InkkSlinger UI Framework

Is It Usable Yet? (tm sign here)

Evidence Pass (2026-03-02)

Check	Result	Evidence
Solution build	Pass (Release, 0 errors, 0 warnings)	dotnet build InkkSlinger.sln -c Release -v minimal
Test suite	Partial (477/480, 3 failing)	dotnet test InkkSlinger.Tests/InkkSlinger.Tests.csproj -c Release -v minimal
Current failing test areas	2 classes (InputDispatchOptimization, ViewportResizeInputRegression)	Latest full release test run (2026-03-02)
WPF control coverage	Broad but incomplete (70/77)	TODO.md -> ## WPF Control Coverage
Open tracked work	7 unchecked TODO items	TODO.md (missing controls)
Explicit unsupported behavior	Present	UI/Controls/Containers/UserControl.cs blocks custom ControlTemplate; UI/Input/Core/InputGestureService.cs blocks imperative gesture registration

Honest Verdict

Not yet production-ready as a general-purpose framework claim.

Conditionally usable for production only when your app stays inside the currently implemented/tested surface area and you accept the known gaps above (including the current 3 failing regression tests).

If the bar is "ship a targeted app on this stack," that can be reasonable.
If the bar is "framework-level broad production readiness," the current open parity/coverage gaps mean not yet.

InkkSlinger is a custom UI framework for MonoGame/DesktopGL with one primary objective:

achieve practical WPF parity as closely as possible across APIs, behavior, composition model, and authoring workflow.

This repository is framework-first. The files in Views/ are validation/demo surfaces used to exercise framework features and regressions, not the end product.

Why This Exists

WPF provides a strong UI model, but it is not directly available inside game-oriented rendering pipelines like MonoGame/DesktopGL.

This project closes that gap by bringing WPF-style composition into a real-time loop:

• build desktop-style UI in a MonoGame host
• preserve familiar WPF-like authoring patterns
• validate behavior through parity-focused tests

For Who This Is

Me.

This framework is unapologetically opinionated. It exists to satisfy a very specific bar for architecture, behavior, and authoring feel.

Vision

Bring a WPF-like development model into a game/render-loop environment by implementing:

• dependency properties and metadata-driven behavior
• routed events and focus/input semantics
• measure/arrange style layout composition
• resources, styles, triggers, and templating
• MVVM-style binding primitives
• timeline/storyboard-driven animation
• broad control coverage with regression tests

WPF Parity Position

Parity is treated as a long-running engineering target, not a marketing claim. The implementation is broad and deep, but intentionally explicit about gaps.

Parity Summary

This matrix is compiled from TODO.md completed work, concrete type coverage under UI/, and the current regression suite.

