title: Windows Phone 7: How to parse Bezier Path string like in XAML?
body: <p>I have a need to parse Bezier Path Strings, but apparently the <code>System.Windows.Media.Geometry</code>version in the .Net CF framework doesn't have the <code>Parse()</code> method that is available in it's normal counterpart. However, entering the following XAML does work, so there must be a way the system parses the Path Data String.</p>
  
  <p><code>&lt;Path Stroke="Blue" Data="M 0 0 Q 10 10 20 0"/&gt;</code></p>
  
  <p>Any clue on how I can initiate this parsing myself with a custom string outside XAML?</p>
  
  <p>I ofcourse could also try to write my own parser using regex or so, but I would prefer not to handle this myself, since the framework clearly is capable of it.</p>
  
  <p><strong>Update</strong></p>
  
  <p>When using the suggested XAMLReader, I get a strange Exception when I set a StrokeThickness to the newly created <code>Path</code>:</p>
  
  <pre><code>path.StrokeThickness = strokeWidth; //ArgumentException ??? (strokeWidth = 6)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>When I change codepath to render using my manual parser, everything works correctly.
  Am I missing something here? Nothing changes except the parser.</p>
  
  <p>Manually Generating Data:</p>
  
  <pre><code>        //"M {0} {1} Q {2} {3} {4} {5}"
  
          String regex_input = @"M (\d+) (\d+) Q (\d+) (\d+) (\d+) (\d+)";
          Regex regex = new Regex(regex_input);
          Match match = regex.Match(pathData);
  
          int startx = int.Parse(match.Groups[1].Value);
          int starty = int.Parse(match.Groups[2].Value);
  
          int controlx = int.Parse(match.Groups[3].Value);
          int controly = int.Parse(match.Groups[4].Value);
  
          int endx = int.Parse(match.Groups[5].Value);
          int endy = int.Parse(match.Groups[6].Value);
  
          PathGeometry geo = new PathGeometry();
          PathFigure figure = new PathFigure();
          figure.StartPoint = new Point(startx, starty);
  
          QuadraticBezierSegment quad = new QuadraticBezierSegment();
          quad.Point1 = new Point(controlx, controly);
          quad.Point2 = new Point(endx, endy);
  
          figure.Segments.Add(quad);
  
          geo.Figures.Add(figure);
  
          path.Data = geo;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Using XamlReader            </p>
  
  <pre><code>        String formattedXAMLInput = String.Format("&lt;Path xmlns='http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation' Stroke='Black' Data='{0}'/&gt;", pathData);
          Path xamlpath = (Path)XamlReader.Load(formattedXAMLInput);
          Geometry xamldata = xamlpath.Data;
          path.Data = xamldata;
  </code></pre>