Home/ Questions/Q 424567
In Process

The Archive Base Latest Questions

Editorial Team
  • 0
Asked: 2026-05-12T19:17:34+00:00

I want to learn WPF but from all the commentary I’ve been hearing the

  • 0

I want to learn WPF but from all the commentary I’ve been hearing the tooling in Visual Studios is weak and would require me writing XAML by hand which is inefficient. I’ve seen tools such as Expression Blend that are used to create XAML however given my complete lack of understanding of WPF I’d be hard-pressed to get enough “mileage” out of the trial to learn enough to decide if I want to buy the software. So my question is if I want to learn the tooling that Microsoft is providing for WPF as I learn WPF what approach would you suggest? As for tooling, is there an Express edition of Blend that I can use to learn before I upgrade to the professional license? Thanks!

Share

Leave an answer

You must login to add an answer.

Need An Account,

1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    Honestly,

    I’ve felt that I’ve learned WPF the best by writing the XAML by hand. I’ve been using VS 2010 Beta 1 and the designer has gotten better (with intellisense and such) and it sounds like when Beta 2 comes out it will be better yet.

    After you learn WPF and get comfortable with the basics and functionality, then using Blend for making things look “pretty” is useful.

    I do not know how long the trial version of Blend 3 is, but before 3 came out, they kept giving out a version (June Preview, August Preview and the likes) that lasted 3 months before they expired.

    Again, I didn’t feel like Blend helped me learn WPF, it just helped make things more visually appealing (gradients and some animations). But to each his own.

    • 0