MAUI Designer - Angular

A powerful web-based visual designer for creating MAUI (Microsoft App UI) layouts with drag-and-drop functionality. This Angular application provides an intuitive interface for designing XAML-based user interfaces with real-time preview capabilities.

🚀 Features

Visual Design Tools

• Drag-and-Drop Interface: Intuitive visual design with drag-and-drop functionality
• Element Toolbox: Comprehensive collection of MAUI controls and layouts
• Properties Panel: Real-time property editing with immediate visual feedback
• Hierarchy Panel: Tree view of element structure for easy navigation
• Resizable Panels: Customizable workspace with adjustable panel sizes

XAML Integration

• XAML Editor: Full-featured code editor with syntax support
• Real-time Preview: Instant visual updates when applying XAML changes
• XAML Generation: Export designed layouts as clean XAML code
• XAML Parsing: Import existing XAML files to recreate visual designs
• Copy & Download: Easy sharing and saving of generated XAML

Supported MAUI Elements

Controls

• Label: Text display with formatting options
• Button: Interactive buttons with styling
• Entry: Single-line text input fields
• Editor: Multi-line text input areas
• Image: Image display with positioning

Layouts

• StackLayout: Vertical/horizontal stacking of elements
• Grid: Row and column-based layouts with spanning
• AbsoluteLayout: Precise positioning with coordinates

Views

• Frame: Containers with borders and backgrounds
• ScrollView: Scrollable content areas

🛠️ Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following installed:

• Node.js (version 16.x or higher)
• npm (version 8.x or higher)
• Angular CLI (version 18.x)

📦 Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/GMPrakhar/MAUI-Designer.git
   cd MAUI-Designer

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Install Angular CLI globally (if not already installed):

   npm install -g @angular/cli

🚀 Getting Started

Development Server

Start the development server:

npm start
# or
ng serve

Navigate to http://localhost:4200/ in your browser. The application will automatically reload when you make changes to the source files.

Building for Production

Build the project for production:

npm run build
# or
ng build

The build artifacts will be stored in the dist/ directory.

Running Tests

Execute the unit tests:

npm test
# or
ng test

🎯 Usage Guide

1. Creating Your First Layout

1. Select a Layout Container: Start by adding a layout container (StackLayout, Grid, or AbsoluteLayout) from the toolbox
2. Add Controls: Drag controls like Label, Button, or Entry from the toolbox to your layout
3. Configure Properties: Use the Properties panel to customize appearance, text, colors, and positioning
4. Preview XAML: Check the XAML tab to see the generated code in real-time

2. Working with the Toolbox

The toolbox is organized into three categories:

• Controls: Interactive elements like buttons, labels, and input fields
• Layouts: Containers that organize child elements (StackLayout, Grid, AbsoluteLayout)
• Views: Specialized containers like Frame and ScrollView

3. Properties Panel

The Properties panel allows you to modify:

• Layout Properties: Position (x, y), size (width, height), margins, padding
• Visual Properties: Background color, text color, font family, font size
• Content Properties: Text content, images, and other element-specific properties
• Grid Properties: Row/column position and spanning for Grid layouts

4. XAML Editor

• Apply Changes: Click the "Apply" button to update the visual design from XAML code
• Reset: Revert to the current visual design state
• Copy: Copy the generated XAML to clipboard
• Download: Save the XAML as a file

5. Hierarchy Panel

• View the complete element structure
• Select elements for editing
• Navigate complex layouts easily

🏗️ Project Structure

src/
├── app/
│   ├── components/           # UI Components
│   │   ├── designer-canvas/  # Main design surface
│   │   ├── hierarchy-panel/  # Element tree view
│   │   ├── properties-panel/ # Property editor
│   │   ├── toolbox/         # Element toolbox
│   │   └── xaml-editor/     # XAML code editor
│   ├── models/              # Data models
│   │   ├── maui-element.ts  # MAUI element definitions
│   │   └── toolbox.ts       # Toolbox item definitions
│   ├── services/            # Business logic services
│   │   ├── drag-drop.ts     # Drag-and-drop functionality
│   │   ├── element.ts       # Element management
│   │   ├── layout-designer.ts # Layout calculations
│   │   ├── xaml-generator.ts # XAML code generation
│   │   └── xaml-parser.ts   # XAML parsing
│   └── app.ts              # Main app component
├── styles.scss             # Global styles
└── index.html             # Main HTML file

🔧 Development

Architecture

The application follows Angular's standalone components architecture with a service-based approach:

• Components: Each UI panel is a standalone component with its own logic
• Services: Business logic is centralized in injectable services
• Models: TypeScript interfaces define data structures for MAUI elements
• Reactive Programming: Uses RxJS for state management and real-time updates

Key Services

• ElementService: Manages element creation, selection, and hierarchy
• LayoutDesignerService: Handles layout calculations and positioning
• XamlGeneratorService: Converts visual designs to XAML code
• XamlParserService: Parses XAML code into visual elements
• DragDropService: Manages drag-and-drop interactions

Adding New MAUI Elements

1. Define the element type in models/maui-element.ts
2. Add toolbox entry in models/toolbox.ts
3. Implement element creation in services/element.ts
4. Add XAML generation logic in services/xaml-generator.ts
5. Update parser in services/xaml-parser.ts

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please follow these steps:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/your-feature-name
3. Make your changes and ensure they follow the coding standards
4. Test your changes thoroughly
5. Commit your changes: git commit -m 'Add some feature'
6. Push to the branch: git push origin feature/your-feature-name
7. Open a Pull Request

Development Guidelines

• Follow Angular coding style guidelines
• Write unit tests for new features
• Ensure all existing tests pass
• Update documentation as needed
• Use meaningful commit messages

📋 Technology Stack

• Frontend Framework: Angular 18.2.0
• UI Components: Angular Material 18.2.0
• Drag & Drop: Angular CDK 18.2.0
• Language: TypeScript 5.5.4
• Styling: SCSS
• State Management: RxJS 7.8.0
• Build Tool: Angular CLI 18.2.0
• Testing: Jasmine & Karma

🐛 Known Issues

• Build may fail in environments without internet access due to Google Fonts dependency
• Some advanced XAML features are not yet supported
• Complex nested layouts may require manual XAML adjustments

📚 Resources

• MAUI Documentation
• Angular Documentation
• Angular Material
• TypeScript Documentation

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

👨‍💻 Author

GMPrakhar - GitHub Profile

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Microsoft MAUI team for the excellent UI framework
• Angular team for the robust web framework
• Contributors and community members

---

Happy Designing! 🎨