I was convinced that XAML was the perfect answer for rust and had the idea that I could write an independent XAML library/engine that rust appdevs would use and then match to a backend that would codegen the XAML into code that utilizes its corresponding api.
I had a sample that worked with both imgui and one of the other rust gui engines (not immediate mode) to prove it could be done. Biggest benefit was abstraction from actual ui toolkit choice (inspired by Windows where you can use a subset of the same XAML with WPF, Avalonia, WinUI 3, UWP, Noesis, Uno) and being able to take an imperative ui library like ImGUI and use it in a declarative fashion. Moreover, you could reuse existing XAML designers or avail yourself of XAML export functionality in some design software, without having any of that be rust-specific.
I put out feelers in the community to gauge interest but I think XAML is too foreign to most FOSS devs that picked up Rust early on and people couldn’t see what I saw in it (having worked with XAML for over a decade in C# land).
I tried for a year to learn XAML (mostly using Avalonia) and it just never clicked for me. Feels like it needs too much secret insider knowledge that you're only going to get with that decade of C#. To much is implicit and magical, and it was very, very hard to trace through what was happening when something behaves unexpectedly.
I got to the point where I could build a basic app with it fine, and I might pick it up again if I find the right project, but it just never seemed like it was adding anything, just making simple things more convoluted to me. I also found the C# community to be pretty hostile and insular, not in an intentional way, just more of a "hey we really want to help but everyone is too dumb and lazy to learn these hundreds of 'basic' things", and there's no good places to learn outside of noisy discords, SEO Spam q&a sites, and weird and vaguely hostile chatrooms.
I haven't used XAML even once, but I've tried to use FXML (JavaFX), but generally it felt too superfluous and inconsistent. But I'm not sure how XAML and FXML are related (if at all), also I'm not sure if XAML is even used outside C# and Windows?
I haven’t used JavaFx so I can’t answer that part of your question but XAML has been cross platform with Xamarin on macOS and Android and now everywhere with MAUI. I also mentioned Uno which lets you develop for web/electron with XAML.
Language wise, it has been largely C# or other .NET like VB.NET, F#, or managed C++ though I think Noesis lets you use it from C++ and other languages directly.
C# itself is completely uncoupled from Windows ever since .NET Core and now with later .NET versions like .NET 8 all Windows-specific bits have been torn out altogether. Microsoft probably uses C# on Linux more than they do on Windows these days.
I was convinced that XAML was the perfect answer for rust and had the idea that I could write an independent XAML library/engine that rust appdevs would use and then match to a backend that would codegen the XAML into code that utilizes its corresponding api.
I had a sample that worked with both imgui and one of the other rust gui engines (not immediate mode) to prove it could be done. Biggest benefit was abstraction from actual ui toolkit choice (inspired by Windows where you can use a subset of the same XAML with WPF, Avalonia, WinUI 3, UWP, Noesis, Uno) and being able to take an imperative ui library like ImGUI and use it in a declarative fashion. Moreover, you could reuse existing XAML designers or avail yourself of XAML export functionality in some design software, without having any of that be rust-specific.
I put out feelers in the community to gauge interest but I think XAML is too foreign to most FOSS devs that picked up Rust early on and people couldn’t see what I saw in it (having worked with XAML for over a decade in C# land).