CSX Compiler

Background

React JS allows embedding html markup in JS (JSX).

Goal

Can we offer something similar: embed XAML markup inside of C#

• I built a compiler frontend that translates the mix of C#+XAML markup into pure C#
• It’s type-safe and reflects on the types of properties/events/… to emit the right kind of code.
  • For example if you say <TextBlock FontSize="24"> it knows that the 24 needs to be interpreted as an int, not a string.
• It allows repeater-type scenarios inside a container and allows naming objects so that they can later be referenced:

<StackPanel
    Id="taskList"
    Grid.Row="1"
    Grid.Column="0"
    Grid.ColumnSpan="2">
    {
        return person.Tasks.Select(todo => CreateToDoItem(todo));
    }
</StackPanel>
<Grid.PointerReleased Handler={
        completionRateTextBlock.Opacity = 1.0;
        taskList.Visibility = taskList.Visibility == Visibility.Collapsed ? 
                              Visibility.Visible : Visibility.Collapsed;
    }/>

  I have a test .netcore3 app using WinForms-hosting-XAML and I’ve integrated the CSX compiler as an MSBuild target rule to convert the CSX into CS.

With this you can modify the CSX file, F5 to rebuild & launch 😊