WPF HexEditor IDE

April 1, 2026 · View on GitHub

Version: 2026-03 · Target: .NET 8.0-windows · Projects: ~42 · Authors: Derek Tremblay, Claude Sonnet 4.6

Overview

WPF HexEditor is a full-featured binary analysis IDE built entirely in WPF / .NET 8.0. The architecture is organized in concentric layers — from thin IDE application shell at the top, through a rich plugin and editor system, down to a high-performance core data layer.

graph TB
    subgraph "IDE Application Layer"
        App["WpfHexEditor.App\nMainWindow · Docking · Menu · StatusBar\nPlugin bootstrap · Service wiring"]
    end

    subgraph "Editor System  (IDocumentEditor)"
        Hex["HexEditor\n~80%"]
        Code["CodeEditor\n~55%"]
        Text["TextEditor\n~50%"]
        Tbl["TblEditor\n~60%"]
        Img["ImageViewer\n~30%"]
        Diff["DiffViewer\n~35%"]
        Struct["StructureEditor\n~30%"]
        Audio["AudioViewer stub"]
        Disasm["DisasmViewer stub"]
    end

    subgraph "Plugin System"
        SDK["WpfHexEditor.SDK\nIWpfHexEditorPlugin · IIDEHostContext\n11 service contracts"]
        Host["WpfHexEditor.PluginHost\nDiscovery · Load/Unload · Watchdog\nPluginManagerControl"]
        Sandbox["WpfHexEditor.PluginSandbox\nIsolated process (IPC named pipes)"]
        Terminal["WpfHexEditor.Terminal\nTerminalPanel · TerminalMode\nTerminalExportService"]
        CoreTerm["WpfHexEditor.Core.Terminal\n31+ commands · HxScriptEngine\nCommandHistory · ITerminalService"]
    end

    subgraph "IDE Panels"
        PanelsIDE["WpfHexEditor.Panels.IDE\nSolutionExplorer · PropertiesPanel\nErrorPanel · OutputPanel"]
        PanelsBin["WpfHexEditor.Panels.BinaryAnalysis\nParsedFieldsPanel · DataInspector\nStructureOverlay · FileStatistics\nPatternAnalysis · EnrichedFormatInfo\nCustomParserTemplate"]
        PanelsOps["WpfHexEditor.Panels.FileOps\nFileDiff · FileComparison\nArchiveStructure"]
    end

    subgraph "Controls & Libraries"
        HexCtrl["WpfHexEditor.HexEditor\nFull UserControl · 16 services\nInsert/Overwrite · Search · TBL"]
        HexBox["WpfHexEditor.HexBox\nLightweight hex input"]
        ColorPicker["WpfHexEditor.ColorPicker\nCompact RGB/HSV picker"]
        Docking["WpfHexEditor.Docking.Wpf\nVS-style engine · 8 themes\nFloat · Dock · Auto-hide"]
        Options["WpfHexEditor.Options\nVS2026 settings · 9 pages\nAppSettings · AppSettingsService"]
    end

    subgraph "Core Data Layer"
        Core["WpfHexEditor.Core (WPFHexaEditor)\nByteProvider · 16 services\nSearch (SIMD+Parallel+LRU)"]
        EditorCore["WpfHexEditor.Editor.Core\nIDocumentEditor · EditorRegistry\nChangesetSystem · IPropertyProvider"]
        BinAnalysis["WpfHexEditor.BinaryAnalysis\n400+ format detection\nDataInspectorService · ByteFreq"]
        Definitions["WpfHexEditor.Definitions\n427 .whfmt format files\nEmbeddedFormatCatalog"]
        ProjectSys["WpfHexEditor.ProjectSystem\n.whsln/.whproj · SolutionManager\nVirtual folders · Format versioning"]
    end

