First Floor Software is proud to announce the immediate availability of the first beta release of XAML Spy for Visual Studio. XAML Spy for Visual Studio enables spying on Silverlight, Windows Phone, Windows Store and WPF apps right in Visual Studio.
TL;DR
XAML Spy for Visual Studio is a VS2012 and 2013 extension for XAML projects. The extension is part of XAML Spy 2. You are only three steps away from happiness:
- Download and install XAML Spy 2 (beta). Start Visual Studio and load your XAML project.
- Right-mouse click your XAML project, select Enable XAML Spy, compile and run your app in DEBUG mode.
- Switch back to Visual Studio, open the XAML Spy Explorer (View > Other Windows > XAML Spy Explorer) and start inspecting your app.
Tip: hit Alt-Enter to open the Visual Studio property grid for details on the selected object in the XAML Spy Explorer.
Introduction
XAML Spy for Visual Studio adds a XAML Spy Explorer tool window to Visual Studio 2012 and 2013. The XAML Spy Explorer provides a real-time view of your running XAML app, with access to the app’s package, isolated storage, user interface, and more.
The XAML Spy Explorer is loaded by selecting View > Other Windows > XAML Spy Explorer from the Visual Studio main menu. The standard Visual Studio property grid is used to provide access to the details of the selected element in the explorer. Use the property grid to view and modify your app’s state at runtime. A context menu in the XAML Spy Explorer provides additional commands and actions that are supported by the various elements in the explorer.
In order to connect a XAML app to the XAML Spy Explorer, XAML Spy needs to be enabled for your app. Right mouse click your XAML project in the Solution Explorer and select Enable XAML Spy. Enabling XAML Spy adds a conditional Import to your project file. Read more about the conditional Import in the online documentation.
XAML Spy for Visual Studio comes with a comprehensive search engine, which searches the app’s package, storage and user interface.
Similar to the Visual Studio Solution Explorer, the navigation buttons in the toolbar (back, forward and home) allow for navigating back and forth and setting the scope of the explorer. Use the back or home button in the search view to return to the main explorer view.
XAML Spy 2
XAML Spy for Visual Studio is part of the next major release of XAML Spy (version 2). At this point in time, version 2 only consists of the Visual Studio extension. The standalone XAML Spy app (with its Modern UI interface) will be added in a future update. This beta release replaces any XAML Spy version 1 you may have installed. If your environment doesn’t meet the requirements for XAML Spy for Visual Studio, or if you require features not available yet in this beta release, do not install this beta release. Learn more about the requirements and features in the next paragraphs.
XAML Spy for Visual Studio requires at least the Professional Edition of Visual Studio 2012 or 2013. The Express editions of Visual Studio are not supported.
XAML Spy for Visual Studio supports the scenario where you have access to the source code of a XAML app. Support for launching Silverlight and Phone XAPs and attaching to WPF apps is not available yet. Additionally the following features, previously available in version 1, are not ready yet; event monitoring, statistics, app management and platform details.
XAML Spy for Visual Studio replaces the XAML Spy Power Tools for XAML Spy v1. You can safely uninstall the Power Tools extension, once you are using XAML Spy for Visual Studio.
Beta
Feel free to install and use this public beta to spy on your XAML apps. The release is fully functional, and does not require a license. This version will cease to function on October 15, 2013. Your feedback is highly appreciated, be sure to send us your comments and questions. XAML Spy 2 is available in the download section.