XAML Grid Editor

A Visual Studio extension for editing XAML Grid layouts without manually renumbering child elements.

XAML Grid Editor inserts and removes rows and columns, updates Grid.Row, Grid.Column, Grid.RowSpan, and Grid.ColumnSpan on affected children, and provides a tool window for editing grid structure directly from the IDE.

Features

• Insert rows and columns into an existing XAML Grid
• Remove rows and columns and automatically shift affected child indices
• Update Grid.RowSpan and Grid.ColumnSpan when structure changes require it
• Edit row heights and column widths from a dedicated tool window
• Enable commands only when the caret is inside a Grid
• Work with multiple XAML dialects by matching elements by local name rather than framework-specific namespaces

Supported XAML dialects

The parser is namespace-agnostic, so the extension is intended to work with XAML that uses Grid, RowDefinition, and ColumnDefinition semantics, including:

• WPF
• WinUI
• .NET MAUI
• Avalonia
• Other compatible XAML dialects

[!NOTE] The extension runs inside Visual Studio and operates on the active XAML document. Support depends on the document being valid enough to parse as XML.

How it works

When the caret is inside a Grid, the extension locates the innermost grid at the current cursor position, parses its row and column definitions, and applies text edits to the active document.

Structure changes are applied in two stages:

1. Update child attached properties such as Grid.Row and Grid.Column
2. Insert, remove, or resize the corresponding row or column definition

This keeps changes undoable and aligned with the current editor buffer.

Usage

Context menu commands

In the XAML editor, right-click while the caret is inside a Grid to access:

• Insert Row Before
• Insert Column Before
• Remove Current Row
• Remove Current Column

These commands are hidden when the caret is not inside a grid.

Tool window

Open the tool window from:

• View -> XAML Grid Editor

The tool window shows the current grid summary and lets you:

• Select a row or column
• Insert before or after the selected item
• Remove the selected item
• Edit row Height values inline
• Edit column Width values inline

Example

Given a grid like this:

<Grid>
    <Grid.RowDefinitions>
        <RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
        <RowDefinition Height="*"/>
    </Grid.RowDefinitions>

    <TextBlock Text="Header" />
    <TextBox Grid.Row="1" Text="Body" />
</Grid>

Inserting a row before row 1 updates the grid definitions and shifts children automatically:

<Grid>
    <Grid.RowDefinitions>
        <RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
        <RowDefinition Height="*"/>
        <RowDefinition Height="*"/>
    </Grid.RowDefinitions>

    <TextBlock Text="Header" />
    <TextBox Grid.Row="2" Text="Body" />
</Grid>