Quickstart

Install Ammy Visual Studio extension

Go to Visual Studio Marketplace and download Ammy. Close Visual Studio if it was opened and install downloaded extension.

Create an empty WPF project

Open Visual Studio, go to File -> New -> Project

Create an empty WPF application by choosing Visual C# -> Windows -> Classic Desktop -> WPF Application

Install Ammy nuget package

Open Package Manager Console (View -> Other Windows -> Package Manager Console)

Execute: install-package Ammy.WPF

Now you have several choices, let’s start with the easiest one

Add Ammy user control and host it inside MainWindow.xaml

We will create a user control that will be a host for all of our UI inside the main window.

In Solution Explorer right click on a project name and choose Add -> New Item…

Ammy Extension should have added few item templates, namely: Ammy Application, Ammy Mixins, Ammy User Control and Ammy Window. Just choose Ammy User Control, give it appropriate name, for example Host.ammy and click Add. Visual Studio should open your newly created file now.
Insert TextBlock node inside UserControl like this:

TextBlock { "Hello, World!" }

Now switch to MainWindow.xaml, locate main Grid tag and insert your user control there. It should look something like this:

<Grid>
  <local:Host />
</Grid>

Don’t forget to import your local namespace for XAML engine to see our new User Control:

xmlns:local="clr-namespace:WpfApplication1"

Add this to Window tag. Just replace WpfApplication1 with your local namespace.

Now you can build solution and run it. Windows Firewall may ask you to Allow access first time you launch application. We use sockets to send UI updates to the application when you edit Ammy files in Visual Studio. Update code is only generated in Debug build, so when you compile in Release, no network sockets will be created. If you want to turn UI update in Debug build, you can use NO_AMMY_UPDATE conditional compilation symbol.

You should see an empty window with “Hello, World!” in the left corner. Switch back to Visual Studio without closing the application and change text to “Hello from Ammy”. Save file and watch as text in your application is updated to the new one.

You can now add new user controls or windows to further develop your application. But what if you wanted MainWindow to also be Ammy file?

Using Ammy to define MainWindow

Create WPF application and install Ammy nuget package as described in previous section
Delete MainWindow.xaml file
Click Add -> New Item… and choose Ammy Window
Call it MainWindow.ammy
Go to App.xaml and change StartupUri="MainWindow.xaml" to StartupUri="MainWindow.g.xaml"
Add TextBlock { "Hello, World!" } to MainWindow.ammy and start the application

Using Ammy to define both App and MainWindow

Defining App with Ammy gives you the opportunity to create global XAML styles in App.ammy and update them in runtime to immediately see changes.

Create WPF application and install Ammy nuget package as described in previous section
Delete MainWindow.xaml file
Delete App.xaml
Add two Ammy files. MainWindow.ammy as in previous section and Ammy Application named App.ammy
You should be able to run your app now. If you want to test its’ workings, add the same TextBlock as in previous section