Area	Implemented Parity Surface	Evidence	Status
Dependency property system	Core DP registration, metadata callbacks/options, value source layering	UI/Core/DependencyProperties/DependencyObject.cs, UI/Core/DependencyProperties/DependencyProperty.cs, UI/Core/DependencyProperties/FrameworkPropertyMetadata.cs	Implemented
Routed event model	Routed event registration/dispatch + routed args types	UI/Events/Core/EventManager.cs, UI/Events/Core/RoutedEvent.cs, UI/Events/Args/*	Implemented
Input + focus pipeline	Input snapshots/delta, dispatch state, focus management integrated into root update	UI/Input/Core/InputManager.cs, UI/Input/Core/FocusManager.cs, UI/Managers/Root/Services/UiRootInputPipeline.cs	Implemented
UI dispatcher/phase model	Deferred operations + strict frame phase ordering	UI/Core/Threading/Dispatcher.cs, UI/Managers/Root/Services/UiRootFrameState.cs, InkkSlinger.Tests/DispatcherPhaseOrderTests.cs	Implemented (tested)
Layout framework	Measure/arrange across framework elements and panels	UI/Controls/Base/FrameworkElement.cs, UI/Managers/Layout/LayoutManager.cs, UI/Controls/Panels/*	Implemented
Visual tree utilities	Tree traversal + hit-test support for input/render decisions	UI/Managers/Tree/VisualTreeHelper.cs	Implemented
Resource dictionaries	Local/tree/app resource resolution with dictionary change notifications	UI/Resources/Core/ResourceDictionary.cs, UI/Resources/Core/ResourceResolver.cs, UI/Resources/Types/ResourceDictionaryChangedEventArgs.cs	Implemented
Application resource bootstrapping	App.xml load path into UiApplication with implicit theme/style availability at host startup	Game1.cs (LoadApplicationResourcesFromFile), App.xml, InkkSlinger.Tests/AppXmlResourcesTests.cs	Implemented (tested)
Style system	Style, Setter, implicit/explicit style application, BasedOn support	UI/Styling/Core/Style.cs, UI/Styling/Core/Setter.cs, TODO.md (Completed Milestones)	Implemented
Trigger framework	Property/data/multi-data/event triggers + condition evaluation	UI/Styling/Triggers/Trigger.cs, UI/Styling/Triggers/DataTrigger.cs, UI/Styling/Triggers/MultiDataTrigger.cs, UI/Styling/Triggers/EventTrigger.cs	Implemented
Trigger action runtime	SetValueAction + storyboard action family in trigger execution path	UI/Styling/Actions/SetValueAction.cs, UI/Styling/Actions/StoryboardActions.cs, UI/Xaml/Core/XamlLoader.cs (BuildTriggerAction)	Implemented
Control templating	ControlTemplate, template binding, template trigger engine	UI/Templating/Core/ControlTemplate.cs, UI/Templating/Core/TemplateBinding.cs, UI/Templating/Core/TemplateTriggerEngine.cs	Implemented
Data templating	DataTemplate, selector, resolver pipeline	UI/Templating/Data/DataTemplate.cs, UI/Templating/Data/DataTemplateSelector.cs, UI/Templating/Data/DataTemplateResolver.cs	Implemented
