One of the cool new tool features in Silverlight 5 is the XAML debugging features. It is limited to debugging bindings in XAML but that is an extremely useful feature.

I have created a demo showing the few steps needed to debug bindings in XAML. The demo consist of a TextBox containing a number a Button to refresh the number. The number is a random number.





The Text property of the TextBox binds to a property called “Number”. It is a Dependency Property defined in my code-behind. To make the binding work I have set the DataContext of the page to its self.



Whenever the Number property is updated it will automatically update the Text value on the TextBox.

As simple as it is I can spend hours looking for errors if I e.g. misspell the property that we use to bind to. Before Silverlight 5 I would get a hint in the Output window if I had a BindingExpression exception. In Silverlight 5 I can add a breakpoint to the binding directly in the XAML.



Debugging the XAML above I get an exception with a BindingExpression path error and enables me to easily identify the error.