Display data in Blend for Visual Studio

You can view sample data in your designer as you customize the layout of your pages. You can generate sample data from scratch or by using an existing class. You can also connect to Live data that appears in your app when you run it.

Note

The Data panel in Blend is supported only for projects that target .NET Framework. It's not supported for UWP projects or projects that target .NET Core.

Generate sample data

To generate sample data, open a XAML document. In the Data panel, choose the Create sample data Create sample data icon button, and then choose New Sample Data.

Define the structure of your data in the Data panel, and then bind it to UI elements on any page.

Data panel

If you want your sample data to appear in your pages when you run the app, choose Data source options Data source options icon, and then choose Enable When Running Application.

Enable When Running Application menu item

Watch a short video: Play icon Create sample data from scratch.

Generate sample data from a class

If you've already created classes that describe the structure of your data, you can generate sample data from them.

To generate sample data from a class, open a XAML document, and then in the Data panel, click the Create sample data Create sample data icon button, and then click Create Sample Data from Class.

Watch a short video: Play icon Mix up some data binding with Blend.