    App --> Hex & Code & Text & Tbl & Img & Diff & Struct
    App --> SDK
    App --> PanelsIDE & PanelsBin & PanelsOps
    App --> Docking & Options
    SDK --> Host --> Sandbox
    Host --> Terminal --> CoreTerm
    Hex & Code & Text & Tbl --> EditorCore
    PanelsIDE & PanelsBin & PanelsOps --> EditorCore
    HexCtrl --> Core & BinAnalysis & Definitions
    EditorCore --> Core
    ProjectSys --> Definitions
    App --> ProjectSys

Project Map

Project	Layer	Role
`WpfHexEditor.App`	IDE App	Startup, MainWindow, menu/toolbar/statusbar, service wiring, plugin bootstrap
`WpfHexEditor.Docking.Wpf`	IDE App	100% in-house VS-style docking engine — float, dock, auto-hide, tab color, 8 themes
`WpfHexEditor.Options`	IDE App	VS2026-style settings with 9 pages, `AppSettings` / `AppSettingsService`
`WpfHexEditor.HexEditor`	Editor	Full-featured hex editor UserControl (16 services, MVVM, partial classes per feature)
`WpfHexEditor.Editor.TblEditor`	Editor	TBL character table editor — virtualized DataGrid, inline search, export
`WpfHexEditor.Editor.CodeEditor`	Editor	Multi-language code editor (fka JsonEditor) — syntax highlighting, find/replace
`WpfHexEditor.Editor.TextEditor`	Editor	Text editor with encoding support and `IEditorPersistable`
`WpfHexEditor.Editor.ImageViewer`	Editor	Image viewer — zoom/pan, transform pipeline, `IImageTransform`
`WpfHexEditor.Editor.DiffViewer`	Editor	Side-by-side binary diff with changeset replay
`WpfHexEditor.Editor.ChangesetEditor`	Editor	Changeset review and replay editor
`WpfHexEditor.Editor.StructureEditor`	Editor	Binary template / structure editor
`WpfHexEditor.Editor.ScriptEditor`	Editor	Script editor (`.hxscript`)
`WpfHexEditor.Editor.EntropyViewer`	Editor	Entropy visualization
`WpfHexEditor.Editor.AudioViewer`	Editor	Audio binary viewer (stub)
`WpfHexEditor.Editor.DisassemblyViewer`	Editor	Disassembler viewer (stub)
`WpfHexEditor.Editor.TileEditor`	Editor	Tile / sprite editor (stub)
`WpfHexEditor.SDK`	Plugin	Public plugin API — `IWpfHexEditorPlugin`, `IIDEHostContext`, 11 service contracts
`WpfHexEditor.PluginHost`	Plugin	Runtime — discovery, load/unload, watchdog, `PluginManagerControl`
`WpfHexEditor.PluginSandbox`	Plugin	Isolated out-of-process host (IPC named pipes)
`WpfHexEditor.Core.Terminal`	Plugin	Command engine — 31+ commands, `HxScriptEngine`, `CommandHistory`
`WpfHexEditor.Terminal`	Plugin	`TerminalPanel` WPF — `TerminalMode`, `TerminalExportService`
`WpfHexEditor.Panels.IDE`	Panels	SolutionExplorer, PropertiesPanel, ErrorPanel, OutputPanel, PluginMonitoringPanel
`WpfHexEditor.Panels.BinaryAnalysis`	Panels	ParsedFields, DataInspector, StructureOverlay, FileStats, PatternAnalysis, …
`WpfHexEditor.Panels.FileOps`	Panels	FileDiff, FileComparison, ArchiveStructure
`WpfHexEditor.HexBox`	Control	Lightweight hex input field — zero external dependencies
`WpfHexEditor.ColorPicker`	Control	Compact color picker — RGB/HSV/hex
`WpfHexEditor.Core` (WPFHexaEditor)	Core	ByteProvider, 16 services, SIMD/Parallel/LRU search, character tables
`WpfHexEditor.Editor.Core`	Core	`IDocumentEditor`, `EditorRegistry`, `IPropertyProvider`, changeset system
`WpfHexEditor.BinaryAnalysis`	Core	400+ format detection engine, DataInspector, byte-frequency service
`WpfHexEditor.Definitions`	Core	427 `.whfmt` format definitions, `EmbeddedFormatCatalog`
`WpfHexEditor.ProjectSystem`	Core	`.whsln`/`.whproj`, `SolutionManager`, virtual folders, format versioning
`WpfHexEditor.Core.Decompiler`	Core	Decompiler foundation (in progress)
`WpfHexEditor.Docking.Core`	Core	Docking data model / layout contracts (shared by Docking.Wpf)
`WpfHexEditor.Tests`	Tests	MSTest / xUnit — ByteProvider, services, format detection
`WpfHexEditor.BinaryAnalysis.Tests`	Tests	Format detection test suite
`WpfHexEditor.Docking.Tests`	Tests	Docking engine unit tests
`WpfHexEditor.PackagingTool`	Tools	`whxpack` CLI — `ManifestFinalizer` (SHA-256), `.whxplugin` packaging
`WpfHexEditor.PluginInstaller`	Tools	WPF installer dialog, `PluginPackageExtractor`, `--silent` mode
`WpfHexEditor.Sample.HexEditor`	Samples	Comprehensive sample (MVVM, ModernMainWindowViewModel)

