Create a WPF library in Visual Studio Express

Question

I am trying to make my code more reusable by placing commonly recurring utility classes and user controls into a packaged library. The IDE is making this difficult, as so far, I have found that it always defaults to Windows Forms user controls and disabling my ability to create xaml files etc from the 'Add a New Item' dialog.

Is it possible to create a library for classes and controls with the aid of the IDE environment (I'm using VS2008 Express)?

If so, what do I need to change to get the preferred behaviour out of the IDE when working on libraries for WPF? Is it just a case of selecting the right combination of references, or do I need to edit the project file? I'm at a bit of a loss on this one.

Answer 1

If there isn't a specific "WPF Class Library" option (I can't recall offhand, and don't have a copy of Visual Studio Express handy), then I'm afraid that you're going to have to modify the project file directly to let Visual Studio know that it is a WPF project. See this question for instructions on how to do that.

Answer 2

Here are detailed step-by-step instructions on how to create a template for that.