s a list of the Silverlight controls we are currently working on that we think will be ready. We are working on some other components as well, but I’m leaving them off the list until we have higher-confidence about them being ready:

    * DockPanel
    * WrapPanel
    * ViewBox
    * Label
    * HeaderedContentControl
    * Expander
    * TreeView
    * NumericUpDown
    * AutoComplete
    * Accordion
    ——————-

    Unless, I misunderstood his post.

  42. Karl Shifflett Says:

    Ben,

    Outstanding. Thanks for the information, I’ll follow up.

    Cheers,

    Karl

  43. brantob Says:

    To My Fellow Numbskulls:

    If you get an error while trying to generate XAML from a class (such as this: http://brantob.wordpress.com/2008/10/7/), please make sure the class is public.

    Karl,

    If you want to idiot proof the tools a bit, you might consider posting a warning about this (I’m not sure if you have access to the internal / private classes, though).

    Thanks,
    Brant

  44. brantob Says:

    Dear Karl,

    Okay this is not my day. The public class doesn’t seem to have any bearing on it. I’ll dig a little more.

    -Brant

  45. brantob Says:

    Karl,

    Is there a trick to debugging / setting breakpoints in your source project? I placed the latest debug dlls in the install directory, started debugging (which kicks up a new instance of VS 2008), but my breakpoints in FieldsListCommand class don’t seem to be working.

    Any input appreciated.

    Thanks,
    Brant

  46. Karl Shifflett Says:

    Bran Tob,

    1. Have you built your project?

    2. What is not working?

    3. What message are you getting?

    4. What type of project are you trying to build a form from?

    You can use the source code and launch a debug version and debug normally.

    Cheers,

    karl

  47. brantob Says:

    Karl,

    Finally!!! I figured it out. The PowerTools makes an assumption about the class name when it tries to discover the class in the assembly.(specifically, RemoteTypeReflector.GetClassEntityForSelectedSolutionExplorerItem). It assumes that the class name matches the file name exactly (minus the .vb or cs). It’s probably worth posting a more specific error, or maybe even parsing the source file for the class name (or even more fancy, post a list box if there are more than one classes).

    Thanks so much for posting the source – I built a debug installer, ran that, and that did the trick!

    Thanks,
    Brant

  48. Karl Shifflett Says:

    Brant,

    That information is detailed in the video. Sorry you missed it. This was the only way to do it when clicking on a file.

    I’m adding in the ability to select a type from an assembly so that no one would have this issue.

    Cheers,

    Karl

  49. brantob Says:

    Karl,

    I guess that’s what happens when you pour 10 gallons of videos (I’ve been watching a ton lately – Mike Taulty, etc.) into a 2 gallon brain. Sorry I missed that.

    -Brant

  50. Karl Shifflett Says:

    Brant,

    I’ll try and hightligh requirments better so others won’t have the same issue.

    Like I always say, “It’s all good.”

    Thanks for the feedback and have a great day,

    Karl

  51. kedezihclem Says:

    Hey Karl,

    Do you have any idea how freakin awesome you are dude?!?!

  52. Karl Shifflett Says:

    kedezihclem,

    Wow!! Talk about the comment of the year! Wow.

    No, I’m just keeping it real, doing my little part and having a wonderful time!!

    Cheers and thanks!

    Karl

  53. XAML Power Toys at { null != Steve } Says:

    [...] http://karlshifflett.wordpress.com/xaml-power-toys/ XAML Power Toys is a Visual Studio 2008 SP1 Multi-AppDomain Add-In that empowers WPF & Silverlight developers while working in the XAML editor.  Its Line of Business form generation tools, Grid tools,  DataGrid and ListView generation really shorten the XAML page layout time. [...]

  54. Cool Usage Tip For XAML Power Toys « Karl On WPF - .Net Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys [...]

  55. XAML Power Toys & MoXAML - the one-two knockout punch. « Musings and frustrations Says:

    [...] Power Toys — peteohanlon @ 12:02 pm In this post, I’d like to talk about how MoXAML and XAML Power Toys can work together to produce applications quickly and easily. We’re going to look at how to [...]

  56. Karl and his XAML Power Toys « C# Disciples Says:

    [...] and his XAML Power Toys Karl Shifflett has done a great job in his new XAML Power Toys. This tool can really speed up development big time. I am simple amazed at the ideas that this guy [...]

  57. XAML Power Toys 3.3 Released With New Class Browser « Karl On WPF - .Net Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys [...]

  58. Jonathan Bates : Silverlight 2 Released Says:

    [...] there are Karl Shifflett (of fame and acclaim in the WPF world) has PowerToys for Silverlight to make your Silverlight / XAML / WPF developer experience that much more fun.  It allows you [...]