Binding core	Path, Source, ElementName, RelativeSource, modes and update triggers	UI/Binding/Core/Binding.cs, UI/Binding/Core/BindingExpression.cs, UI/Binding/Core/BindingOperations.cs, UI/Binding/Types/BindingEnums.cs	Implemented
Binding lifecycle robustness	Rebind behavior on source/data-context/tree changes	TODO.md (Completed Milestones: binding lifecycle robustness)	Implemented
Routed commanding core	RoutedCommand, command bindings, editing command catalog, can-execute/execute pipeline	UI/Commanding/RoutedCommand.cs, UI/Commanding/CommandManager.cs, UI/Commanding/CommandBinding.cs, UI/Commanding/EditingCommands.cs, InkkSlinger.Tests/CommandingTests.cs	Implemented (tested)
Gesture-to-command bridge	Declarative InputBindings/KeyBinding keyboard chord routing into commands, including menu-mode key routing integration	UI/Input/Core/InputGestureService.cs, UI/Input/Types/KeyBinding.cs, UI/Controls/Base/UIElement.cs, UI/Managers/Root/Services/UiRootInputPipeline.cs, InkkSlinger.Tests/MenuParityInputTests.cs	Implemented
XAML/XML loader	Runtime object graph construction, attached properties, handlers, bindings, templates, triggers	UI/Xaml/Core/XamlLoader.cs	Implemented
XAML diagnostics	Element/attribute error reporting with contextual diagnostics	UI/Xaml/Core/XamlLoader.cs, TODO.md (Completed Milestones: better diagnostics)	Implemented
XML schema/tooling	Authoring schemas for framework + x: namespace support	Schemas/InkkSlinger.UI.xsd, Schemas/Xaml2006.xsd, TODO.md (Completed Milestones)	Implemented
Name scope + source gen	x:Name mapping via runtime scope + incremental generator	UI/Core/Naming/NameScope.cs, InkkSlinger.XamlNameGenerator/XNameGenerator.cs, InkkSlinger.Tests/XNameSourceGeneratorTests.cs	Implemented (tested)
Animation timeline system	Timelines/storyboards, begin/stop/pause/resume/seek, handoff modes	UI/Animation/Timelines/*, UI/Animation/Core/AnimationManager.cs, UI/Animation/Types/AnimationPrimitives.cs	Implemented
Keyframe/easing support	Double/color/point/thickness/int/object keyframes + easing/key-spline support	UI/Animation/KeyFrames/*, UI/Animation/Easing/Easing.cs, UI/Animation/Types/*	Implemented
Geometry and shapes	Shape primitives + geometry/transform model + path markup parsing	UI/Controls/Primitives/Shape.cs, UI/Geometry/Core/Geometry.cs, UI/Geometry/Core/Transform.cs, UI/Geometry/Parsing/PathMarkupParser.cs	Implemented
Text layout primitives	Shared text layout, wrapping, text rendering integration	UI/Text/Core/TextLayout.cs, UI/Text/Types/TextWrapping.cs, UI/Rendering/Text/FontStashTextRenderer.cs	Implemented
Text editing pipeline	Selection/edit/clipboard buffer + textbox parity checks, plus rich document editing/undo/layout integration	UI/Text/Editing/TextEditingBuffer.cs, UI/Text/Editing/TextSelection.cs, UI/Text/Editing/TextClipboard.cs, UI/Controls/Inputs/RichTextBox.cs, UI/Controls/Inputs/RichTextBox.FormattingEngine.cs, UI/Controls/Inputs/RichTextBox.Navigation.cs, UI/Controls/Inputs/RichTextBox.ListOperations.cs, UI/Controls/Inputs/RichTextBox.TableOperations.cs, InkkSlinger.Tests/TextEditingBufferTests.cs, InkkSlinger.Tests/TextPipelineParityTests.cs, InkkSlinger.Tests/RichTextDocumentTests.cs	Implemented (tested)
