Aurora is a visual designer that produces XAML documents from the Microsoft Avalon Object Model.

Aurora is more than a drawing or painting program. Aurora works with the Avalon object model and the Visual Tree. Aurora allows you to visually create and edit various levels in the Avalon document. In addition to creating user interfaces and drawings, Aurora allows you to apply attached dependency properties to visual objects; you can also define custom content for content controls. Using Aurora you can use or create libraries of objects and reuse them in your applications.

The Aurora authoring engine is built as an Avalon DockPanel that can be dropped into an Avalon application or can be embedded in a WinForms application providing instant XAML/Avalon authoring capabilities. The DesignerPanel is the main class for the authoring engine. It is derived from a DockPanel and implements the AuroraDesigner interface which is the main interface for the Aurora Object Model. The DesigerPanel lives in the AuroraDesigner.dll.Aurora XAML Designer for WinFX is a visual designer that produces XAML documents.

The Aurora Designer has a plug-in architecture that allows third-parties to create their own plug-ins. The plug-in has complete access to the toolbars, tabs, Property Panel and Solution Explorer in Aurora through the Aurora Object Model. The Plug-in can create custom toolbars, create custom Avalon based controls and even launch custom editors.

Using the various events and interfaces in the Aurora Object Model and the flexibility inherent to Avalon, the behavior of the Aurora Designer can be customized to the application being developed by the host program.

Requirements:

· Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0
· WinFX SDK Beta RC1


What's New in This Release:

· Export to raster formats (JPG, GIF, TIFF, PNG)
· Edit of panels and grids in-place
· Multi-Select now supported in the Property Panel
· Test run of Windows
· Support for Page XAML documents
· Enhanced zoom support including a Preview Window that can also be used for simple navigation
· Improved support for named and global styles
· Enhanced object model and plug-in architecture
· More clip art
· Quicker load times for large documents
· Connectable Object custom controls added for attaching to named objects