Coordination proposal: staged migration from vscode-axaml to AXSG

[lextm]

Hi Wiesław,

My team maintains VS Code Tools for AXAML (vscode-axaml), and we have been following the direction of XamlToCSharpGenerator for a while. Congratulations on the progress so far. It is the next generation of tooling for a more modern XAML editing experience in VS Code.

Why I’m opening this issue

We are leaning toward a gradual wind-down of vscode-axaml and would like to help 1000+ users transition to your newer extension as it matures.

Proposed staged plan

Stage 1 (since March 12):

• Integrate your language server with vscode-axaml.
• Keep the legacy preview mechanism for now so users can continue working without a disruptive workflow change, especially in cases where the AXSG previewer may fail if their projects are not adapted yet.
• Goal: deliver a better editing and diagnostics experience to a broader audience while you continue developing AXSG as a whole.

Stage 2 (when your extension is ready for broader usage):

• Mark vscode-axaml as deprecated in the VS Code Marketplace so users get a clear migration notice pointing to your extension.
• Provide a short migration guide (settings equivalence, common workflows, known differences).

Issue triage note

As the AXSG language server lands on more desktops, we expect some issue reports to show up. vscode-axaml users can fall back to the legacy language server, but do you prefer that we route AXSG-related issues here by default?

Thanks for your work on this. A coordinated handoff feels healthier for the ecosystem.

Best regards,
Lex

[wieslawsoltes]

@lextm Please note my extension is mostly focused on Source Generator compiler support and while it has old XamlX compiler support its not a main priority right now.

[lextm]

@wieslawsoltes Thanks for the reply. Please fully focus on the direction you plan and that's going to be great.

[lextm]

Just built a simple demo to show off C# expression support in AXAML with a step-by-step guide.

Next, my team will

• migrate Project Rover to AXSG.
  • Generating AvaloniaXamlLoader classes to minimize code changes during migration #28
  • Add IL weaving support for legacy AvaloniaXamlLoader calls #30
  • Crash on DataGrid usage #33
  • Need to improve ResourceDictionary support #36 (open but with easy workaround)
• improve vscode-axaml to prepare users for migration to AXSG.
  • Track separately as Migrate users to AXSG toolset and its extension lextudio/vscode-axaml#16
• investigate VS/Rider integration gaps and likely work with those open source extensions and their maintainers to enable AXSG beyond VS Code.
  • AXAML Viewer
  • Rider plugin