Scrolling primitives	ScrollViewer, ScrollBar, visibility and owner-scrolling behavior	UI/Controls/Scrolling/ScrollViewer.cs, UI/Controls/Scrolling/ScrollBar.cs, InkkSlinger.Tests/ScrollViewerViewerOwnedScrollingTests.cs	Implemented (tested)
Virtualization	Virtualizing panel infrastructure for large item collections	UI/Controls/Panels/VirtualizingStackPanel.cs, UI/Controls/Scrolling/VirtualizationEnums.cs, TODO.md (WPF Parity Gaps: virtualization checked)	Implemented
Rendering invalidation	Dirty region tracking + conditional draw scheduling	UI/Rendering/DirtyRegions/DirtyRegionTracker.cs, UI/Managers/Root/Services/UiRootFrameState.cs, InkkSlinger.Tests/DirtyRegionTrackingTests.cs, InkkSlinger.Tests/ConditionalDrawTests.cs	Implemented (tested)
Retained rendering + redraw scheduling	Retained render-list sync, dirty-region tracking, and conditional draw scheduling	UI/Managers/Root/Services/UiRootRetainedTree.cs, UI/Managers/Root/Services/UiRootDraw.cs, UI/Rendering/DirtyRegions/DirtyRegionTracker.cs, InkkSlinger.Tests/RenderQueueTests.cs, InkkSlinger.Tests/DirtyRegionTrackingTests.cs, InkkSlinger.Tests/ConditionalDrawTests.cs	Implemented (regression coverage in progress)
Render queue and invalidation correctness	Queue ordering and invalidation semantics in root draw/update pipeline	UI/Managers/Root/UiRoot.cs, InkkSlinger.Tests/RenderQueueTests.cs, InkkSlinger.Tests/InvalidationFlagsTests.cs	Implemented (tested)
Adorner infrastructure	Adorner base/layer/decorator + anchored/handles authoring helpers (AnchoredAdorner, HandlesAdornerBase) with clipping/tracking coverage	UI/Controls/Adorners/*, InkkSlinger.Tests/AdornerClippingTests.cs, InkkSlinger.Tests/AdornerParityDepthTests.cs	Implemented (tested)
Control breadth snapshot	70 implemented controls out of 77 tracked WPF controls	TODO.md (## WPF Control Coverage, computed: 70/77)	Broad
Container/windowing primitives	Window, Popup, ContextMenu, ToolTip, UserControl, Viewbox	UI/Controls/Containers/*, UI/Controls/Items/ContextMenu.cs, InkkSlinger.Tests/ContextMenuEdgeParityTests.cs	Implemented (ongoing depth)
Item and data controls	ListBox, ListView, TreeView, Menu, DataGrid families	UI/Controls/Items/*, UI/Controls/DataGrid/*, TODO.md (Current Workstream Snapshot)	Implemented (ongoing depth)
Runtime telemetry/diagnostics	UiRoot frame/draw/layout telemetry snapshot surfaces	UI/Managers/Root/UiRootTypes.cs, UI/Diagnostics/*, InkkSlinger.Tests/UiRootTelemetryTests.cs	Implemented (regression currently failing)
Regression safety net	87 focused test files covering core pipeline/regressions	InkkSlinger.Tests/*Tests.cs (87 files)	Implemented