  59. XAML Power Toys 3.3.0.1 « Karl On WPF - .Net Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys [...]

  60. Gold Coast : MUST HAVE: XAML Power Toys Says:

    [...] Shifflet just updated his XAML Power Toys to support the Silverlight 2 release.  If you are doing any WPF or Silverlight development, [...]

  61. Public Sector Developer Weblog : MUST HAVE: XAML Power Toys Says:

    [...] Shifflet just updated his XAML Power Toys to support the Silverlight 2 release.  If you are doing any WPF or Silverlight development, [...]

  62. Springboard from mortarboard to onboard : XAML PowerToys for Silverlight Says:

    [...] = undefined;Tim Heuer added onto the Silverlight Conversation today by pointing out these XAML PowerToys for Silverlight 2. Posted: Tuesday, October 14, 2008 6:58 PM by HilaryPike Filed under: silverlight, web, [...]

  63. prasrao Says:

    karl,
    I have installed 3.3, However I do not get the xaml options in the right-click in the XAML code window.

    I am using VS2008 SP1 with .Net 2.5 SP1. I do get the XAML PToys options in the Soln Explorer window.

    What could have gone wrong. I did not download the source code and rebuild the projects. I used the Release Installer.

    prasanna

  64. Karl Shifflett Says:

    Prasrao,

    Please view the Installation Video. You need to enable the Add-In in Visual Studio. See the above Add-In Macro Security Section. You’ll be up and running in no time.

    Cheers,

    Karl

  65. prasrao Says:

    Karl,
    I did follow the video. I added the path of the addin to the Add-In Macro Security Section.

    It does show-up when I right-click a file in Solution Explorer, which tells me the add-in is enabled.
    Also I can right-click a class file and generate a Business Form.

    However if the class file has multiple classes, it only works on the first found class, it does not allow selection/choosing the class by the user.

    Prasanna

  66. Karl Shifflett Says:

    Prasrao,

    Yes, this was by design for the Solution Explorer.

    If you have a look at the New Features 3.3 section above, it explains the Class Selector features.

    Just right click on the XAML editor, and start creating your form from there. It allows picking a class from your assemblies.

    Also, have a look at the last video, new features for 3.3. It cover this.

    Cheers,

    Karl

  67. thamaluk Says:

    Carl

    I just loaded version 3.3.0.1 and I now get the following error when I right click on a class and select Create Form, Listview or Grid

    “Unable to create secondary appdomain worker.
    could not load file or assembly
    or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified”

    This did work with version 2 and I have recompilied the app and it runs OK

    Can you help me out ?

  68. Karl Shifflett Says:

    thamaluk,

    Please zip up the project and send to moleproject@yahoo.com

    Cheers,

    Karl

  69. MUST HAVE: XAML Power Toys | Programmer's Edge Says:

    [...] Shifflet just updated his XAML Power Toys to support the Silverlight 2 release.  If you are doing any WPF or Silverlight development, [...]

  70. mythox Says:

    The Download links not run :O I change the extension to ZIP, but not run …

  71. colinblair Says:

    In Silverlight, if you have any class derived from DataServiceContext (i.e. you are trying to use Astoria) you get an exception message box when trying to use XAML Power Toys:

    Unable to Create Secondary AppDomain Worker Could not load file or assembly ‘<SilverlightApplication3, Version=1.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null’ or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified. I am using VB.

    This can be replicated by referencing System.Data.Services.Client and using the following:
    Public Class Class1
    Inherits System.Data.Services.Client.DataServiceContext
    Public Sub New(ByVal serviceRoot As Global.System.Uri)
    MyBase.New(serviceRoot)
    End Sub
    End Class

  72. Karl Shifflett Says:

    mythox.

    Download the files to your disk.

    Change the extension from zip.doc to .zip.

    Uncompress the newly renamed file.

    Karl

  73. stevensrf1 Says:

    DOES anyone know if the there is source that is available in C#? The source code downloaded in in Vb.net. Is anyone knows where I can download the source code in C# you can email me at steve_44@inbox.com with the link. Thanks

  74. Karl Shifflett Says:

    Steve,

    I write all my code in VB.NET

    New version coming today with some new features.

    XAML Power Toys is actually designed to allow developers to write features in C# and XAML Power Toys can call them.

    Let me know if you have some. Very easy to consume them.

    Cheers,

    Karl

  75. superlloyd Says:

    It would be nice if the link to download the installer was somewhere at the top or in the side box, instead of somewhere in the middle!!!
    Everytime I want to download the latest (cool) update, I spent some confused time trying to look for the installer link.
    Today I used the “search” feature of IE with the keyworkd “download” and it returns the Silverlight download first! thankfully the next “download” was the installer.
    But why is it that I need to do search?
    How about puting the link at the top?