IDE Application Layer

WpfHexEditor.App is a thin orchestration shell. It owns:

MainWindow.xaml — docking host, menu, toolbar, VS2022-style status bar
MainWindow.PluginSystem.cs — InitializePluginSystemAsync, plugin bootstrap, IDEHostContext wiring
MainWindow.xaml.cs — IDocumentEditor lifecycle, ActiveDocumentEditor / ActiveHexEditor INPC, tab routing by ContentId
Services — SolutionExplorerServiceImpl, HexEditorServiceImpl, ErrorPanelServiceImpl, DockingAdapter, TerminalServiceImpl
Options integration — OptionsPageRegistry, dynamic plugin pages via RegisterDynamic

graph LR
    App["MainWindow"] --> Dock["DockHost\n(DockControl)"]
    App --> PluginSys["PluginSystem.cs\nInitializePluginSystemAsync"]
    App --> Services["App Services\nSolutionExplorer · HexEditor\nDocking · Terminal · ErrorPanel"]
    PluginSys --> Host["WpfPluginHost"]
    PluginSys --> IDECtx["IDEHostContext\n(SDK gateway)"]
    IDECtx --> Services
    Dock --> Editors["IDocumentEditor tabs"]
    Dock --> Panels["Dockable Panels"]

ContentId Routing

Every docked item has a deterministic ContentId:

ContentId	Content
`doc-welcome`	WelcomePanel
`doc-proj-{itemId}`	Project item (default editor)
`doc-proj-{factoryId}-{itemId}`	Project item (specific editor)
`doc-file-{path}`	Standalone file
`panel-terminal`	TerminalPanel
`plugin-manager`	PluginManagerControl
`panel-properties`	PropertiesPanel
`panel-solution-explorer`	SolutionExplorerPanel

Editor System (IDocumentEditor)

Every editor implements IDocumentEditor from WpfHexEditor.Editor.Core:

graph TB
    IDoc["IDocumentEditor\nUndo · Redo · Copy · Cut · Paste\nSave · IsDirty · IsReadOnly\nStatusMessage"]

    IDoc --> HexImpl["HexEditor\n+ IEditorPersistable\n+ IDiagnosticSource\n+ IPropertyProvider\n+ ISearchTarget"]
    IDoc --> TblImpl["TblEditor\n+ IDiagnosticSource"]
    IDoc --> CodeImpl["CodeEditor\n+ IEditorPersistable\n+ IDiagnosticSource\n+ ISearchTarget"]
    IDoc --> TextImpl["TextEditor\n+ IEditorPersistable"]
    IDoc --> ImgImpl["ImageViewer\n(read-only)"]
    IDoc --> DiffImpl["DiffViewer\n+ IChangesetEditor"]

EditorRegistry (WpfHexEditor.Editor.Core) — thread-safe registry of IEditorFactory implementations. FindFactory(filePath, preferredId?) uses format-aware preferred-first resolution via EmbeddedFormatCatalog.

