AvaloniaProject

A modern Avalonia UI desktop application showcasing best practices for building .NET cross-platform apps with the MVVM pattern, AOT compilation, and internationalization.

Tech Stack

Category	Library	Version
UI Framework	Avalonia	12.0
MVVM	ReactiveUI + Source Generators	12.0 / 3.x
DI	Splat	19.4
Theme	Semi.Avalonia + Ursa	12.0 / 2.0
Icons	Optris.Icons.Avalonia (Material Design)	12.0
Markdown	LiveMarkdown.Avalonia	2.2
Logging	NLog via Splat.NLog	5.x
Runtime	.NET 10 / AOT (PublishAot)

Architecture

Program.cs                  ← Composition root (DI registration)
├── App.axaml               ← Theme, styles, ViewLocator
├── Services/
│   ├── ILocalizationService    ← Interface (testable)
│   ├── LocalizationService     ← en-US / zh-Hans via .resx
│   └── LocalizationSource      ← INotifyPropertyChanged bridge for XAML bindings
├── ViewModels/
│   ├── ViewModelBase           ← ReactiveObject + activation lifecycle
│   ├── MainWindowViewModel     ← Injects MainViewModel
│   ├── MainViewModel           ← Injects IEnumerable<IPageViewModel>
│   └── Pages/
│       ├── IPageViewModel      ← Page contract (testable)
│       ├── PageViewModel       ← Base class with locale-aware Name
│       ├── HomePageViewModel   ← Markdown welcome page
│       └── BindingPageViewModel ← Binding demo (commands, collections)
├── Views/
│   ├── MainWindow              ← Title bar, language toggle, theme toggle
│   ├── MainView                ← NavMenu sidebar + page host
│   └── Pages/
│       ├── HomePageView        ← LiveMarkdown renderer
│       └── BindingPageView     ← Compiled AXAML bindings demo
└── Utils/
    └── PageExtensions          ← Page registration into DI

Key Design Decisions

• Constructor injection — all dependencies declared explicitly; composition root in Program.cs
• AOT-safe ViewLocator — type dictionary mapping instead of Type.GetType() reflection
• Compiled bindings — <AvaloniaUseCompiledBindingsByDefault>true</AvaloniaUseCompiledBindingsByDefault>, bindings declared in AXAML with x:DataType
• Interface-based — ILocalizationService, IPageViewModel for testability
• Activation lifecycle — all event subscriptions managed by WhenActivated/DisposeWith
• Localization — real-time English/Simplified Chinese switching; satellite assemblies relocated for AOT

Features

• Sidebar navigation — Ursa NavMenu with ViewModelViewHost page switching
• ReactiveUI binding showcase — Two-way, Command, Boolean, and Collection bindings
• Light/Dark/System theme — Semi.Avalonia + Ursa ThemeToggleButton
• Live language switching — CultureChanged propagates to all Views via INotifyPropertyChanged
• Markdown home page — Locale-aware content rendered with LiveMarkdown

Getting Started

cd src
dotnet run

Publish with AOT:

dotnet publish -c Release -r win-x64

Project Structure

src/
└── AvaloniaProject/         ← Single .NET 10 project
    ├── Program.cs            ← Entry point
    ├── App.axaml/.cs         ← Application definition
    ├── ViewLocator.cs        ← ViewModel→View resolution
    ├── Services/             ← Business services + interfaces
    ├── ViewModels/           ← MVVM ViewModels (Pages/)
    ├── Views/                ← AXAML Views (Pages/)
    ├── Utils/                ← Extension methods
    ├── Resources/            ← .resx (EN + zh-Hans)
    └── Assets/               ← logo.ico