Wpf – Compile Xaml into Baml

bamlwpfxaml

How can I convert a xaml to baml?

thanks

Best Answer

You can compile the XAML by creating an MSBuild project file that references it. This is what happens in Visual Studio "under the covers" when you do a compile on your project (it creates a temporary .proj file and builds it).

A fairly minimal project file (xamlcompile.csproj) is something like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="3.5" DefaultTargets="Build" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">
  <PropertyGroup>
    <ProductVersion>9.0.30729</ProductVersion>
    <SchemaVersion>2.0</SchemaVersion>
    <OutputType>library</OutputType>
    <TargetFrameworkVersion>v3.5</TargetFrameworkVersion>
    <ProjectGuid>{6B8967FF-37B7-43E8-B866-FFD6F13FFC0A}</ProjectGuid>
  </PropertyGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <Reference Include="System" />
    <Reference Include="System.Core">
      <RequiredTargetFramework>3.5</RequiredTargetFramework>
    </Reference>
    <Reference Include="System.Xml.Linq">
      <RequiredTargetFramework>3.5</RequiredTargetFramework>
    </Reference>
    <Reference Include="System.Data.DataSetExtensions">
      <RequiredTargetFramework>3.5</RequiredTargetFramework>
    </Reference>
    <Reference Include="System.Data" />
    <Reference Include="System.Xml" />
    <Reference Include="WindowsBase" />
    <Reference Include="PresentationCore" />
    <Reference Include="PresentationFramework" />
    <Reference Include="PresentationFramework.Classic" />
  </ItemGroup>
  <ItemGroup>
    <Page Include="Themes\Generic.xaml">
      <Generator>MSBuild:Compile</Generator>
      <SubType>Designer</SubType>
    </Page>
  </ItemGroup>
  <Import Project="$(MSBuildToolsPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets" />
</Project>

And you can then generate the BAML file by running the command:

MSBuild /t:ResolveReferences;MarkupCompilePass1;MarkupCompilePass2 xamlcompile.csproj

This will create a baml file under obj\Debug, in the example above it will be obj\Debug\Themes\Generic.baml.

Hope that helps.