  76. Karl Shifflett Says:

    Lloyd,

    Thanks for pointing this out. I’ll add a table of contents at the top.

    I do this on purpose, hoping the new users would watch some videos and read the directions.

    Nice aviatar.

    Cheers,

    Karl

  77. October 22nd Links: ASP.NET, Visual Studio, WPF and Silverlight - ScottGu's Blog Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys Released for WPF and Silverlight: Karl Shifflett has released an awesome update to his XAML Power Toys download.  This is a must-have download if you are doing WPF or Silverlight development, and provides a bunch of great wizards and tools that help automating application development.  Very, very cool stuff. [...]

  78. BusinessRx Reading List : October 22nd Links: ASP.NET, Visual Studio, WPF and Silverlight Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys Released for WPF and Silverlight: Karl Shifflett has released an awesome update to his XAML Power Toys download.  This is a must-have download if you are doing WPF or Silverlight development, and provides a bunch of great wizards and tools that help automating application development.  Very, very cool stuff. [...]

  79. Silverlight Resources - Zuker On Foundations Says:

    [...] XAML Power ToysXAML Power Toys is a Visual Studio 2008 SP1 Multi-AppDomain Add-In that empowers WPF & [...]

  80. WPF & Silverlight LOB Form Layout - Searching for a Better Solution « Karl On WPF - .Net Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys [...]

  81. roboo77 Says:

    This is crazy helpful for the people does not have Blender.

    –From: http://technetguy.com/blog

  82. Karl Shifflett Says:

    roboo77,

    Thank you for your kind remarks. Glad you like XAML Power Toys!

    Thanks for your feedback.

    Cheers,

    Karl

  83. Public Sector Developer Weblog : Austin Dev Conference - Follow up... Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys [...]

  84. XAML Power Toys - davcup's Blog Says:

    [...] documentazione, video e download qui [...]

  85. Link-Sammlung #1 at Blog von Jürgen Ebner Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys – Download, welcher für WPF oder Silverlight-Entwicklung verwendet wird, welcher eine Menge von Features bereitstellt und ein Tool welches hilft die Applikationsentwicklung zu automatisieren. [...]

  86. Austin Dev Conference - Follow up… | Programmer's Edge Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys [...]

  87. Enlaces a 22 de Octubre: ASP.NET, Visual Studio, WPF y Silverlight « Thinking in .NET Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys para WPF y Silverlight: Karl Shifflett ha publicado una actualización de su herramienta XAML Power Toys. Es una descarga obligada si estáis desarrollando con WPF o Silverlight, y aporta un montón de asistentes y herramientas que ayudan al desarrollo automatizado. Muy interesante. [...]

  88. All New XAML Power Toys Videos Published « Karl On WPF - .Net Says:

    [...] All New XAML Power Toys Videos Published I have remade all the XAML Power Toys videos and published them on the XAML Power Toys Home Page. [...]

  89. October 22nd Links: ASP.NET, Visual Studio, WPF and Silverlight - Programming Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys Released for WPF and Silverlight: Karl Shifflett has released an awesome update to his XAML Power Toys download.  This is a must-have download if you are doing WPF or Silverlight development, and provides a bunch of great wizards and tools that help automating application development.  Very, very cool stuff. [...]

  90. Blog Carnival #10 - IHateSpaghetti {code} Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys Released for WPF and Silverlight [...]

  91. Not At PDC? Check out notatpdc.com « Karl On WPF - .Net Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys [...]

  92. XAML Power Toys 3.5 Released Updated For New WPF & Silverlight Toolkits « Karl On WPF - .Net Says:

    [...] You can download the new version of XAML Power Toys here. [...]

  93. XAML Power Toys for VS 2008 - Hírcsatorna - devPortal Says:

    [...] http://karlshifflett.wordpress.com/xaml-power-toys/ Posted Oct 31 2008, 02:08 PM by Arvai Zoltan Filed under: Silverlight, WPF [...]

  94. Silverlight 2 links « SCIP.be Weblog Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys : Karl Shifflett released a great set of Visual Studio 2008 SP1 addins for generating WPF/Silverlight forms, modifying layouts in XAML, … [...]

  95. Video Training - WindowsClient.net Says:

    [...] Author: Karl Shifflett [...]

  96. Video Training - WindowsClient.net Says:

    [...] Author: Karl Shifflett  [...]