Implemented Foundations

• Dependency property system (DependencyObject, DependencyProperty, metadata/value-source model)
• Routed event infrastructure (EventManager, routed args and routing strategies)
• Input/focus pipeline integrated with UI update loop
• Layout system across base elements and panel/control composition
• XML markup loading via XamlLoader
• Resources, styles, setters, triggers, and visual state primitives
• Binding primitives (Path, Source, ElementName, RelativeSource)
• Templates (ControlTemplate, DataTemplate, selectors/resolvers)
• Storyboards, timelines, keyframes, easing, and animation manager
• Virtualization primitives (VirtualizingStackPanel and scrolling infrastructure)
• Transform-based ScrollViewer content scrolling for plain panel hosts by default, with attached-property opt-out (ScrollViewer.UseTransformContentScrolling="False")
• Dirty-region-aware rendering with retained-list synchronization and conditional draw scheduling in UiRoot/UI/Rendering
• Tooling support via schemas and x:Name source generation

Not Yet Implemented / Out of Scope (For Now)

This matrix is compiled from a full pass over TODO.md, UI/ source limitations (not supported guards), schema coverage, and missing-type checks.

Area	Gap / Limitation	Evidence	State
Control coverage	AccessText	TODO.md (## WPF Control Coverage)	Not implemented
Control coverage	DocumentViewer	TODO.md (## WPF Control Coverage)	Not implemented
Control coverage	Frame	TODO.md (## WPF Control Coverage)	Not implemented
Control coverage	InkCanvas	TODO.md (## WPF Control Coverage)	Not implemented
Control coverage	InkPresenter	TODO.md (## WPF Control Coverage)	Not implemented
Control coverage	MediaElement	TODO.md (## WPF Control Coverage)	Not implemented
Control coverage	Page	TODO.md (## WPF Control Coverage)	Not implemented
Parity track	Advanced adorner/layout composition depth	TODO.md (## WPF Parity Gaps)	Implemented
Parity track	Windowing/popup edge parity and interaction depth	TODO.md (## WPF Parity Gaps)	Ongoing
Data/view layer	WPF CollectionView stack (current item/filter/sort/group) with CollectionViewSource	UI/Binding/Collections/*, UI/Controls/Base/ItemsControl.cs, UI/Xaml/Core/XamlLoader.cs, InkkSlinger.Tests/CollectionViewCoreTests.cs, InkkSlinger.Tests/XamlCollectionViewParserTests.cs	Implemented (tested)
XAML binding parser	Unrecognized binding attributes are rejected	UI/Xaml/Core/XamlLoader.cs (BuildBindingElement)	Partial
XAML binding parser	Unrecognized binding keys are rejected	UI/Xaml/Core/XamlLoader.cs (ParseBinding)	Partial
XAML RelativeSource parser	Only Mode, AncestorType, AncestorLevel keys are accepted	UI/Xaml/Core/XamlLoader.cs (ParseRelativeSource)	Partial
XAML resources	DynamicResource markup support for attribute-based dependency and attached properties; setter/trigger values remain deferred	UI/Xaml/Core/XamlLoader.cs (TryParseDynamicResourceKey, TryApplyDynamicResourceExpression, ApplyAttachedProperty)	Partial
XAML language	General WPF MarkupExtension ecosystem	No MarkupExtension base in UI/; parser uses explicit special cases	Not implemented
XAML language	Broader x: metadata surface (x:Class, x:Static, etc.)	UI/Xaml/Core/XamlLoader.cs (ApplyAttributes handles x:Name/x:Key paths only)	Partial
XAML tooling	WPF designer/Blend/XAML compilation parity	Runtime loader path in UI/Xaml/Core/XamlLoader.cs; no compile-time XAML toolchain in repo	Not implemented
Resources/XAML	Full merged-dictionary authoring + WPF merge edge semantics	Runtime merge API in UI/Resources/Core/ResourceDictionary.cs; no dedicated merged-dictionary parse path in UI/Xaml/Core/XamlLoader.cs	Partial
Styling/XAML	Trigger actions are limited to SetValueAction, BeginStoryboard, StopStoryboard, PauseStoryboard, ResumeStoryboard, SeekStoryboard, RemoveStoryboard	UI/Xaml/Core/XamlLoader.cs (BuildTriggerAction)	Partial
Styling API	MultiTrigger	No matching type in UI/Styling/Triggers	Not implemented
Styling API	EventSetter	No matching type in UI/Styling	Not implemented
Commanding/Input API	Declarative InputBinding / KeyGesture keyboard model (MouseGesture pending)	UI/Input/Types/InputBinding.cs, UI/Input/Types/KeyBinding.cs, UI/Input/Types/KeyGesture.cs, UI/Controls/Base/UIElement.cs	Partial
Commanding API	RoutedUICommand surface	No matching RoutedUICommand type in UI/Commanding	Not implemented
Commanding API	ICommandSource ecosystem parity across controls	No matching ICommandSource type in UI/; command hookup is control-specific	Partial
Container behavior	UserControl custom ControlTemplate is blocked (NotSupportedException)	UI/Controls/Containers/UserControl.cs	Not supported
Geometry path parser	Path commands S/s, T/t, A/a are rejected	UI/Geometry/Parsing/PathMarkupParser.cs	Partial
Text pipeline	Virtual wrapped text layout optimization is intentionally disabled for correctness during resize reflow	UI/Controls/Inputs/TextBox.cs (CanUseVirtualWrappedLayout)	Temporarily disabled
Framework services	Freezable semantics and related WPF service patterns	No Freezable infrastructure in UI/	Not implemented
Layout parity	Layout rounding / DPI-specific rounding parity (UseLayoutRounding-style behavior)	No matching layout-rounding API in UI/Layout/UI/Controls	Not implemented
Input stack	Touch/stylus/tablet pipelines	No corresponding types under UI/Input	Not implemented
Accessibility	UI automation / AutomationPeer layer	No corresponding types in UI/; no automation tree APIs	Not implemented
Rendering parity	Pixel-identical WPF rendering/composition fidelity	Framework targets MonoGame parity behavior, not WPF pixel-clone output	Out of scope

UI Architecture Map

The following reflects UI-FOLDER-MAP.md (generated 2026-03-02):

