Introduction

I am preparing to use Caliburn.Micro together with MEF to build an IDE-like framework similar to VS2010. It should support plugin development, configurable menus and toolbars, and features such as Options, multi-language support, and theming. On the one hand this is a way to consolidate technical experience; on the other it can serve as a guide for friends new to WPF or interested in Caliburn.Micro.

I could not think of a great name, so the project is called Illusion—I hope it is not an illusion.

The starting point of the project is not complicated: use MEF for plugin development, DirectoryCatalog for plugin discovery, and Export/Import to build menus, toolbars, and so on. Caliburn.Micro is an open-source framework based on the MVVM pattern. Its code is concise without being simplistic, and it is a sharp tool for enterprise application development.

Implementation

The project layout looks like this:

The Illusion project is the core framework.…