What tools do you use for WPF development?

Question

What tools beside Visual Studio's Cider do you use?
Have you succeed in using something from Microsoft Expression product family?

EDIT:
Here are revealed tools:

1. Snoop
2. Mole debugger visualizer
3. Perforator suggested by Matt Hamilton
4. The Expression Blend 2.5 Preview suggested by Anthony Conyers
5. Kaxaml suggested by Anthony Conyers & Brad Leach
6. Xaml Export suggested by Artur Carvalho

Some other related questions:

• Tools to develop WPF or Silverlight applications
• How to speed up WPF programs? - has a list of related tools

Answer 1

Microsoft provides a handy tool called "Perforator" which can tell you which parts of your WPF application are being rendered in software. It's part of a larger set of "Performance Profiling Tools" which you can find here.

Answer 2

I use the following tools for WPF development:

• Snoop - This tool simplifies debugging of WPF apps at runtime.
• Mole - Awesome visualizer for Visual Studio. Highly recommended for not just WPF work (although it was built for WPF).
• Kaxaml - Great little tool to “play” with XAML. Full intellisense. I use it to see how XAML will be rendered.
• Expression Blend - Mainly for copying control templates, but also some styling work.

Answer 3

In addition to Snoop, Mole and VS2K8 is use:

• The Expression Blend 2.5 Preview
• Kaxaml

I'm in Blend at least as much as Visual Studio when I'm working on the UI in WPF projects. I use Blend to create the initial versions of a UI and then I'll tweak the xaml manually inside of VS. I use Kaxaml to "try things out". If I want to experiment and I don't want the overhead of creating a new project in VS or Blend, I'll use Kaxaml instead.

Answer 4

Xaml Export. Exports vectors (like the ones made in Adobe Illustrator) to xaml.

Answer 5

XAML Power Toys another VS addin form author of Mole, Karl Shifflett. Generates forms, listviews, grids basing on class metadata. Also some useful xaml tricks: grouping elements into panels, clearing designer generated code, etc.

Answer 6

I use ReaderSvg to convert SVG (vector graphics) to XAML.

And not directly related to WPF, but very useful to understand how WPF controls work: Reflector.

Answer 7

Crack.NET is a runtime debugging and scripting tool Josh Smith made that gives you access to the internals of any .NET desktop application running on your computer. If you love Snoop and Mole for Visual Studio, you’ll love Crack.NET, too. Crack.NET allows you to “walk” the managed heap of another .NET application, inspect all kinds of values on objects, and even manipulate those objects via IronPython scripts.

Crack.NET

Answer 8

I use all the tools listed in the answer so I'll add one to the mix.

Rooler - This is an awesome tool for UI work and I believe it's implemented in WPF.

Answer 9

WPF PerfTool may be useful

Answer 10

When just starting out with WPF exploration I uncovered a variety of useful utilities (listed below). My article Essential Tools for the WPF Novice on Simple-Talk.com discusses each of these with illustrations and links.

General Exploratory Tools

• SDK XAML Browser (Microsoft) - shows XAML and rendered sample for any control.
• XamlT, aka Type Explorer (Rob Relyea) - reveals WPF class details in a novel interface.
• Gradient Editor (Layne Thomas) - gradient designer that produces XAML for you.
• Snoop WPF Debugger (Cplotts) - WPF inspector that lets you explore the visual content of a running WPF app.
• DumpControlTemplate (Charles Petzold) - displays the default ControlTemplate for any WPF control.
• SDK Viewer (Microsoft) - provides all the SDK documentation for WPF in a rich client application.

XamlPad and its Successors

(My article provides a detailed feature comparison table for these six editors.)

• XamlPad (Microsoft)
• XamlPadX (Lester Lobo)
• XAML Cruncher (Charles Petzold)
• Kaxaml (Robby Ingerbretsen)
• XamlPad Sample (Rob Relyea)
• XamlHack (Zhou Yong)

Answer 11

Some of the great articles having list of tools for WPF(from my bookmarks) -

The Complete List of XAML Tools:

http://www.realsoftwaredevelopment.com/the-complete-list-of-xaml-tools/

Windows Presentation Foundation Tools and Controls:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mswanson/archive/2006/02/26/wpftoolsandcontrols.aspx

One more I know of -

Pistachio – “WPF Resource Visualizer” :

http://www.granthinkson.com/2007/11/08/announcing-pistachio-wpf-resource-visualizer/

Answer 12

New: WPF Inspector