Media Center Markup Language

Re: MCML vs XAML

AndyC — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 07:24:05 GMT

I wouldn't say that Media Center was your best option for this application!

You can still use XBAP, just be aware that by Windows 7 it may not work.

Cheers,
Andrew

Re: MCML vs XAML

federico.caselli — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 10:41:24 GMT

Hi,

before XBAP was deprecated in Media Center, I was thinking to build an application with 3D animations, to drive a massage armchair. I guess this feature is unavailable using MCML. Am I right?

Re: MCML vs XAML

Charlie — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 04:44:54 GMT

We wrote a book -- it's called the SDK. :-)

Re: MCML vs XAML

bobbyderosa — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 20:10:06 GMT

Thanks for the clarification guys.

OK, well that was an easy decision. It's obvious MCML is the proper choice in my case. Do any of you know if there are any MCML books available? I searched amazon but came up fruitless.

Thanks again.

Re: MCML vs XAML

AndyC — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 08:30:52 GMT

bobbyderosa:
I typically do my binding in markup - unless its more complex or just makes sense to use code-behind. Does MCML not allow you to modify the UI from code?

Can you provide a little more detail about the "better integration w/ Media Center" that MCML provides?

Thanks for the quick reply!

In WPF you can bind your XAML to the partial class that is created alongside it by putting this.DataContext = this in the constructor of the partial class, or you can put DataContext="{Binding RelativeSource={RelativeSource Self}}" in the XAML window/page element. You can then put {Binding Path=propertyname, Mode=TwoWay} as the data source for your UI element (e.g. <CheckBox IsChecked="{..}">), and define properties in your class firing OnPropertyChanged when the setter is accessed.

In MCML you can create the properties in exactly the same way in a class (I create a class per page, with the same name as the MCML file - e.g. DisplayPage.mcml and DisplayPage.cs). Inherit your class from ModelItem and you can then access FirePropertyChanged in your setter to notify your MCML that a property has changed. To "bind" the code behind, pass a property into the page (I call it "Page" for some reason :) and then bind each individual property using a <Binding> rule.

For integration differences, have a look at both the other comments in this post but also search for XBAP, XAML, and WPF in the forum - there are a number of posts about it. The biggest benefit (not mentioned in any posts that I can recall) is that the animations in MCML are much easier (IMHO) than in WPF. The worst feature of WPF in Media Center for me is that it is overlaid on the Media Center surface rather than being in it, like MCML so the transition between Media Center and the XBAP is ugly.

Cheers,
Andrew

Re: MCML vs XAML

soultaker — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 05:26:28 GMT

To me it boils down to fidelity of graphics and animations, with mcml you get full motion graphics using XBAP on the other hand you are limited to 3 or 4 FPS. Also as noted above XBAP has been deprecated.

Re: MCML vs XAML

Charlie — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 00:56:18 GMT

Keep chatting with AndyC -- but please know we deprecated the XAML Browser Application (XBAP) paradigm with the release of the 5.3 SDK.

Re: MCML vs XAML

bobbyderosa — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 22:46:12 GMT

I typically do my binding in markup - unless its more complex or just makes sense to use code-behind. Does MCML not allow you to modify the UI from code?

Can you provide a little more detail about the "better integration w/ Media Center" that MCML provides?

Thanks for the quick reply!

Re: MCML vs XAML

AndyC — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 22:16:46 GMT

I've used both and have to say for Media Center development I much prefer MCML.

MCML has better integration into Media Center than WPF but the biggest reason to not use WPF is that it is deprecated in the SDK as of v5.3 - i.e. no further support for this technology, even though it may currently still work.

If you've been doing your WPF development using binding in your UI and setting the DataContext to the associated partial class, then you can develop MCML in exactly the same way. If you've been coding in the old "VB style" of directly manipulating your UI from code, then it's going to be a tougher transition.

Cheers,
Andrew

MCML vs XAML

bobbyderosa — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 21:14:31 GMT

Now that Vista Media Center can host a XAML page, what is the benefit of using MCML over XAML? I've been using WPF/XAML for a few months now and really love it - it would be nice to be able to re-use that knowledge.

If you've used both, can you provide any insight?