Blend – Creating a New Project

Microsoft Blend for Visual Studio is XAML (eXtensible Application Markup Language) based user interface design tool used to develop standalone or web-based applications.

This article explains the steps to create a New Project in Blend.

This applies to:

• Microsoft Blend for Visual Studio 2012 (Version 5.x)

Step (1). Open Microsoft Blend for Visual Studio application.

Step (2). Click on New Project… from Welcome Screen.

If Welcome Screen does not appear when you start the Blend application, click on the File menu and then select New Project… menu item.

Step (3). Once you click on New Project…, Blend will display the “New Project” dialog. (Or click on Ctrl + Shift + N keys from the keyboard to open the “New Project” dialog.)

The Blend will display project categories in the left-side pane and project templates in the right-side pane. When you select the project category from the left-side pane, available project templates for the selected project category will be displayed in the right-side pane.

• Select the appropriate project category from the left side pane and the project template from the right side pane.
  • WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) – These templates will create standalone rich user interface applications.
  • Silverlight – Used to create a rich look and feel for web-based applications.
• Provide the name of the project in the Name field.
• Select the location where to store the project files by clicking on the Browse… button.
• Select the language from the Language combo box. The Blend will generate the code based on the selected language.
• Version drop-down combo box, select the .Net version you want to use for this project.
• Click on the OK button to create a new project, based on the given information.

Step (4). The Blend will create a project and display the canvas to design the project’s main window.

By default, Blend will display the designer window to allow to design of the application window.

• You can select the object from the Tools pane and draw the object on panels on the application window. By default, Blend will add the Grid panel. So all the objects will be part of the Grid panel.
• You can show/hide those objects from the Objects and Timeline pane.
• When you select the object from the designer window, Blend will display the selected object’s properties in the Properties window.

To show/hide these panes, click on the Window menu and select the pane you want to show/hide from the pull-down menu.

Step (5). Click on the Project menu. It will display a pull-down menu. Click on the Run Project menu item to run the project. (Or you can press the F5 key Or Ctrl + F5 keys from the keyboard to run the project.)

The Blend will display the Main Window as the result. This is the window automatically created based on the selected template while creating the project. You can add controls and events to this window in the Blend design window to add functionality based on your requirements.

See also, “Blend – Creating a border-less Window“.