To start developing for XAML and Windows Presentation Foundation, you need to have some tools in hand.  Do not forget that this article is written some weeks after the release date of .NET Framework 3.0 RC1.  You can start developing XAML and WPF on Windows Vista, Windows XP or Windows 2003.

You need to download WinFX SDK and Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for WinFX.  Although by installing WinFX SDK you have a cool tool to develop for XAML, Visual Studio Extensions can enable a visual designer and Intellisense, and great debugging features.  I recommend downloading VS 2005 Extensions for WinFX if you have it installed on your system.

Of you do not have it, do not worry because WinFX SDK comes with an editor for XAML which is named XAMLPad.  This editor lets you to type and edit XAML markup then it generates the UI for you.  It also has some debugging features.

There are some other tools available by Microsoft or community for XAML development:

·         Microsoft Expression "Sparkle Interactive Designer"

·         MyXaml

If you are using some tools like XamlPad to write your XAML codes, you can use MSBuild to compile them, but if Visual Studio is your primary IDE for this purpose it builds them on the fly for you.