Silverlight XAML Attribute Definition Order Matters

Question

I was working with the ComboBox control and couldn\'t get the SelectedItem to be set from the property on my viewmodel. Here is the control definition:

Answer 1

In any circumstance in which the order that properties are set is important, you should use element syntax, not attribute syntax, to represent those properties in your XAML:

According to the XML recommendation, the ordering of attributes on an element is not significant. XML tools aren't required to retain the order they appear in. So if, for instance, you processed this ComboBox element with an XSLT transform (not a crazy idea in some circumstances), the transform might change the ordering of your attributes, even if it's doing . The XSLT processor probably won't do this, but it's not required not to.

What effect would randomizing the order of the attributes on every element in your XAML do to the behavior of your application? The answer to that question ought to be "nothing."

This is an aspect of XAML that makes me very nervous.