Comparing Visual Studio 2015 and Blend for Visual Studio

Question

I am new to developing applications for Windows. What is the main function and benefits of Blend for Visual Studio.

There is already a XAML designer and all the tools built into Visual Studio. Why is there a need for Blend for Visual Studio? What is the main advantage of Blend for Visual Studio? Because in many videos that I watched, people prefer to use Blend for Visual Studio. Thanks.

EDIT: My question is about the current version of Blend for Visual Studio. I don't care about old versions of Blend.

Answer 1

Blend and Visual Studio - Why Two Tools?

Visual Studio XAML design tools that let you:

• Custom layout design . Use powerful layout tools, including templates, built-in controls, rulers, guides, and bindings, to create custom layouts for your Windows Store app.
• Creation and style controls . Drag the controls onto the design surface and then create them by changing the properties directly in the user interface. The style of images and elements.
• Create and edit management templates . Use template editing tools to create custom control templates that can be reused throughout the project. Add them to your management library to reuse them in projects outside the current project.
• Create and edit data templates . Create templates that define how your data will be displayed in your application.
• Display sample and development time data Bind and display data in the Windows Store application so that you can more easily change the appearance of your data at run time.
• Use behavior to add interactivity . Add interactivity to your application by dragging inline behavior onto an object on the design surface and changing the properties to suit your needs.
• Change XAML markup In addition to user interface tools that make it easy to create and modify XAML without touching the code.

Blend allows you to:

• Insert controls and change their behavior in XAML Designer

  • Add controls to the art panel . You can drag controls from the Assets panel to the artboard and then change them in the Properties window.
  • Make control out of an image, form, or path . You can make any object in the control.
  • Managing controls Controls can perform actions when users interact with them. For example, they can trigger animations, update a data source, or play videos. Use triggers, behavior, and events to force controls to do something.

• Insert images, videos, and sound clips into XAML Designer

• Draw shapes and paths

  • Draw a figure
  • Draw a way
  • Convert form to path
  • Combine paths
  • Create a composite path
  • Create a Clipping Path

• Change Object Style

• Object animation

  • Create time frames
  • Add keyframes and repeat the animation
  • Add event triggers for interactivity
  • Flower animation
  • Create and modify paths
  • Animate button
  • Animation and weakening

References
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj129478.aspx
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj170634.aspx

Answer 2

Blend and VS are approaching each other, but both have their own audience. Under them both work on the same engine. Visual Studio is aimed at developers, while Blend is aimed at user interface designers. This does not mean that you cannot achieve great Blend functionality in VS and vice versa, it just is not optimized for it. Designing animations, storyboards, setting behaviors ... in Blend, everything is simpler. Other development functions are easier in VS (debugging, server connections, source control, UI source control, ...). Both are very strongly connected, you can switch between them.

WPF Tooling in Blend and Visual Studio 2015

Blend and Visual Studio - Why Two Tools?

Designing XAML in Visual Studio

Answer 3

I use a mixture, I use a mixture that is more convenient for developing small applications. But in Blend there is no way to publish the application to the Windows storage. If you created the application in Blend, you must open it in visual studio in order to publish it in the Windows store.