  97. XAML Power Toys - tomledk Says:

    [...] http://karlshifflett.wordpress.com/xaml-power-toys/ Posted: nov 10 2008, 07:35 by thomas.martinsen | with no comments Filed under: Silverlight, WPF, XAML Leave a Comment [...]

  98. jmbucknallctodx Says:

    Karl, Couldn’t find your email anywhere, so I’m using this channel instead. Some of our customers are havving issues when using XAML PowerToys along with our assemblies. We’ve worked out a bug fix, and need to get it to you so you can update. You can contact me through my WordPress account or julianb@devexpress.com.

    Cheers, Julian

  99. Interesting Finds: November 20, 2008 « Hank Wallace Says:

    [...] Greg Duncan – Lucene.Net Resource List – Books, links and API’s, oh my… Karl Shifflett – XAML Power Toys Released for WPF and Silverlight OnStartups – Winps Wait. Revolutionaries Release Early. Brad Abrams – What Does that .NET Namespace [...]

  100. Ben Hayat Says:

    Hi Karl;

    I’ve been out of the loop since before SL RTM and the toolkit. I was wondering if you have got the new SL “Label” incorporated into your tool kit? If not, any timeframe plans?

    Thanks!

    p.s. I loved the video with Adam!

  101. Karl Shifflett Says:

    Ben,

    Yes the SL label has been working since SL RTM.

    Cheers,

    Karl

  102. Design time drag-and-drop binding is on its way « Colin Eberhardt’s Adventures in WPF Says:

    [...] is something that is harder for the developer community to address, however Karl Shifflet’s XAML Power Toys, which add drag and drop form generation make a pretty good stab at [...]

  103. A Must read WPF Resource,Books,Articles and Blogs. - As a Developer Says:

    [...] Karl Shifflett – the Maker of XAML Power Toys [...]

  104. kencox Says:

    Great stuff Karl!

    Is there a way to get the Create Form tool to work on the Service Reference for ADO Data Services Entities? For example the generated Reference.vb includes a class of Entities with lots of public properties like this:

    Public Property DepartmentID() As Integer
    Get
    Return Me._DepartmentID
    End Get
    Set
    Me.OnDepartmentIDChanging(value)
    Me._DepartmentID = value
    Me.OnDepartmentIDChanged
    End Set
    End Property

    Thanks for a fabulous tool!

    Ken
    Microsoft MVP [ASP.NET]

  105. kencox Says:

    Nevermind… it does this already! Choose the object name, not the *Entities name!

  106. XAML Power Toys - Leading Edge @ .NET Says:

    [...] Link: http://karlshifflett.wordpress.com/xaml-power-toys/ [...]

  107. XAML Power Toys - Una pizca de JavaScript en la Web Says:

    [...] http://karlshifflett.wordpress.com/xaml-power-toys/#Downloads [...]

  108. XAML Power Toys - Eugenio Estrada's Weblog Says:

    [...] http://karlshifflett.wordpress.com/xaml-power-toys/#Downloads [...]

  109. Una pizca de JavaScript en la Web : XAML Power Toys Says:

    [...] http://karlshifflett.wordpress.com/xaml-power-toys/#Downloads [...]

  110. links for 2008-12-04 Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys « Karl On WPF – .Net (tags: wpf visualstudio tools programming free xaml) Daily Links [...]

  111. XAML Power Toys - Instant Form Generation | CHARGED's Digital Lifestyle at Work or Play Says:

    [...] Shifflett brought one of his favorite Hawaiian shirts and his XAML Power Toys in to the studio and it was time to play.  Karl demonstrates how to use his Visual Studio Add-In to [...]

  112. kencox Says:

    Hey Karl,

    A nice enhancement would be to generate a default identifier for the controls as the value for the Name attribute:

    You could concatenate a commonly used prefixes for controls such as lbl, cmb, lst, grd with the name of the field.

    Thanks for listening, and thanks for a great tool!

    Ken

  113. Karl Shifflett Says:

    Ken,

    I “could” do this.

    Question: Why do you want to name the controls?

    Cheers,

    Karl

  114. kencox Says:

    >Question: Why do you want to name the controls?

    Hey, you’re right! No need. I was still thinking in the older binding paradigm that required a control name/ID to assign the value directly.

    Ken

  115. XAML Power Toys | Fidicaro.net Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys Thursday, December 11th, 2008 | Author: blogger XAML Power Toys è un add-in per Visual Studio 2008 SP1 che offre un considerevole aiuto allo sviluppatore [...]

  116. Chris Bowen's Blog : 2008 Winter Northeast Roadshow - Resources and Summary Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys [...]

