VS2008 Xaml Editor is totally unstable

Question

I have installed every patch I can find that deals with stability. I have turned off intellisense in the XAML Editor. I have setup XAML to only use the XML View (I never use preview).

VS2008 crashed multiple times an hour while editting XAML. It is fine until the first time I open up a XAML file and then it is only a matter of time before it crashes or hangs.

Does ANYONE know if there is any available patch for this? I simply cannot believe how BAD this is. My teams productivity is down to less than 6 hours a day because of the number of times we have to restart visual studio, and/or wait to determine if a build has really HUNG, or is still working...

If there is not a patch, what the heck do we need to do? I cannot wait for VS2010 to resolve this, assuming it will... which, at this point, I have my doubts.

HELP ME PLEASE!

Answer 1

Have you tried using the source code editor?

1. Right-click on a XAML file in the Solution Explorer
2. Select "Open With..."
3. Select "Source Code (Text) Editor"
4. Click on "Set as Default"
5. Click OK
6. You're done!

Answer 2

If you're unhappy with visual studios performance you can always try sharpdevelop. Sharpdevelop doesn't have a visual designer for xaml, but the editor is pretty stable. Kaxaml is also a good alternative for xaml editing because it has wysiwym.

Answer 3

If you don't use the designer, you can map the .xaml extension to the XML Editor, which is far more stable. You can do this in the options pane. The only thing you lose is Intellisense, but I find it more than worth it.

HTH, Kent

Answer 4

Have you tried editing your XAML with Expression Blend? It is much much easier than VS.

Answer 5

Have you tried narrowing this down to specific complaints, then entering Connect bugs on them at http://connect.microsoft.com/visualstudio/? It works a lot better than whining does, especially if you create bugs on narrow, specific, reproducible issues.

Since I suspect you'll generate many such bugs, please post them all here, as edits to your question, so we can all vote on them.