Settings: XAML refactoring

[Jay-o-Way]

Summary of the Pull Request

Overhaul of Settings & Welcome XAML files.

(invisible)

• Consolidated namespaces and (Visual Studio) removed unneeded namespaces
• Re-wrote bits of x:bind grammar: {x:Bind Mode=m, Path=p} → {x:Bind p, Mode=m}
• Fixed spelling: EnableEtraBoxes → EnableExtraBoxes (imagesize.cs)
• Re-wrote part on MouseUtils page where strings are concatenated
• A number of ui:FontIcon elements still had FontFamily and/or FontSize declared
• Trailing line endings

(visible)

• A few adjustments in Margins and Spacings - some visible, some not
• A few Styles (incl. OobeSubtitleStyle → SubtitleTextBlockStyle)
• OOBE: the Hyperlink gets a new line
• OOBE: module image is now centered
• removed incorrect background for OOBE Peek page

PR Checklist

• Part of: [Settings] UI suggestions #18866
• Communication: I've discussed this with core contributors already. If work hasn't been agreed, this work might be rejected
• Localization: All end user facing strings can be localized

Detailed Description of the Pull Request / Additional comments

DataContext -> new pr

↳ (0.75.1) This padding should not be here; missing space next to keys

↳ (pr) SubtitleTextBlockStyle; Hyperlink on new line; padding fixed

Validation Steps Performed

Build with Visual Studio.

[htcfreek]

OOBE : the Hyperlink gets a new line\n

What about switching order between hyperlink and buttons? 🤔 (First hyperlink, then buttins.)

[Jay-o-Way]

Possible. But why? Links usually have a "less than important" feeling.

[htcfreek]

Possible. But why? Links usually have a "less than important" feeling.

I thought it might look better to have the "big" buttons after the "small" text and link, and not between.

[htcfreek]

Ready for review.
I don't understand ☹️ How does .\.pipelines\applyXamlStyling.ps1 -Main work?

@Jay-o-Way
There is the VS plugin XamlStyler. You should install it and then use it to fix xaml code style.

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=TeamXavalon.XAMLStyler2022

[jaimecbernardo]

I usually run this incantation when switching branches: git clean -ffxd

So, Settings doesn't crash for me if I run it directly from Visual Studio (PowerToys Run plugins, at least, since VCM page is disabled when running like that).

It still crashes if I run it through "Start without Debugging"(Ctrl+F5) or if I start the runner and then start Settings from the tray icon. (This is what I usually do when testing since it's the normal way to start the Settings apps)

On PowerToys Run page, when I try to expand one of the plugins, it crashes the Settings app.
When I try to open the VCM Settings page, it crashes Settings.

Does it crash for you as well?

I gave the PR a try again and it still crashes for me on these two places.

[htcfreek]

@Jay-o-Way , @jaimecbernardo
Did you both try with a clean build or did one of you only do rebuilds?

[Jay-o-Way]

@jaimecbernardo @niels9001 GREAT NEWS!
I have found and fixed the cause of the Plug-in error. I had changed a SettingsCard + InfoBar to InfoBar, but that wasn't allowed. Which I could have known sooner, would I have read your comment better 🙄

Looks like something can't deal with an empty/null string as Image Source? When I do have an image readily set, and then use the button to ClearOverlayImageAction, the app freezes.

Important

This also happens in 0.76.2 (GA) so this is not an issue created in this PR!

[Jay-o-Way]

Guys, have a moment? 😇

[niels9001]

Guys, have a moment? 😇

Most of us are out of office for the holidays. I'll make sure to get back to this once I'm back!

[niels9001]

@Jay-o-Way Why is this namespace custom now? That's rather confusing actually, since they are using the .Controls namespace? That's why we use converters namespace for Converters

Can't we use controls for PowerToys controls, and toolkit or toolkitcontrols for all controls part of the Toolkit?

[niels9001]

Actually, looking at the updated XAML.. toolkitcontrols is pretty verbose and makes the XAML harder to read :(.

Could we use tk:SettingsCard instead maybe? Or we do use custom for custom controls (it's used only in a handful of files) and use controls for Toolkit controls?

[Jay-o-Way]

Why is this namespace custom now?

and

looking at the updated XAML.. toolkitcontrols is pretty verbose and makes the XAML harder to read :(.

Could we use tk:SettingsCard instead maybe?In the main branch, custom is already (consistently) used through-out the OOBE xaml pages. Under the rest of SettingsXAML area/folder, controls, local, and custom are all used.

@niels9001 Both PowerToys and CommunityToolkit can have namespaces for Controls and Converters declared. That's four combinations. Simply using "controls" or "converters" is ambiguous. We can shorten "CommunityToolkit" to "ct" and "PowerToys" to "pt", but when both versions of Controls or Converters are used in the same file, we can't shorten it any more than that. (Aside from skipping vowels...)

Therefore I suggest

• xmlns:ptcontrols="using:Microsoft.PowerToys.Settings.UI.Controls"
• xmlns:ptconverters="using:Microsoft.PowerToys.Settings.UI.Converters"
• xmlns:ctcontrols="using:CommunityToolkit.WinUI.UI.Controls"
• xmlns:ctconverters="using:CommunityToolkit.WinUI.Converters"

#18866 (comment)

Images:

[Jay-o-Way]

@niels9001 you're right. The longer it takes, the bigger it gets. I should re-do this into a few prs.

• Namespaces
• Bindings
• Visual improvements
• etc.