Plugin System

graph TB
    SDK["WpfHexEditor.SDK\nPublic contracts only — no UI dependencies"]

    subgraph "Service Contracts"
        IHex["IHexEditorService"]
        ICode["ICodeEditorService"]
        IOut["IOutputService"]
        IErr["IErrorPanelService"]
        ISol["ISolutionExplorerService"]
        IParse["IParsedFieldService"]
        ITerm["ITerminalService\n(NEW)"]
        IFocus["IFocusContextService"]
        ITheme["IThemeService"]
        IPerm["IPermissionService"]
        IMkt["IMarketplaceService"]
    end

    SDK --> IHex & ICode & IOut & IErr & ISol & IParse & ITerm & IFocus & ITheme & IPerm & IMkt

    subgraph "Plugin Host"
        Host["WpfPluginHost\nDiscovery · Load · Unload"]
        Entry["PluginEntry (public)\nState · Instance · Diagnostics\nAssemblyLoadContext (collectible)"]
        Watchdog["PluginWatchdog\nWrapAsync() → TimeSpan"]
        Crash["PluginCrashHandler"]
        EventBus["PluginEventBus"]
        Sched["PluginScheduler"]
        Perm["PermissionService"]
    end

    Host --> Entry
    Host --> Watchdog & Crash & EventBus & Sched & Perm

    subgraph "Sandbox"
        SandboxProxy["SandboxPluginProxy\nout-of-process via IpcChannel"]
        SandboxHost["WpfHexEditor.PluginSandbox\nconsole host process"]
    end

    Host --> SandboxProxy --> SandboxHost

Plugin Capabilities & Permissions

PluginManifest declares required capabilities:

{
  "pluginId": "my.plugin",
  "capabilities": ["Terminal", "HexEditor", "SolutionExplorer"],
  "permissions": ["ReadFiles", "Terminal"]
}

Terminal Architecture

graph LR
    Panel["TerminalPanel.xaml\nUI: prompt, output, mode badge,\nexport button, history (↑/↓)"]
    VM["TerminalPanelViewModel\nITerminalContext + ITerminalOutput\nTerminalMode state machine\nCommandHistory · ExportSession"]
    SvcImpl["TerminalServiceImpl\n(App layer)\nITerminalService → VM delegation"]
    SDKContract["ITerminalService\n(SDK)\nExecute · Clear\nExportSession · HistoryLines"]
    CoreTerm["WpfHexEditor.Core.Terminal\nTerminalCommandRegistry\nHxScriptEngine\nCommandHistory (persistent)"]
    Plugin["Plugin via IIDEHostContext\n.TerminalService.Execute(...)"]

    Panel --> VM --> SvcImpl
    SvcImpl --> SDKContract
    Plugin --> SDKContract
    VM --> CoreTerm

TerminalMode:

Mode	Behaviour
`Interactive`	Default — accepts user commands, shows prompt
`Script`	Running `.hxscript` — prompt hidden, commands echoed
`ReadOnly`	Output only — input disabled (e.g. build output sink)

HexEditor Control Architecture

WpfHexEditor.HexEditor is a standalone reusable UserControl. It depends only on WpfHexEditor.Core, WpfHexEditor.ColorPicker, and WpfHexEditor.BinaryAnalysis.

