XAML - What's your take on it?

[Intrigued]

I'm curious as to what others have to say about XAML and what you believe its impact will have in the programming world as time marches on.

Good product? Bad product? To hard to use? The next "big thing?"

TIA

[Intrigued]

Okay, I have taken a few minutes to look over http://www.xaml.net. And they have an example on the Website that is an animation that one could compare to utilizing a Guide in Flash. It's peaked my interest.

The situation I do see is that WPF is needed and that's apart of .NET 3.0 and that's a good sized download where half the folks out there will probably never download until they get access to a High-Speed connection. Heck, many don't even do Windows Update(s) for that matter.

But, all in all it looks interesting. Hey, if it's based off of XML it must be pretty good (right 'Tig? 'Tig to me is the AMS Table and XML guru in the forums).

:yes

[Brett]

Keep in mind that XAML is just one way of describing WPF interfaces. WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) is part of .NET 3.0. You can make WPF apps in C#, VB, C++ (or any other .NET language) or in XAML. I think MS used XAML because they wanted to enable Web designer and multimedia types to be able to design and create the frameworks for Windows applications without using a traditional programming language. Then the XAML can be passed off to the programmer who fills in the back-end code with C# or whatever.

So, XAML in and of itself is just an XML schema. It is the WPF API that is interesting. And, yes, I personally think that it will be used more and more as time goes on. From someone who has done a lot of GUI programming in Windows over the past 10 years, I really like what I see of WPF so far. MS has really thought things out and takes much of the pain out of making attractive user interfaces. As far as the .NET 3.0 runtime goes - a 50 MB download to enable your computer to do much cooler things is becoming less and less of an issue.

[Intrigued]

Ya, that's what I gathered the WPF is the SVG styled API that works closely with XAML. Hmmm... Do you believe it will be easy for the coder and the designer to work as one with such? I suppose it compares in some way to a Flash Designer and Flash Coder arrangement.

One injection here... do you believe (I understand if you want to keep this on the quite for now) XAML or Web Application creation will come to AMS in any Major release sooner than later?

Thanks Brett for your feedback. I'm going to check into this a bit more over the holiday weekend.

:yes

[Brett]

Ya, that's what I gathered the WPF is the SVG styled API that works closely with XAML. Hmmm... Do you believe it will be easy for the coder and the designer to work as one with such? I suppose it compares in some way to a Flash Designer and Flash Coder arrangement.

Oh yeah, for sure. MS is putting out design tools (PhotoShop-like) to allow designers to design user interfaces and output to XAML. The developer then just brings the XAML into Visual Studio and adds the code. This is one of the major design goals of WPF from what I understand.


One injection here... do you believe (I understand if you want to keep this on the quite for now) XAML or Web Application creation will come to AMS in any Major release sooner than later?

Probably not to AMS as such because AMS is meant to be light-weight and runtime-dependency free as much as possible. We still want AMS apps to run on older systems. But an AMS-type product that allows you to easily build WPF apps - it has crossed my mind a few times. ;)

Before we dive into anything like that we will need to see the technology stabilize and study the economic feasibility of such a project.

[Intrigued]

I totally understand on the wait for the technology to stabilize. It can be a windfall to be the first out of the gate, but the potential "fall on your face" is ever present, no doubt.

[yosik]

Hi
Quietly following this thread, but VERY interested!
The constant dilemma of "being there" at the forefront of development and at the same time lessening, as much as possible, unwarranted investments in a potential "wrong" direction is the juggling act of any developper.
From what I could judge for the last few years at IR, you people do a pretty good job at that.
We, the users, are pushing/suggesting but at the end of the day you have to make the sound decision.
On the issue of web publishing, adding my .02, I would (again) say that this could/should be a further launching platform for AMS.

Yossi

[Intrigued]

Goofing around with XAML...

