Silverlight development: should I type XAML or use a tool?

Question

I have been wondering what is the best way to do silverlight development in order to achieve the best results. So far, there are threee possibilities that come into my mind: 1 - visual studio visual editor, 2 - expression blend, 3 - coding XAML directly in visual studio.

I was especially curious about third point: are you developing silverlight by typing the XAML directly or not? I have experience with HTML authoring, and I always stayed as far as I could from visual editors (like dreamweaver) that used to output ugly HTML code...

So is it recommended to learn XAML in deep, or is it better to learn a tool and concentrate on the code?

Answer 1

My opinion is that it is always useful to know what the tools generate before you learn the tool itself. You mention Expression Blend, which is a wonderful tool. You should definitly look into it, but I recommend to get some basic knowledge about XAML before you let the tool do the job for you.

I do a mix. Sometimes I use Blend to build my XAML and sometimes I do it by coding the XAML directly. I find it that Blend often adds too much unnecessary code, and like to have control of what I put in, but using Blend allows you to be more efficient.

Good luck!

Answer 2

While you're learning how the system works, the graphical designers work ... well, they work OKAY. For production code, however, the designers open you up to all sorts of off-by-one-pixel troubles. To avoid those, write your own XAML, preferably with styles to enforce consistent spacing, margins, and the like.

Answer 3

My advice would be, use the designers as much as possible and if there is something you can't do with it, type the XAML.

Having a good understanding of XAML is important, but starting by using the designer will help you get used to it.

Answer 4

Using VS2008, I would have strongly encouraged you to use blend as the SL designer in VS was just missing. Nowadays, VS2010 has a good designer for SL but you might be interested in using blend in parallel for:

• Animations
• Triggers (they are part of blend's SDK, not the base SL framework)
• Colors
• Templates design (the create copy feature is very helpful)
• Import from illustrator...
• ...