Partial Class Organization

HexEditor.xaml.cs               — control bootstrap, DP declarations
PartialClasses/
  Core/
    HexEditor.Init.cs           — InitializeComponent, service wiring
    HexEditor.ByteProvider.cs   — file open/close, ByteProvider lifecycle
    HexEditor.Scrolling.cs      — VerticalScroll, EnsurePositionVisible
  Features/
    HexEditor.PropertyProvider.cs  — IPropertyProvider (F4 panel binding)
    HexEditor.FormatDetection.cs   — auto-detect via BinaryAnalysis
    HexEditor.Bookmarks.cs
    HexEditor.Highlight.cs
    HexEditor.StatusBarContributor.cs
    HexEditor.DocumentEditor.cs    — IDocumentEditor implementation
    HexEditor.DiagnosticSource.cs  — IDiagnosticSource implementation
  UI/
    HexEditor.Events.cs         — keyboard nav, EnsurePositionVisible, scroll
    HexEditor.MouseEvents.cs
    HexEditor.Zoom.cs
    HexEditor.ContextMenu.cs
  Search/
    HexEditor.Search.cs
    HexEditor.SearchBar.cs

EnsurePositionVisible — Scroll Model

Both UP and DOWN use an edge-anchored model so keyboard navigation advances exactly 1 line per keypress:

Direction	Trigger	Target
UP	`lineNumber < currentScroll`	`scrollPosition = lineNumber` (cursor at top edge)
DOWN	`lineNumber >= lastVisibleLine`	`scrollPosition = lineNumber − viewportDepth + 1` (cursor at bottom edge)

lastVisibleLine = HexViewport.LastVisibleBytePosition / BytePerLine — uses the pre-computed rendered-lines cache (_linesCached) minus the 3-line rendering buffer, giving the exact last fully visible line. VerticalScroll.Value is always synced with _viewModel.ScrollPosition to prevent ScrollBar desync (the Scroll event only fires on user interaction, not programmatic .Value changes).

16 Core Services

Service	Responsibility
`SelectionService`	Selection range tracking and validation
`ClipboardService`	Copy/paste in multiple formats (hex, text, binary, C-array)
`UndoRedoService`	Unlimited undo/redo — batched operations, memory-efficient
`ByteModificationService`	Insert / overwrite / delete with virtual edit tracking
`FindReplaceService$	\text{LRU} \text{cache} + \text{SIMD} + \text{parallel} \text{search} — 10–100 \times \text{faster}
$PositionService`	GoTo offset, position tracking, caret navigation
`HighlightService`	Colored highlight regions
`BookmarkService`	Named bookmarks with navigation
`CustomBackgroundService`	Arbitrary color blocks (annotations, overlays)
`TblService`	ASCII / EBCDIC / custom TBL character table rendering
`ComparisonService`	File diff — Standard / Parallel / SIMD implementations
`StateService`	Modification state, read-only mode
`VirtualizationService`	Virtual scroll for GB+ files
`LongRunningOperationService`	Background operations with progress and cancellation
`FormatDetectionService`	400+ format auto-detection via BinaryAnalysis
`StatusBarContributorService`	Fires `HexStatusChanged` for App status bar

Core Data Layer

ByteProvider

graph TB
    BP["ByteProvider"]
    BP --> FileIO["File I/O\nFileStream · MemoryStream"]
    BP --> Edits["EditsManager\nVirtual edits (no disk write)\nUndo/Redo stack"]
    BP --> Search["Search Engine"]

    Search --> LRU["LRU Cache\nO(1) hit · 10–100× speedup"]
    Search --> SIMD["SIMD (System.Numerics)\n4–8× faster single-byte"]
    Search --> Par["Parallel (TPL)\n2–4× on >100 MB"]

Format Detection (BinaryAnalysis + Definitions)

graph LR
    File["File bytes"] --> Detector["FormatDetectionService\n(BinaryAnalysis)"]
    Detector --> Catalog["EmbeddedFormatCatalog\n427 .whfmt definitions\n(Definitions project)"]
    Catalog --> Match["FormatMatch\n{Id, Name, PreferredEditor,\nIsTextFormat, Confidence}"]
    Match --> Registry["EditorRegistry.FindFactory\n(preferred-first)"]

EmbeddedFormatCatalog is a singleton — loaded once at startup from embedded .whfmt JSON resources. Each entry carries preferredEditor and detection.isTextFormat for format-aware editor selection.