• UI/Animation: timelines, keyframes, easing, animation orchestration
• UI/Binding: bindings, expressions, operations, command helpers
• UI/Commanding: routed command infrastructure and shared editing command definitions
• UI/Controls: base layer + buttons, containers, data grid, inputs (including split rich-text editing modules), items, panels, primitives, scrolling, selection, adorners
• UI/Core: dependency properties, naming, dispatcher
• UI/Events: routed event core, args, routing strategy
• UI/Geometry: geometry and transform primitives + path parsing
• UI/Input: focus/input managers and input state snapshots
• UI/Layout: shared layout types (Thickness, alignment, orientation, etc.)
• UI/Managers: layout manager, visual tree helper, UiRoot services and diagnostics
• UI/Rendering: draw pipeline, dirty regions, text renderer
• UI/Resources: dictionaries and resolution/application resources
• UI/Styling: styles, setters, visual states, triggers, trigger actions
• UI/Templating: control/data templates and trigger engine
• UI/Text: text layout, flow-document model/editing/serialization, and rich document layout engine
• UI/Xaml: runtime XML loading

Runtime Model

At runtime, the framework generally flows as:

1. Input update and routing
2. Animation update
3. Layout pass when required
4. UI tree update
5. Conditional draw pass based on invalidation/redraw reasons
6. If draw is scheduled: dirty-region or full-frame composition; otherwise host-level draw suppression

This keeps behavior deterministic while reducing unnecessary redraw work for large trees.

Markup Model

• Markup files use .xml (WPF-inspired structure with x: support)
• x:Name is supported and mapped to generated members
• Schemas for editor assistance:
  • Schemas/InkkSlinger.UI.xsd
  • Schemas/Xaml2006.xsd

Build and Test

Prerequisite:

• .NET SDK 10.x recommended

dotnet restore InkkSlinger.sln
dotnet build InkkSlinger.sln -c Release -v minimal
dotnet test InkkSlinger.Tests/InkkSlinger.Tests.csproj -c Release -v minimal

Test Environment

Primary validation machine for current development/testing:

• OS: Windows 10 Pro (10.0.19045, 64-bit)
• CPU: Intel Core i7-5600U @ 2.60GHz (2 cores / 4 logical processors)
• RAM: 12 GB
• GPU: Intel HD Graphics 5500

Running the Host Application

Mode	Command
Current host mode	dotnet run --project InkkSlinger.csproj

Current default launch surface is ControlsCatalogView. Legacy per-demo CLI mode switches were removed from host startup wiring.

Runtime Configuration

Environment-variable runtime switches were removed from the codebase. Runtime behavior is now controlled directly by in-code defaults and properties (for example Game1 and UiRoot setup).

Clipboard Interop Notes

• TextClipboard maintains app-local plain/rich payloads and performs external clipboard sync for plain text.
• On Windows runtime builds, external plain-text reads use a native Win32 clipboard path first, with PowerShell fallback only if native read fails.
• Rich payloads (XamlPackage/Xaml/custom flow-doc format) remain app-local and are intentionally cleared when external plain text changes, preventing stale rich payload reuse.

Notes

• The framework tracks parity gaps in TODO.md.
• Usage is permission-based. See LICENSE and USAGE-PERMISSION-POLICY.md.

License and Usage

This repository is source-available under a permission-based model:

• Default: permitted for non-commercial use under LICENSE
• Commercial use: subscription, one-time perpetual option, or written waiver/grant (see LICENSE and USAGE-PERMISSION-POLICY.md)
• If you make money from a product using InkkSlinger, assume commercial use
• Significant contributors may be granted a free lifetime commercial license at maintainer discretion

Contributing and Governance

• Contributing guide: CONTRIBUTING.md
• Governance model: GOVERNANCE.md

Commercial License FAQ

• See COMMERCIAL-LICENSE-FAQ.md for scenario-based examples