Don't be bound by binding bugs, check out Andrej's debugging WinRT/XAML bindings tips

Andrej Tozon's blog - Debugging WinRT/XAML bindings

Visual Studio 2012 may not (yet?) support debugging of XAML bindings debugging in WinRT/Metro-style applications in a way we’re used to from programming WPF and Silverlight (a.k.a. XAML breakpoints), but basic notifications of failed bindings in the output window seems to be present and working.

Let’s look at the basic set up (new blank application).

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Unfortunately, the binding failure message text is currently just the only thing you’re provided with in the event handler, but you can still parse it manually and decide whether you want it displayed or not.

Other BindingSettings options enable you to override the above-described behavior – setting IsBindingTrackingEnabled to false (it’s true by default) will disable failed binding notifications: the event will not get called and there will be no trace in the Output window.

Additionally, both kind of notifications only work when the debugger is attached. That means that running the application with Ctrl+F5 (Start Without Debugging) won’t display any notification either.

There is, however, one tiny difference between when notifications are presented – Output window will never write the exception message when running in the Release configuration, while the event will still get called.

To summarize: while we wait for a proper XAML debugging in WinRT, tracking the output window is the default option to catch binding failures. Subscribing to BindingSettings’ BindingFailed event will give you some more flexibility and display visibility, and it also works when running in the Release configuration.

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I hate hunting down binding bugs, so when I saw this I sighed with a tiny bit of relief and grabbed it for future reference, for my next baffling binding debugging session.