Project System

graph LR
    SM["SolutionManager\n(singleton)"]
    SM --> ISol[".whsln\n(JSON v2)"]
    SM --> IProj[".whproj\n(JSON v2)"]
    ISol --> MP["MigrationPipeline\nIFormatMigrator\nv1→v2 auto-migration"]
    IProj --> VF["VirtualFolderNode\nPhysicalFileNode\nPhysicalFolderNode"]
    VF --> ILink["IItemLink\n.bin ↔ .tbl typed links"]
    SM --> FT["FileTemplateRegistry\nBinary/TBL/JSON/Text\ntemplates"]

Docking Engine (WpfHexEditor.Docking.Wpf)

100% in-house, zero third-party dependencies.

Feature	Detail
Dock / Float / Auto-hide	Drag to dock zone, float via title-bar drag
Tab colorization	Per-tab color via `TabSettingsDialog` + `ColorPicker`
Tab placement	Left / Right / Bottom per group
Themes	8 built-in: Dark, Light, VS2022Dark, DarkGlass, Minimal, Office, Cyberpunk, VisualStudio
Auto-hide preview	`AutoHideBarHoverPreview` — button-relative placement (fixes Win32 layered window bug)
Snapshot	`SnapshotReady` event fires after open animation at Render priority

PanelCommon.xaml — shared toolbar styles used by all panels:

PanelToolbarStyle — H=26px border
`PanelIconButtonStyle$ — 22 \times 22 \text{Segoe} \text{MDL2} \text{icon} \text{button}
$PanelIconToggleStyle, PanelDropdownButtonStyle, PanelToolbarSeparatorStyle`
Panel_* brush keys defined in each of the 8 Colors.xaml theme files

Analysis Panels (WpfHexEditor.Panels.BinaryAnalysis)

All panels implement IPropertyProvider / IDiagnosticSource where relevant and auto-connect to the active HexEditor via DockHost.ActiveItemChanged.

Panel	Key Features
ParsedFieldsPanel	400+ format field list; type overlay; inline editing; `PFP_*` theme keys
DataInspectorPanel	40+ type interpretations at caret; plugin with settings page (endianness, format)
StructureOverlayPanel	Visual field highlighting on hex grid
FileStatisticsPanel	File size, entropy, byte distribution (replaces standalone BarChart)
PatternAnalysisPanel	Byte pattern detection and annotation
EnrichedFormatInfoPanel	Detailed format metadata from EmbeddedFormatCatalog
CustomParserTemplatePanel	User-defined binary parsing templates

PropertiesPanel (WpfHexEditor.Panels.IDE)

Auto-refreshes when HexEditor.SelectionStart or SelectionStop changes:

DependencyPropertyDescriptor.AddValueChanged(SelectionStartProperty)
  → OnSelectionChanged()
    → _idleRefreshTimer.Restart()  // 400 ms one-shot

OnIdleRefreshTick():
  → if position unchanged since snapshot: PropertiesChanged?.Invoke()
  → triggers BeginSelectionHashAsync (CRC32 / MD5 / SHA-256 of selection)

DependencyPropertyDescriptor is used instead of SelectionChanged event because the DP static callback has an anti-recursion guard that silently drops the event during keyboard navigation.

Themes

8 built-in themes, each as a ResourceDictionary merged by the docking engine:

Themes/
  Dark/         Colors.xaml + Theme.xaml
  Light/        Colors.xaml + Theme.xaml
  VS2022Dark/   Colors.xaml + Theme.xaml
  DarkGlass/    Colors.xaml + Theme.xaml
  Minimal/      Colors.xaml + Theme.xaml
  Office/       Colors.xaml + Theme.xaml
  Cyberpunk/    Colors.xaml + Theme.xaml
  VisualStudio/ Colors.xaml + Theme.xaml
  PanelCommon.xaml   — shared toolbar/icon-button styles (all themes merge this)

Theme key naming conventions:

Panel_* — generic panel toolbar chrome (PanelCommon)
PFP_* — ParsedFieldsPanel specific
PP_* — PropertiesPanel specific
ERR_* — ErrorPanel specific
SE_* — SolutionExplorer specific
Dock* — docking engine chrome

Performance

Rendering Pipeline

Byte data → VirtualizationService (only visible lines)
          → HexViewport.OnRender() [DrawingContext]
          → GPU (WPF hardware acceleration)

Custom DrawingContext rendering is 99% faster than the V1 ItemsControl-based approach.

