Compile Xaml into Baml?

Question

How can I convert a xaml to baml?

thanks

Answer 1

You can compile the XAML by creating an MSBuild project file that references it. This is what happens in Visual Studio "under the covers" when you do a compile on your project (it creates a temporary .proj file and builds it).

A fairly minimal project file (xamlcompile.csproj) is something like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="3.5" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <ProductVersion>9.0.30729</ProductVersion>
    <SchemaVersion>2.0</SchemaVersion>
    <OutputType>library</OutputType>
    <TargetFrameworkVersion>v3.5</TargetFrameworkVersion>
    <ProjectGuid>{6B8967FF-37B7-43E8-B866-FFD6F13FFC0A}</ProjectGuid>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <Reference Include="System" />
    <Reference Include="System.Core">
      <RequiredTargetFramework>3.5</RequiredTargetFramework>
    </Reference>
    <Reference Include="System.Xml.Linq">
      <RequiredTargetFramework>3.5</RequiredTargetFramework>
    </Reference>
    <Reference Include="System.Data.DataSetExtensions">
      <RequiredTargetFramework>3.5</RequiredTargetFramework>
    </Reference>
    <Reference Include="System.Data" />
    <Reference Include="System.Xml" />
    <Reference Include="WindowsBase" />
    <Reference Include="PresentationCore" />
    <Reference Include="PresentationFramework" />
    <Reference Include="PresentationFramework.Classic" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <Page Include="Themes\Generic.xaml">
      <Generator>MSBuild:Compile</Generator>
      <SubType>Designer</SubType>
    </Page>
  </ItemGroup>
  <Import Project="$(MSBuildToolsPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets" />
</Project>

And you can then generate the BAML file by running the command:

MSBuild /t:ResolveReferences;MarkupCompilePass1;MarkupCompilePass2 xamlcompile.csproj

This will create a baml file under obj\Debug, in the example above it will be obj\Debug\Themes\Generic.baml.

Hope that helps.

Answer 2

There is a Reflector plug-in that loads assemblies containing BAML resources (e.g. localized resource assemblies) and shows the corresponding XAML: BamlViewer

When you compile a WPF application in Visual Studio, all your XAML files are converted into BAML, and that BAML is then embedded as a resource into the final DLL or EXE assembly.