  117. Трудности с ХAML? Тогда XAML Power toys - Роман К - персональный блог - Microsoft User Group Винница Says:

    [...] и сами  XAML Power toys – http://karlshifflett.wordpress.com/xaml-power-toys/ Posted Гру 24 2008, 04:12 by Roman Filed under: Silverlight, XAML Copyright by [...]

  118. ascend slowly, breathing normally : Explore WPF with Karl Shifflett's Password Manager App Says:

    [...] looks fantastic with it’s Expression Blend enhancements.  The extensive use of Karl’s popular XAML Power Toys Visual Studio Add-In makes this tutorial even more [...]

  119. mbevins Says:

    Karl, thanks for sharing these tools, they have saved me a lot of time. In regards to the December 5th question regarding naming the controls, I too would like to be able to easily add the name. The reason being is due to user security, some users may have permission to edit a field while others don’t so in the code behind; I enable / disable the control based on the user security.

    Mike

  120. Karl Shifflett Says:

    I’ll add the feature in for you.

    Any suggestions for naming?

    I assume I take the property it’s bound to and prepend “txt”

    Would this work for you?

    Cheers,

    Karl

  121. mbevins Says:

    I think that would be perfect!

    Thanks Again,

    Mike

  122. tedwarring Says:

    Hi Karl,

    Awesome tools, thank you!

    The only issue that I have is that once installed it has created a problem with the Developer Express components that we use, and now can’t load the forms with their components.

    Can you please review the fix they are suggesting?

    http://www.devexpress.com/Support/Center/p/B131164.aspx

    Thanks!

    Ted

  123. kafkawasnotdreaming Says:

    I am unable to install the add-in using the instructions provided. My OS is Microsoft Server 2008, which uses the same 64-bit kernel as Vista — so 64-bit Vista users will have the same issues as I do.

    The instructions say to add a path for Visual Studio to find the add-in, but that screen does not exist for Visual Studio 2008. Instead, the Internet forums say to copy the XAMLPowerToys.AddIn.addin file to {My documents}\Visual Studio 2008\Addins. When Visual Studio opens, it craches the add-in saying it could not load properly. Surely this is due to the fact that the add-in needs a path to its own DLL’s, and cannot find the path. The exact error is #80004005.

    Can you advise me on how to instal this add-in under the Vista 64-bit kernel and Visual Studio 2008?

    Thank you!

  124. Karl Shifflett Says:

    kafkawasnotdreaming,

    I sent you an email off-line. The install went fine, you just need to set the security setting in VS2008. The install video covers this in great detail.

    Karl

  125. Karl Shifflett Says:

    Ted,

    I was going back and forth with DevExpress but lost contact with them. I’ve been waiting for the person on their staff with the post to contact me. Marina was on vacation and didn’t get back to me when she returned.

    I have some new cool features to add and will be soon.

    I can also incorporate the change they suggested, no problem. Was just hoping to be able to test my changes before deploying publically.

    Karl

  126. sidprice Says:

    I can not viuew nay of the videos. I have Silverlight 2.0 installed but when I click on the links I just get a new browser window and nothing more than a very long progress bar. Any help would be appreciated, I really would like to try the PowerToys but want to watch the videos first.
    Sid.

  127. sidprice Says:

    Karl,
    Thanks for the URL, I can view those videos just fine!
    Sid.

  128. johaviss Says:

    Would it be possible to make the videos downloadable?

    I can’t use my Internet connection for more than 30 minutes a day.
    I would like to download the videos and watch them later

    Regards Johan.

  129. Karl Shifflett Says:

    Johan,

    You can view and download the vidoes from here:

    http://windowsclient.net/wpf/wpf35/wpf-35sp1-xaml-powertoys.aspx

    Cheers,

    Karl

  130. XAML Power Toys 4.0 Released - Code Name MVVM « Karl On WPF - .Net Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys [...]

  131. XAML Power Toys 4.0 Released | WPF Dev Says:

    [...] on WPF has a new release of XAML Power Toys available. In this [...]

  132. XAML power toys « Wes Aday’s Weblog Says:

    [...] XAML power toys February 11, 2009 Posted by wesaday in Programming. trackback Another WPF guru, Karl Shifflet has released a new version of his XMAL power toys here http://karlshifflett.wordpress.com/xaml-power-toys/ [...]

  133. wesaday Says:

    Hi Karl, I also cannot view the videos here but can view them on windowsclient.com. Regards!

  134. Silverlight Travel » XAML Power Toys 4.0 Released - Code Name MVVM Says:

    [...] Over the last few months I’ve received many emails requesting features and I’ve got a few of my own that I’ve added to XAML Power Toys! [...]

  135. Karl Shifflett Says:

    Wesaday,

    Do you have Silverlight installed?

    The two new videos are not on Windows Client.NET yet.

    What happens when you click on the link?

    Thanks,

    Karl

  136. wesaday Says:

    Hi Karl
    Yes I have Silverlight installed. v2. When I click on the link all I get is a blank page. Viewing the videos on windows client is sufficient for me.
    Regards
    Wes

  137. delmerjohnson Says:

    Same problem as Wes. I also have Silverlight v.2.0 installed. On this site I see the blue “Get Microsoft Silverlight” button. I can view the videos on windowsclient.net, but want to see the new ones on v.4.0.
    Thanks,
    Delmer

  138. XAML Power Toys 4.0 Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys 4.0 Оценок нетCurrently 0/5 Stars.12345 Tags: xaml, silverlight, visual studio Categories: [...]

  139. links for 2009-02-12 - graemef.com Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys XAML Power Toys is a Visual Studio 2008 SP1 Multi-AppDomain Add-In that empowers WPF & Silverlight developers while working in the XAML editor. Its Line of Business form generation tools, Grid tools, DataGrid and ListView generation really shorten the XAML page layout time. (tags: development wpf .net visualstudio xaml) [...]

  140. delmerjohnson Says:

    I can view the videos with Silverlight 2 now. I made no change on my machine.

    Thanks,
    Delmer

  141. Intro to WPF MVVM « Christopher Hujanen’s .NET Developer Blog Says:

    [...] I was mentioning the use of Karl Shifflett’s XAML Power Toys.  You can get that at http://karlshifflett.wordpress.com/xaml-power-toys/. ; If you are building business forms, it really is a time [...]

  142. Hõbevalge nagu Silverlight :) » Arhiiv » XAML PowerToys 4.0 Says:

    [...] olin täiesti kindel, et ma olen siin sellisest lahedast Visual Studio lisast nagu XAML PowerToys juba varem kirjutanud aga võta [...]

  143. Silverlight Travel » MoXAML Power Toys Says:

    [...] to be productive in WPF, but also as a complementary product to Karl Shifflett’s wonderful XAML Power Toys. Karl’s stated aim is to produce a tool that quickly and efficiently enables you to write LOB [...]

  144. bill44077 Says:

    Hey Karl,

    This is some totally excellent stuff!! Thanks so much for all your effort on this.

    The streaming videos are blocked out at my work. Is there any way to provide these videos in a downloadable form so we can download from home and then view at work from our laptop? There is a lot of great content here!

    thanks again,
    Bill

  145. Design time drag-and-drop binding is on its way - Colin Eberhardt’s Adventures in WPF Says:

    [...] is something that is harder for the developer community to address, however Karl Shifflet’s XAML Power Toys, which add drag and drop form generation make a pretty good stab at [...]

  146. Karl Shifflett Says:

    Bill,

    Most of the videos can be downloaded from here:

    http://windowsclient.net/wpf/wpf35/wpf-35sp1-xaml-powertoys.aspx

    The newest videos have not yet been posted there, hope to soon,

    Karl

  147. .Net Monitor :: WPF XAML :: XAML Power Toys 3.0.0 Released Says:

    [...] Download XAML Power Toys version 3 here. [...]

  148. Extract Properties To Style - Rudi Grobler Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys [...]

  149. XAML Power Toys « butaji Says:

    [...] http://karlshifflett.wordpress.com/xaml-power-toys/ [...]

  150. icecactus Says:

    Karl,

    WONDERFUL tool! I was expecting the MVVM stub though to generate property wrappers (like how josh smiths example does) from the selected class and not just return an instance of the class. Any chance you could add that feature? Wrapping my entities and allowing me to aggregate multiple entities into one ViewModel for the UI is one of the best things i like about the MVVM pattern. Having to manaully wrap every property is a real pain :)

  151. Koen.cz » Silverlight Development for the Flex Developer Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys [...]

  152. Karl Shifflett Says:

    icecactus,

    I have received a few requests and will do this for you. Look for it soon. Thanks for the feedback!

    Cheers,

    Karl

  153. abusing.me » Blog Archive » Big Days 2009 Graz Says:

    [...] die Code-Generierung mit T4 ist doch etwas, was ich seit sehr sehr langem vermisst habe. Die XAML Power Toys haben gute Chancen mein neuestes Lieblings-Addin zu werden. Die Schattenseiten von GhostDoc, welche [...]

  154. WPF Tools « Elad’s WPF Blog Says:

    [...] MOXAML PowerTyos – Two visual studio add-ins that helps handling XAML [...]