Search Pipeline

Query → LRU cache check
      → Cache hit:  O(1), ~0.2 ms (100× faster)
      → Cache miss: SIMD search (4–8×) → Parallel (2–4× on >100 MB) → cache result

Benchmark (10 MB file)	V1	V2
First search	50 ms	18 ms
Cached search	50 ms	0.2 ms (250×)
Single-byte SIMD	20 ms	2.5 ms (8×)
Large file parallel	800 ms	200 ms (4×)

Rendering	V1 FPS	V2 FPS
1 MB	15	60+
10 MB	8	60+
100 MB	3	60+

Design Patterns

Pattern	Applied in	Benefit
Service-Oriented	HexEditor (16 services)	Separation of concerns, testability
MVVM	HexEditor, SearchModule, SolutionExplorer, TerminalPanel	Clean UI/logic separation
Plugin (IDocumentEditor)	All editors	Hot-swappable editors, no IDE coupling
Repository	ByteProvider (IByteProvider)	Flexible data sources
Strategy	ComparisonService (Std/Parallel/SIMD), FormatDetection	Algorithm selection at runtime
Observer	DPD-based selection tracking, PluginEventBus	Decoupled change propagation
Pipeline	IImageTransform, MigrationPipeline	Composable transforms
Facade	HexEditor UserControl, IDEHostContext	Simple API over complex subsystems
Singleton	SolutionManager, EmbeddedFormatCatalog, EditorRegistry	Shared, lazily-initialized state
Factory	IEditorFactory, FileTemplateRegistry	Decoupled instantiation
Decorator	IEditorPersistable, IDiagnosticSource on editors	Opt-in capability extension
Proxy	SandboxPluginProxy (out-of-process)	Isolation without API change

Build & Test

# Full solution
dotnet build Sources/WpfHexEditorControl.sln --configuration Release

# Run IDE
dotnet run --project Sources/WpfHexEditor.App

# Tests
dotnet test Sources/WpfHexEditor.Tests/WpfHexEditor.Tests.csproj
dotnet test Sources/WpfHexEditor.BinaryAnalysis.Tests/

# Package a plugin
cd Sources/Tools/WpfHexEditor.PackagingTool
dotnet run -- pack path/to/plugin.dll --output my.whxplugin

Key Architectural Decisions

Decision	Rationale
.NET 8.0-windows only (dropped net48)	Span<T>, SIMD, PGO — required for performance targets; legacy via V1 NuGet
100% in-house docking engine	No third-party licensing; full control over tab behavior and theme integration
`EmbeddedFormatCatalog` singleton	427 format files loaded once; `GetPreferredEditorId` is O(n) in-memory, zero I/O
`DependencyPropertyDescriptor` for selection tracking	Bypasses anti-recursion guard in DP static callback that silently drops `SelectionChanged` during keyboard nav
`TerminalPanelViewModel` implements both `ITerminalContext` and `ITerminalOutput`	Saves an adapter class; VM is the single source of truth for terminal state
`OpenFileHandler` delegate on `SolutionExplorerServiceImpl`	Breaks circular App↔SDK dependency without introducing a mediator project
`PluginEntry` made `public`	Required by `PluginMonitoringPanel` and diagnostic UI without reflection
`FileShare.ReadWrite` in ImageViewer	Allows concurrent access when HexEditor already holds the file open (same-file dual-open scenario)

Last Updated: 2026-03-07 Maintainers: Derek Tremblay (derektremblay666@gmail.com) · Contributors: Claude Sonnet 4.6 License: GNU Affero General Public License v3.0