Put this code in between the BODY & /BODY tags:


<Polyline Stroke="Black" StrokeThickness="2" Points="82,67 56,56 62,57 72,59 80,60 92,70 102,78 106,85 106,94 104,105 104,116 104,129 104,140 104,153 106,170 108,176 112,187 116,199 120,209 114,214 92,216 86,214 80,217 74,224 72,231 68,237 62,243 58,250 56,258 52,265 50,273 46,279 42,269 38,256 38,246 36,238 36,232 34,224 32,215 30,207 28,196 28,190 28,183 26,175 24,168 14,37 10,45 8,51 8,57 12,51 14,45 14,39 16,33 22,26 30,23 38,18 46,17 60,10 66,8 372,372 78,2 236,1 232,8 226,16 218,22 212,28 204,32 198,38 182,45 168,52 146,60 140,63 132,66 138,69 148,72 154,75 164,78 170,80 218,97 258,111 266,115 272,117 278,121 284,126 286,132 288,138 288,144 288,152 286,158 284,164 282,170 282,176 280,183 278,190 276,197 274,203 270,210 266,220 262,228 256,237 254,243 250,250 248,258 248,264 248,270 248,277 250,284 250,290 252,297 254,303 256,311 256,318 256,324 256,331 250,339 244,347 238,356 230,362 224,368 218,374 212,378 204,384 198,389 190,393 184,396 174,401 94,402 94,391 96,377 96,362 96,354 96,347 94,337 90,324 84,319 76,317 68,317 62,317 56,317 50,317 44,317 38,317 32,318 26,314 20,306 16,296 12,283 10,274 2,248 2,59 4,53 6,46 10,40 12,33 16,27 22,19 26,13 32,6 270,2 274,10 278,21 278,28 278,35 278,44 278,52 278,61 274,76 270,85 268,91 264,98 260,106 254,115 252,122 248,130 244,141 238,152 238,158 236,165 234,171 232,178 232,185 230,192 228,199 226,206 224,212 222,219 218,229 216,235 210,240 204,245 198,249 190,252 179,224 174,255 166,256 160,256 152,256 146,256 136,256 130,256 124,254 116,251 108,247 98,242 94,235 88,228 82,220 78,209 76,202 72,193 68,184 66,175 62,165 60,159 60,153 58,146 58,140 60,131 64,125 72,119 82,113 92,108 102,103 114,98 124,96 138,90 148,83 154,80 160,75 168,70 176,65 182,62 188,58 196,55 202,53 210,51 216,51 222,51 232,51 238,51 244,51 252,51 258,51 266,52 274,53 282,54 288,55 373,9.99999999999997 306,60 374,12 378,8.99999999999997 338,71 376,14 350,78 356,80 362,86 368,93 372,101 376,111 376,119 380,126 380,137 380,143 380,149 380,161 380,167 380,177 380,187 380,196 380,204 378,210 376,219 372,234 366,249 364,256 362,262 344,297 336,305 332,312 324,317 318,322 312,326 304,331 298,332 292,336 286,338 280,338 274,339 268,340 256,342 248,342 240,342 234,342 226,340 218,337 238,80 238.5,80.3616666666667" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation">
<Polyline.Fill>
<LinearGradientBrush EndPoint="0.707106781186548,0.707106781186547">
<GradientStop Color="Blue" Offset="0" />
<GradientStop Color="DarkBlue" Offset="1" />
</LinearGradientBrush>
</Polyline.Fill>
</Polyline>

I'm curious what do you see in that image?

[kpsmith]

Definately interesting. In fact the company I work for was R&D in g something similar.

I guess it's cool but the real question is will it take. Reminds me of all the fanfare around VRML which still hasn't done anything.

[Intrigued]

Check this video out from Channel9:

http://channel9.msdn.com/Showpost.aspx?postid=116327

( mms://wm.microsoft.com/ms/msnse/0509/25408/PDC_2005_NorthFaceDemo_MBR.wmv )

Awesome stuff!

[Intrigued]

And...
http://channel9.msdn.com/Showpost.aspx?postid=266036

Pssst! I'm sold!

AMS and that... ya, it's all covered!

;)

[Intrigued]

I just received my first of two books ordered that deals with XAML.

This one is XAML IN A NUTSHELL by Lori A. MacVittie (Publisher: O'REILLY)

ISBN: 0-596-52673-3

So far it seems an easy (to understand) read.

:yes