  155. siegi4 Says:

    hi, Karl

    I would like to use portions of your code in one of my projects, could you tell me something about the license used for these tools? if you want to know any details about what I want to use your code for, you can contact me at sie_pam.nospam@gmx.at, (without “.nospam”).

    any help would be appreciated!

    thanks,
    Siegfried

  156. Karl Shifflett Says:

    Siegfried,

    You can use anything I publish for free for non-commercial use, no problems. If it is commerical, contact me.

    Cheers,

    Karl

  157. Jaime Rodriguez : Announcing the Using WPF to build LOB applications Training Tour.. Says:

    [...] of Team Mole that delivered Mole Visualizer For Visual Studio to the world. He is the author to XAML Power Toys and loves WPF LOB.  Karl’s Blog: [...]

  158. colinblair Says:

    Found a bug. If you are creating a DataGrid, choose Label as the control type, and click Render in DataColumnTemplate then the contents of Label are really the binding text. Changing the label also changes the binding.

  159. U.S. Dev Partners Blog : Special Invitation: Building Line of Business Applications with Windows Presentation Foundation Training Says:

    [...] of Team Mole that delivered Mole Visualizer For Visual Studio to the world. He is the author to XAML Power Toys and loves WPF LOB.  Karl’s Blog: [...]

  160. October 22nd Links: ASP.NET, Visual Studio, WPF and Silverlight | designersmantra.com Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys Released for WPF and Silverlight: Karl Shifflett has released an awesome update to his XAML Power Toys download.  This is a must-have download if you are doing WPF or Silverlight development, and provides a bunch of great wizards and tools that help automating application development.  Very, very cool stuff. [...]

  161. WPF and LOB (2) « Aero971’s Blog Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys has some nifty features to accelerate common XAML tasks [...]

  162. Bilal Haidar [MVP, MCT] : XAML Power Toys for WPF and Silverlight 2.0 - V4.0 Says:

    [...] more features. If you are developing in Silverlight 2.0, it is a must to check this Add-in. XAML Power Toys for WPF and Silverlight 2.0 V 4.0Hope this helps,Regards Published Monday, May 18, 2009 4:22 AM by BilalHaidar [MVP] Filed under: [...]

  163. Links da Semana (18-22) - Gonçalo Chaves - XAML PT Says:

    [...] XAML power toys – a não perder! para quem desenvolve em Silverlight é mais um conjunto de ferramentas que dá uma grande ajuda, no desenvolvimento e personalização do xaml. [...]

  164. stanchat Says:

    How do you use XAML power toys with Entity Framework?

  165. Karl Shifflett Says:

    Stan,

    Works fine. Watch the video Build form for class.

    Just make sure your project has a reference to the Entity Framework classes you have built.

    Right click in your XAML and select Build form for class.

    Suggest watching all videos. They are very helpful.

    Cheers,

    Karl

    • stanchat Says:

      Karl,

      Did some more investigating and it is not Entity FrameWork issue at all.

      What I have discovered is if your projects reside in solution folders, XAML power toys will not see them. I was able to reproduce this using the MvvmDemoApp in MSDN magazine also. All you have to do is create a Solution Folder, move all your code into the Solution Folder, Re-Build the app and you will not see any assemblies. You can’t even load MS assemblies.

  166. rihadd Says:

    Hi Karl,

    I’ve bee using your XAML Power Toys for a week now and I love them. Once enhancement I would like to see is a horizontal scroll bar added to the Create Business Form grid.

    Regards,
    Rich

  167. Karl Shifflett Says:

    Rich,

    I’ll be working on a new version soon and will see what I can do. Glad you like the tool.

    Cheers,

    Karl

  168. picnic34 Says:

    hi,

    just tried to use your tool, but I cannot get it to run.

    I’m using VS2008 sp1 (9.0.30729.1 sp) on vista sp2

    when I go to “Tools->Add-in manager” in and select “XAML power toys” I get a message box back saying it failed or caused an exception.
    Error Message:
    Error number: 80131513

    any ideas how I can get it working?

    thanks,

    martin

  169. Karl Shifflett Says:

    Martin,

    Are you running Visual Studio as an administrator? If not please try this and let me know.

    Cheers,

    Karl

  170. picnic34 Says:

    Karl,

    Sorry, I always run VS as administrator

    martin

  171. Karl Shifflett Says:

    Martin,

    Do you have other addins loaded?

    Karl

    • picnic34 Says:

      Karl,

      Under “Add-in Manager” I have:
      DevExpress Tools
      InnerWorkings Developer Interface

      Both set to load at startup.

      I un-selected them both and stopped them loading at startup and then re-started VS, sorry selecting XAML power toys had the same result as before

      martin

    • Karl Shifflett Says:

      Martin,

      XAML Power Toys does not work with DevExpress Tools installed. I have no idea what they are doing. I tried working with them, but got no where.

