XAML

What is XAML?

Expression Studio 2.0

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Extensible Application Markup Language, or XAML (pronounced "zemell"), is an XML-based markup language developed by Microsoft. XAML is the language behind the visual presentation of an application that you develop in Microsoft Expression Blend, just as HTML is the language behind the visual presentation of a Web page. Creating an application in Expression Blend means writing XAML code, either by hand or visually by working in the Design view of Expression Blend.

XAML as the equalizer between design applications

You can export art assets from Microsoft Expression Design 2 as XAML, and then import the XAML into your Expression Blend project. Some other design applications have tools that can convert art assets to XAML. You can search on the Internet for conversion tools that are posted on trusted sites.

For more information about importing XAML, see the topics Import XAML that is exported from Expression Design and Import assets from Expression Design 2 in this User Guide.

You can also import Silverlight 1.0 projects that are created by using a Silverlight template to encode a video project in Microsoft Expression Encoder 2. Additionally, you can modify the Silverlight templates that come with Expression Encoder 2 in Expression Blend 2. For more information, see Import a Silverlight 1.0 site from Expression Encoder 2 and Modify a Silverlight template for Expression Encoder 2 in Expression Blend.

The relationship between XAML and code-behind files

The XAML for any given document in Expression Blend is stored in a .xaml file. If there is underlying code for your XAML document, that code is stored in a file of the same name, with the additional extension of .cs or .vb. For example, if your XAML document is named Window1.xaml, the code-behind file will be called Window1.xaml.cs if the programming language of the code is C#.

Note:

In Silverlight 1.0 projects, the language used in the code-behind files is JavaScript. For more information, see Quick start with Silverlight 1.0.

For information about how to create XAML documents with or without code-behind files, see the topic  Create a new document or project in this User Guide.

When you build your project, the WPF parser reads the. Xaml files for that project and reports any resulting errors. Likewise, when you open an existing project in Expression Blend, the XAML parser reads the. Xaml files that are included in your project folder and attempts to parse the elements and display the documents on the art board in Design view. In both cases, if the parser encounters errors, the art board is disabled, and Expression Blend displays an error message with a link to open XAML view so that you can resolve the errors. The parsing errors are also reported on the Errors tab in the Results panel. For more information, see the topics Editing XAML, Handling errors, and Debug Expression Blend applications in this User Guide. For information about the syntax of individual controls, see Control Library or search for XAML elements in the Class Library reference, both on MSDN.