Alternative to Expression Blend

Question

Hey guys,

Is there a free alternative to Expression Blend? I am not able to purchase Expression Blend and am looking for a stand-alone XAML designer that I can use to help me when designing WPF controls.

I found apps like Kaxaml but I am looking for something that has drag-drop support so that I can build the control right in the designer.

Does such a thing exist?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Maybe Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2? Combined with BizSpark it may be not so expensive.

Answer 2

Visual Studio 2010 has better support for XAML, it's available in Beta now.

XamlPad is great for editing XAML, but you don't have the GUI interface that you have with BLend.

Also Kaxaml is good for editing XAML.

Certainly there's nothing that I know of that will have all the features of Blend for free.

Answer 3

As the previous two answerers said, VS2010 Beta 2. When the beta period expires, you could look to switch to the Express version instead, it will still have all the same XAML editing features.