Jerry Nixon @Work: XAML Behaviors now open source

Jerry Nixon on Windows

Monday, December 28, 2015

XAML Behaviors now open source

XAML developers have enjoyed the reusable encapsulation and design-time experience of Behaviors since Windows Presentation Foundation. Just drag-and-drop onto the design-time canvas and you declaratively build out functionality without explicit code-behind.

New for Windows developers

For Universal Windows Platform (UWP) developers, XAML behaviors work the same way – though their implementation has been reduced from Behavior/Trigger/Action, to a simpler Behavior/Action. This easy approach allows developers to pump out custom Behaviors in a flash. As Windows apps continue to leverage this candy, developers want to understand their implementation and expand the Behavior framework. As a result of, Microsoft’s Behaviors team has moved the Behaviors code base to GitHub, and placed it under an OSS license, accepting outside contributions.


What does this mean?

Open Sourcing Behaviors means developers can lift the covers and better understand the frameworks they are using. It means high-end customers can perform deeper, better security audits. And, it means developers who love the framework can add features to increase their own productivity.


About this interview

Microsoft’s DevRadio on Channel 9 is an ongoing video-podcast bringing developer content to the developer community. In this episode, I talk with the leads on the XAML Behaviors team. We discuss the motivations around OSS and the future of the XAML Behaviors framework.

What do you need to know?
First, XAML Behaviors have not changed – except that the package is no longer an Extension SDK through the platform, but a NuGet package that can be serviced frequently and easily. Second, the design-time experience in Visual Studio has not changed. And, third, you can find, review, and contribute to the framework at https://github.com/Microsoft/XamlBehaviors.


Who owns the code?

Because the XAML community is so active, vibrant, and engaged, community insiders and Microsoft MVPs are the core custodians of the framework. Microsoft still owns the integration into Visual Studio and the overall developer experience. But, this means the future of XAML Behaviors is truly in the hands of the developers who love it so much.


Check out the interview: