XAML export please!!!

[arj]

I know I've asked this before but please can we have a XAML export in Xara. Presumably it should be fairly easy as XPS export is already supported and XPS is basically just XAML.

Andrew

[arj]

I've just worked out that you can actually get to the XAML with a bit of hacking. I remembered that a XPS file is basically a zip file containing XAML files.

Export the document as a XPS (unfortunately whole document is exported...no option to export just the current selection) then rename the .xps file as a .zip. If you open the zip file you will find a Documents\1\Pages folder containing a file called 1.fpage. This file is basically XAML. Open in a text editor and extract everything within the <Canvas> tags.

It would be so easy for Xara to make a proper export to XAML command.

Andrew

[willdean]

+1 from me on this.

I was amazed that this wasn't in 4.0, especially as Charles did say it was on the cards (for some future version) a while back.

MS is still not including Expression Design with ordinary MSDN subscriptions (and no doubt it's a lumbering clunky beast anyway, I haven't tried it), so I'd have thought there was an opportunity here to pick-up a market which is only just starting to move towards vectors.

[ianm]

For what it's worth, Microsoft definitely *does* include Expression Design in the standard MSDN subscription.

However, a possible way of getting Xara vector files into XAML format is to use the open-source (ie free) application inkscape (see http://www.inkscape.org). It can import a number of vector formats (eg SVG and PDF), and export XAML. So theoretically you could export your Xara doc as SVG or PDF, import into Inkscape, and export as XAML. Except there seems to be some kind of bug with the XAML export feature at the moment :-(

A further alternative that doesn't rely on inkscape: If you're lucky enough to have a copy of Microsoft's Expression Design tool, you can use that to create your XAML file. Follow these steps:
1) Export from Xara in PDF format (for the record, PDF is a vector-based format)
2) Rename the file extension of the exported file from ".pdf" to ".ai" (.ai being the Adobe Illustrator extension)
3) In Expression Design, import the .ai file.

It's not 100% reliable, Expression Design seems to have some difficulties with group transparencies, but it might be useful in some cases.

HTH

Ian.

[handrawn]

www.inkscape.org

[willdean]

For what it's worth, Microsoft definitely *does* include Expression Design in the standard MSDN subscription.

Ian, do you have a reference for that?

My most up-to-date info is from here:

http://blogs.msdn.com/xdesignsupport...on-studio.aspx

which accords with what we're currently allowed to download on a Team Developer subscription, and with my recollation of the grudging way in which us scum who are not on Team Suite were eventually tossed some Expression crumbs.

But MSDN has now reached a state of such profound craptitude (and boy have they spent YEARS working their way down to it) that I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that the policy had changed but the files hadn't made it to the execrable subscriber downloads, so if you did have a link I'd be grateful.

[ianm]

Steve - thanks for the URL correction, I've fixed the original post now :-)

Willdean - it's slightly more complex than I suggested...if you have team suite with MSDN premium you get the full studio including Expression Design.
But if you have team system or VS Pro with MSDN premium you won't get it, only team suite.
If you download the pdf from http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-gb/vstudio/aa718657.aspx it should become clearer....well hopefully.

HTH.

[willdean]

Willdean - it's slightly more complex than I suggested...

LOL I suppose that one way of putting it!

[ianm]

:-)

I also noticed belatedly that the link you provided originally pretty much said all that anyhow.

Bottom line is we need Xara to support XAML output!

[arj]

Is there any progress on direct XAML export from Xara?