XAML Spy 2.0.5 has been released with an Add App Wizard with which developers will be able to add any XAML app such as Silverlight, Windows Phone, Windows Store and WPF with or without source code easily. It also provide support for spying those XAML apps for which the source code is not available.
With the help of the latest update, you will be able to navigate installed apps by selecting the Show All Apps button in the XAML Spy Explorer toolbar in addition to the ability to explore Silverlight out of browser and Windows Store apps from within Visual Studio 2013.
It is also possible to enable and disable XAML Spy for multiple projects at a time from the Manage XAML Spy for Solution dialog, which can be opened by right clicking Solution Explorer. As a developer, you will be able to know the name of those projects for which XAML Spy is enabled.
InfoQ had a chat with Koen Zwikstra, First Floor Software to know more about the latest release.
InfoQ: Can you share with us the real purpose and benefit of XAML Spy?
The ultimate purpose of XAML Spy is to save time. XAML Spy provides developers with a unique insight 'under the hood' of their XAML app at runtime. XAML Spy helps developers to understand how their XAML apps really work and helps in quickly identifying possible issues. By providing tools for quickly identifying issues, developer productivity is definitely improved.
InfoQ: Can you share us the few scenarios where XAML Spy can be used?
Scenario 1 - Understand how and why visuals are rendered. XAML Spy provides a real-time view of the application's user interface visual tree, with access to all properties of any visual
Scenario 2 - Full filesystem access to the app storage. Most XAML apps come with isolated storage on local disk. It's fairly hard to access the folder and files in this storage. XAML Spy makes it super easy to access and modify the files of the isolated storage.
Scenario 3 - Performance monitors help identify possible memory and rendering issues.
Scenario 4 - The automation visual tree aids in learning how a XAML app manifests itself to accessibility apps (such as screen readers and other automation tools).