So here is a hidden performance increasing jewel you might find useful.  We can set the default open mode to be in full XAML view.

First thing you need to do is in Visual Studio go to your Tools ==> Options ==> Text Editor ==> XAML ==> Miscellaneous.  There you will see an option for “Always open documents in full XAML view”.  Check that box.

Now every time you open a XAML file it will open in full XAML view and give you one less thing to gripe about.

Here is what it looks like.

Here is the source: Download the Loading Animation Source

I hope it is useful to someone besides me.

Lets say I have the following code snippet:

<StatusBar>

   <StatusBarItem>

       <TextBlock Text="{Binding Messssage}" />

   </StatusBarItem>

</StatusBar>

As you can see my property Message is totally misspelled.  If I were to run this application nothing would ever appear in my status bar, and I would not know why.  I didn’t get any compile errors, and my view renders perfectly in my designer, so what the hell is going on.  You might spend hours looking at your object’s property, stepping through the property changed events, or just saying XAML is a piece of crap and I give up.  Well never fear, I am about to reveal the secret to debugging your XAML.

Look in your Output Window!

Yes, the nearly always forgotten Output Window.  As you can see, if you click on the image above, it tells me that I have a binding expression path error and gives the line number where the error occurred.  So don’t spend hours stepping through code looking for a ghost.  Just check your Output Window.

Example 1:  Lets say you want to format a double value into a currency:

<TextBlock Text="{Binding Amount, StringFormat={}{0:C}}" />

Notice the “{ }” just after the StringFormat attribute?  What that is doing is escaping the text after the “=” sign.  You need to do this because we do not have any text directly after the “=” sign.  If you don’t put the “{ }’”, strange things will happen. 

And now lets say we want to place some text in front of the currency:

<TextBlock Text="{Binding Amount, StringFormat=Total: {0:C}}" />

Since we now have text after the “=” sign we no longer need the “{ }”. 

How about a date you ask:

<TextBlock Text="{Binding Date, StringFormat={}{0:MM/dd/yyyy}}" />

Oh, and you want time:

<TextBlock Text="{Binding Date, StringFormat={}{0:MM/dd/yyyy hh:mm tt}}" />

What?  You want to create a tooltip comprised of more than one property of an object.  Well Okay:

<Button Content="Delete Me">

    <Button.ToolTip>

        <ToolTip>

            <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">

                <TextBlock>

                    <TextBlock.Text>

                        <MultiBinding StringFormat="Delete {0} {1}">

                            <Binding Path="FirstName" />

                            <Binding Path="LastName" />

                        </MultiBinding>

                    </TextBlock.Text>

                </TextBlock>

            </StackPanel>

        </ToolTip>

    </Button.ToolTip>

</Button>

As you can see the StringFormat attribute can be a time saver, and just make life a little easier.  One thing to note is that if you use the StringFormat attribute and you bind to a property that has no value, otherwise known as null, then the text that will be displayed is “{DependencyProperty.UnsetValue}".