ReSharper 2020.3 Help

Coding Assistance in XAML

Most of ReSharper's coding assistance features are also supported in XAML. You can find the detailed information on these features in the corresponding topics of the Coding Assistance section. In the main topic of the section, you can also find the feature matrix and check what exactly is supported in XAML.

In this topic, you can find some examples of using coding assistance features in XAML.

Syntax highlighting

ReSharper highlights classes, fields, properties, events, and so on with different colors, so that they can be distinguished easily.

ReSharper: Syntax highlighting in XAML
You can establish a custom color scheme. For more information, see Configure Fonts and Colors.

Color assistance

ReSharper highlights color usages with corresponding color and shows additional information on the tooltip. You can also press Alt+Enter on a highlighted color usage, choose Pick color from palette and define a color using a visual palette.

ReSharper: Color assistance in XAML

Inlay hints

Inlay hints are available in XAML for markup property names and DataContext, as well as for margins and paddings.

You can toggle the following hints for XAML on the Environment | Inlay Hints | XAML page of ReSharper options (Alt+R, O):

Implicit attribute names

This kind of hints shows implicit attribute names, for example:

ReSharper: Inlay hints in XAML for implicit attribute names

Thickness argument

This kind of hints shows Thickness values (in the arguments of Margin, Padding, and so on) to see the correspondence between arguments and values:

ReSharper: Inlay hints in XAML for margins and padding

CornerRadius argument

Missing Grid.Row/Column

This kind of hints shows missing Grid.Row and Grid.Column attributes:

ReSharper: Inlay hints in XAML for missing Grid.Row/Column attributes

DataContext

This kind of hints shows DataContext types in bindings:

ReSharper: Inlay hints in XAML for DataContext

Typing assistance

ReSharper provides a couple of useful features that can save your efforts on typing. So you write more code with less keystrokes.

  • synchronous tag editing— any change of the opening tag is simultaneously applied to the closing tag and vice versa

  • smart slash— as soon as you type the slash at the end of an opening tag, the tag is automatically converted to the empty one

Code completion

ReSharper provides a full set of code completion features as well. So you can complete tags:

ReSharper: Code completion in XAML
And attributes in XAML:
ReSharper: CCode completion in XAML
Moreover, ReSharper suggests appropriate symbols and actions depending on the context:
ReSharper: Code completion in XAML
Also, you can complete closing tags. ReSharper provides the list of tags that are not closed at the current caret position.

Examples of context actions

ReSharper provides a set of context actions that target XAML code. You can find the full list of these actions in the Code Editing | XAML | Context actions page of ReSharper Options. If necessary, you can also disable some of the actions using this page.

As soon as a context action becomes available for the current caret position, ReSharper displays the corresponding action indicator Themed icon context action screen gray to the left of the caret. Sometimes however, ReSharper provides several contextually available features for the current caret position. In this case, the action indicator corresponding to the action with the highest priority is shown, and all other actions only appear when you expand the action list by clicking on the action indicator or pressing Alt+Enter Context actions have the lowest priority, therefore, they often appear at the bottom of the action list.

Here are some examples of context actions for XAML:

Convert attribute to nested element

If you want to convert an attribute to a nested element, use this context action.

ReSharper: Convert attribute to nested element context action in XAML

After applying this context action, the attribute is converted to a child tag with the same value, so that you can provide a more complex value for the property.

ReSharper: Convert attribute to nested element context action in XAML

Convert tag to an attribute

If the value of a property is simple, there is no need to have it in a separate tag, so you can convert it to an attribute using this context action.

ReSharper: 'Convert tag to an attribute' context action in XAML

After applying this context action, the tag is converted to the attribute.

ReSharper: 'Convert tag to an attribute' context action in XAML
Last modified: 08 March 2021