      Karl

  172. CanadianJames Says:

    Hey Karl,

    I think I may have found a small issue in the code-generation for c# in the Create ViewModel from Class feature.

    When I select how to expose the type I choose ObservableCollection(Of Type). The code that is generated is:
    private ObservableCollection(Of Type) _queueMember;

    instead of:
    private ObservableCollection _queueMember;

    It does this for List(Of Type) as well.

    Groovy stuff otherwise, and getting great mileage out of what is here! Thanks!

    Cheers,
    -James

  173. CanadianJames Says:

    Karl,

    One more quick question for you, too.

    Many times, when exposing a model as itself in the ViewModel, it’s the properties that are the consuming piece. Have you thought about an option to flesh out the calls to an OnPropertyChanged method, as well as the getters and setters for the related properties?

    Not to get too designy on you here, but if there were a tab/popup of some sorts where I could select which properties would be exposed as self on the ViewModel (and have the getters/setters code-genned for me) that would be uber-cool. I have a few models that I have, say 12-25 properties on them, but I may only need 6-15 of those exposed for this particular ViewModel.

    Is that something you’re running into?

    The current implementation in the Xaml Power Tools leaves a blank property section, then I’m left to use some templates I’ve built in Resharper to flesh out that section. Still not doing it entirely by hand, but your tools are *so* close, it would be one less step.

    Thanks again for these bits.

    Cheers,
    -James

  174. October 22nd Links: ASP.NET, Visual Studio, WPF and Silverlight | rapid-DEV.net Says:

    [...] XAML Power Toys Released for WPF and Silverlight: Karl Shifflett has released an awesome update to his XAML Power Toys download.  This is a must-have download if you are doing WPF or Silverlight development, and provides a bunch of great wizards and tools that help automating application development.  Very, very cool stuff. [...]

  175. Piu-piu » Blog Archive » tüpo proov Says:

    [...] olin täiesti kindel, et ma olen siin sellisest lahedast Visual Studio lisast nagu XAML PowerToys juba varem kirjutanud aga võta [...]

  176. Wpf/Xaml Menagerie « Coder Tools & Reviews Says:

    [...] Xaml Power Toys (recommended) This is very powerful addin for WPF that assists you in creating business forms.  This is what I would describe as a WPF form generator.  There are also helpers for working with Grids, and tools to generate DataGrids and Listviews.  I would highly recommend watching the videos on Karl Shifflett’s web page to get a feel for how this works.  I have not had an occasion to use this (YET!) except for just playing around with it to get an idea of it’s value.  At the time it felt to me that you are bringing a certain style of development when you utilize this addin to help you with you line of business forms. [...]

  177. Ben Hayat Says:

    Dear Karl;

    As you know, SL3 has a new DataForm for building business apps. The DataForm has much changed for RTW compared to beta. My question is, do you plan to support DataForm with XAML Power Tools? I think XPT, will bring a lot of value to Dataform in relation to speed and layout of the form.

    Your great work is always appreciated!
    ..Ben

    • Karl Shifflett Says:

      Ben,

      Have not looked at the DataForm but will. When SL3 RTM’s give me a week or so to publish a new release.

      I have many other requests also so it is time to publish a new release with much new goodness.

      Thanks for the suggestion.

      Cheers,

      Karl

  178. Ben Hayat Says:

    Karl;

    Once you have DataForm support with the next version of RIA Services (July edition) , XPT will go into a different scale. I’m very much looking forward to seeing XPT to work with these two new technologies and then it will be a perfect fit for all those developing LoB applications.

    Thank you for your continual interest and response to XPT!
    ..Ben

    • Karl Shifflett Says:

      Ben,

      I have over 100,000 downloads and counting. I’m amazed at the response.

      The next version will have many new and powerful features. Thanks for your suggestion to support RIA Services.

      Cheers,

      Karl

  179. Ben Hayat Says:

    Man, I wish you would charge $1 for every download ;-) that would pay for your next trip to Alaska for new ideas… :-)

    If you Support RIA and DataForm, you will bring “RAD” to it’s true meaning.

    I can’t believe there are that many people using WPF and SL already!

    • Karl Shifflett Says:

      Ben,

      Between Mole and XPT I have over 210,000 downloads.

      Yes, charging would yield BIG $$ and help fun my coding cruises, but also comes with legal non-sense… … …

      Enjoy the software and write awesome apps! Keep an eye on my blog over the next 3-5 days, you’ll see the coolest app I’ve ever released here. Mum is the word until then. Wrote it 10 days ago on another cruise to Alaska.

      Cheers,

      Karl

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.