Implement a preprocessor for C# like JSX. CSX?

[ApplePieCodes]

I don't like databindings and tend to handle repetitive instances of a component in code. For example, I have code like this

foreach (ProjectReference project in projects.Projects)
{
    ListBoxItem item = new ListBoxItem();
    StackPanel proj = new StackPanel();
    proj.Orientation = Orientation.Horizontal;
    proj.VerticalAlignment = VerticalAlignment.Center;
    proj.HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Left;
    Image templateImg = new Image();
    templateImg.Width = 50;
    templateImg.Height = 50;
    templateImg.Margin = new Thickness(5, 5, 5, 5);
    switch (project.Template)
    {
        case "3D":
            templateImg.Source = new BitmapImage(new Uri("pack://application:,,,/Resources\\Images\\TemplateIcons\\3D.png"));
            break;
        case "3D+":
            templateImg.Source = new BitmapImage(new Uri("pack://application:,,,/Resources\\Images\\TemplateIcons\\3D_Plus.png"));
            break;
    }
    proj.Children.Add(templateImg);
    item.Content = proj;
    ListBox.Children.Add(item);
}

What if I could simplify the code to something like this?

foreach (ProjectReference project in projects.Projects)
{
    BitmapImage imgSource;
    switch (project.Template)
    {
        case "3D":
            imgSource = new BitmapImage(new Uri("pack://application:,,,/Resources\\Images\\TemplateIcons\\3D.png"));
            break;
        case "3D+":
            imgSource = new BitmapImage(new Uri("pack://application:,,,/Resources\\Images\\TemplateIcons\\3D_Plus.png"));
            break;
    }
    ListBox.Children.Add(
    <ListBoxItem>
       <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" VerticalAlignment="Center" HorizontalAlignment="Left">
            <Image Source=imgSource/>
        </StackPanel>
    </ListBoxItem>);

I feel like this would be a really helpful feature.

[miloush]

tip: use ```C# line to start a code block and ``` line to end it

It's runtime parsing rather than compiling, but would XamlReader.Parse(string) help?

[ApplePieCodes]

tip: use C# line to start a code block and line to end it

It's runtime parsing rather than compiling, but you would XamlReader.Parse(string) help?

That sounds good, but i was suggesting just typing the XAML. i will start using that though

[miloush]

The issue is this request is more of a C# compiler request rather than WPF request.

Note that VB.NET does have XML literals, but the C# team decided not to do that, so that is an indication of their position.

Technically, WPF allows you to do that by means of XAML files. If you put your snippet into a XAML file, the compiler will sort of pre-compile it into BAML which you can access from the application. The advantage of this is you get full intellisense.

I think the best compromise you could get nowadays is to write a Roslyn source generator. Have your XAML stored e.g. in a string constant and the source generator will create a corresponding method or property that would return the object.

[lindexi]

We can write the C# code in XAML, such as:

    <Grid>
        <Button Name="Button" HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center"
                Click="Button_OnClick">The Button</Button>
    @code
    {
        void Button_OnClick(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
        {
            Button.Content = "The new content";
        }
    }
    </Grid>