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The document root element is not supported by the visual designer

  • Article

When you open a XAML file in the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) Designer for Visual Studio, you might not see any objects in Design view. This can occur in the following cases:

  • You open a blank XAML file.

  • You open the Application.xaml file in a Visual Basic project or the App.xaml file in a C# project.

  • You open a XAML file that contains a root element that is not supported by the designer.

    Note

    The WPF Designer supports only Panel, Page, ContentControl and their derivatives as the root element.

  • You open a XAML file that contains a syntax error in the root element.

When you open a XAML file without any visual objects, the following message appears in Design view:

Intentionally Left Blank

The document root element is not supported by the visual designer.

This is the expected behavior, and you do not have to take any corrective action.

See Also

Concepts

XAML Errors and Help

Other Resources

Debugging and Interpreting Errors in the WPF Designer

Error Message Reference for the WPF Designer

Debugging and Interpreting Errors Walkthroughs