Straight from MSDN flash email, and crossposted to annoy those on multiple lists see the links (hopefully fixed this time) at the end of the article below
JimB A quick overview of XAML - Mike Ormond Coming soon, and already available in Beta, is a new set of technologies called WinFX that could transform the way you develop software. A key component of WinFX is a declarative XML-based language called XAML, which stands for eXtensible Application Markup Language. Most of the examples of XAML that we have seen to date centre around Windows Presentation Foundation. Originally codenamed 'Avalon', WPF introduces a new graphics engine that can make full use of the facilities offered by modern graphics cards. Using WPF you can develop compelling user interfaces with graphic effects such as transparency and high-speed 3D animation. In this context, XAML allows you to express a user interface as an XML file. You can write a XAML file that contains a 'Button' element with the value 'Enter' and a 'Background' attribute set to 'Blue' which the WPF runtime will convert into a blue 'Enter' button. Give it an 'ID' attribute and you can reference the button from your C# or Visual Basic .NET code using a syntax that will already be familiar to ASP.NET developers. This has led to the mistaken view that XAML is a language for describing user interfaces, perhaps similar to SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics). However this is to miss its full potential. Taken by itself, XAML is simply a way of defining .NET objects in XML. Used with WPF, these objects define the elements that make up a user interface. However XAML can be used to define any type of .NET object, provided only that a CLR-based library exists to support the domain. An example of this is to be found in another component of WinFX, the Windows Workflow Foundation (WF). Here XAML can be used to define workflow activities. The elements defined within the XAML document become activities in the workflow, such as 'SequenceActivity' which includes child elements that are executed in sequence, or 'IfElseActivity' where the child elements represent activities that are carried out if specified conditions are satisfied. This has nothing to do with user interfaces, but is still expressed in XAML. A key benefit of XAML is the ability to work with 'code-behind' files in much the same way as Web developers can separate the user interface definition from the code today in ASP.NET. This is where WinFX has the potential to really revolutionise the way that applications are created, as the XAML need not be written in Visual Studio, but instead generated automatically by tools more suited to the job in hand. This is where the 'Acrylic' Graphic Designer and 'Sparkle' Interactive Designer from Microsoft's Expression range come in. These offer a rich set of tools that are aimed at the Graphic and Web designer, rather than the software developer. However under the hood they generate XAML documents that can be brought into Visual Studio ready for coding. The equivalent in WF is the Visual Workflow Designer, an intuitive graphical tool for designing workflows which also outputs XAML. WinFX will really come into its own when the forthcoming Windows Vista operating system is launched. However it will also be available for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 systems. You can find out more about XAML at the XAML Information Page. http://www.xaml.net/ For more on WinFX, and to download the Beta, visit the WinFX Developer Center http://msdn.microsoft.com/winfx/ To find out about the Expression range, see the Microsoft Expression site http://www.microsoft.com/products/expression/en/default.mspx More on WF can be found at the Windows Vista Developer Center http://msdn.microsoft.com/windowsvista/building/workflow/ -- ---------------------------------------- To Change your email Address for this list, send the following message: CHANGE WIN-HOME your_old_address your_new_address to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Note carefully that both old and new addresses are required.
