I like the data binding stuff but other than that I found XAML a huge pain. Lots of auto-generated stuff mixed in with stuff that I edit as well. It doesn't break but I'd rather have some separation between generated stuff and stuff that I write. (e.g. the generation gap pattern, often useful for models)
Navigation is a blessing and a curse, some kind of modal view or overlay would ease the pain there. I don't know if MS is working on it but it's frustrating that they claim it's an "edge case". Almost every single login or sign up window is a transient thing like that, and you can't navigate in a navigation handler so chaining transitions is a headache.
Other than those 2 issues it was good, but I would develop for iOS and even Android over WP7 any day.
The generated code is separated from code you write. In 99.9% of cases you should never even see the code that is generated. Your code should all be in files you explicitly create. And using patterns like MVVM will mean that you actually barely even touch code-behind files (although its OK if you do -- just it won't be necessary).
I never got into it enough to really understand MVVM. It looks like MVC with a different name to me, which leads me to believe I don't get it yet.
Perhaps I was doing it wrong. When I used the GUI to layout UI it was modifying the same XAML that I was also changing manually. I admit to being ignorant about modern versions of Visual Studio, this one trivial app I created was the first time I used .NET, C#, XAML, and Visual Studio. I left Windows programming with VB6 back in the day before switching to Linux.
OK, I see what you're saying. You're doing layout with the designer and seeing the XAML is changing.
Yes, the XAML is the underlying representation of the layout. i think most people are thinking about the code that gets generated and called via "InitializeComponent". What gets generated after the XAML compiler parses the XAML.
You should view the designer as simply a convenient way to edit XAML. Like using a designer to edit HTML.
MVVM is sort of like MVC, although really closer to MVP. Think of MVVM as MVP that where databinding coupled with the View Model is the Presenter.
Navigation is a blessing and a curse, some kind of modal view or overlay would ease the pain there. I don't know if MS is working on it but it's frustrating that they claim it's an "edge case". Almost every single login or sign up window is a transient thing like that, and you can't navigate in a navigation handler so chaining transitions is a headache.
Other than those 2 issues it was good, but I would develop for iOS and even Android over WP7 any day.