WPF Wizards, a Free DataGrid (!?), Improved Illustrator Export, and WPF/E Training

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Is this thing on? Hello? Anybody out there? Oh...hi there...must have been a great party, 'cuz I can't remember anything. No blog posts since December 4th, 2006!? What is that, like a gazillion years ago in internet time? How embarassing. Well, here goes...

Although I haven't had time to give it a spin yet, the folks at Actipro Software have released Actipro Wizard, a WPF-based .NET control. The list of features looks pretty comprehensive, and they cite conformance with the Wizard97 specification. I love the idea of the Live XBAP Demo. This is the first commercially available WPF-based wizard control that I'm aware of.

The good guys at Xceed Software have announced that they plan to make their upcoming WPF-based DataGrid control available for free. Yes, you read that correctly: FREE. Even if you have to convert that to your local currency, I think you'll find that it's an amazing deal. :) I talked to one of my contacts at Xceed and confirmed that this is definitely not a "lite" or time-limited release. It is their full, professional-level WPF DataGrid control. Awesome. Sign-up to be notified when it's available.

Pavan Podila has announced the release of XamlXporter 0.2, a tool that exports your Adobe Illustrator artwork to XAML. Looks like the new version lets you export to either a Canvas or a DrawingBrush. Nice. Pavan has also setup a CodePlex project for those of you who'd like to see how the code works or contribute some of your own.

Last, fellow Technical Evangelists Ernie Booth and Laurence Moroney have assembed a three-part Video Boot Camp for WPF/E. This is a great way to get up-to-speed on this new technology in about an hour:

  1. “WPF/E” Video Boot Camp - XAML Basics - Ernie Booth
  2. “WPF/E” Video Boot Camp - Microsoft Expression and Visual Studio 2005 – Ernie Booth
  3. “WPF/E” Video Boot Camp - Programming “WPF/E” – Laurence Moroney

Oh...and before I forget...Happy 2007!