WPF vs WinForms

Hi

Apart from simple test harnesses, I haven't done much with WinForms. As for
WPF, I know what it stands for :-)

Having Googled for a while, I couldn't find a no nonsense web site that
helps me understand where WinForm and WPF sit in the Microsoft world. For
example, is WPF the replacement for WinForms?

Please comment or point me to some decent articles. Please note that I am
mainly interested in these technologies from an Arcitecture point of view.
For example:

* Why would a company want to migrate an existing WinForms app to WPF (or is
that a silly question)

* If starting a new Windows application, what are the key considerations in
chossing between WinForms vs WPF

* Which environment is better suited for delivering functionaly rich GUI in
a RAD environment

Thanks
Amir

Bob
Tue Dec 11 10:49:05 PST 2007

A company may wish to migrate an existing application to WPF to add a new
look to the application, or, if the application was an intensely graphical
one, to increase performance.

Architecturally, WPF applications and Windows Forms applications only have
about one thing in common, Databinding. Otherwise chalk and cheese is a good
analogy.

If you are starting a new application, I not wish to discourage you from a
WPF app but in my opinion the tools available for creating WPF applications
as well as the support from third-party suppliers for components and so on
is pretty poor at the moment. Having actually tried to create an industrial
strength application in WPF I found that it lacked the facilities I needed
and so went for CAB / Windows Forms solution with some WPF content hosted on
Windows Forms.

Personally, given the amount that Visual Studio 2008 crashes and the fact
that Blend 2.0 still isn't available I would hold off of starting any
serious project on a WPF platform and look at it as a learning thing.

If you need to deliver an application in a short time with good features and
support, go for a Windows Forms application while paying close attention to
your data model so that migration to WPF eventually is painless.

--
--
Bob Powell [MVP]
Visual C#, System.Drawing

Ramuseco Limited .NET consulting
http://www.ramuseco.com

Find great Windows Forms articles in Windows Forms Tips and Tricks
http://www.bobpowell.net/tipstricks.htm

Answer those GDI+ questions with the GDI+ FAQ
http://www.bobpowell.net/faqmain.htm

All new articles provide code in C# and VB.NET.
Subscribe to the RSS feeds provided and never miss a new article.


"Amir Tohidi" <AmirTohidi@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:BA447A76-B9BC-4EBA-9715-0D4192FF4721@microsoft.com...
> Hi
>
> Apart from simple test harnesses, I haven't done much with WinForms. As
> for
> WPF, I know what it stands for :-)
>
> Having Googled for a while, I couldn't find a no nonsense web site that
> helps me understand where WinForm and WPF sit in the Microsoft world. For
> example, is WPF the replacement for WinForms?
>
> Please comment or point me to some decent articles. Please note that I am
> mainly interested in these technologies from an Arcitecture point of view.
> For example:
>
> * Why would a company want to migrate an existing WinForms app to WPF (or
> is
> that a silly question)
>
> * If starting a new Windows application, what are the key considerations
> in
> chossing between WinForms vs WPF
>
> * Which environment is better suited for delivering functionaly rich GUI
> in
> a RAD environment
>
> Thanks
> Amir
>
>

AmirTohidi
Thu Dec 13 02:08:00 PST 2007

Hi Bob

Thanks for your insight and help.

Is there an article that discusses data binding related matters and compares
WinForms vs WPF data binding?

Thanks
Amir

"Bob Powell [MVP]" wrote:

> A company may wish to migrate an existing application to WPF to add a new
> look to the application, or, if the application was an intensely graphical
> one, to increase performance.
>
> Architecturally, WPF applications and Windows Forms applications only have
> about one thing in common, Databinding. Otherwise chalk and cheese is a good
> analogy.
>
> If you are starting a new application, I not wish to discourage you from a
> WPF app but in my opinion the tools available for creating WPF applications
> as well as the support from third-party suppliers for components and so on
> is pretty poor at the moment. Having actually tried to create an industrial
> strength application in WPF I found that it lacked the facilities I needed
> and so went for CAB / Windows Forms solution with some WPF content hosted on
> Windows Forms.
>
> Personally, given the amount that Visual Studio 2008 crashes and the fact
> that Blend 2.0 still isn't available I would hold off of starting any
> serious project on a WPF platform and look at it as a learning thing.
>
> If you need to deliver an application in a short time with good features and
> support, go for a Windows Forms application while paying close attention to
> your data model so that migration to WPF eventually is painless.
>
> --
> --
> Bob Powell [MVP]
> Visual C#, System.Drawing
>
> Ramuseco Limited .NET consulting
> http://www.ramuseco.com
>
> Find great Windows Forms articles in Windows Forms Tips and Tricks
> http://www.bobpowell.net/tipstricks.htm
>
> Answer those GDI+ questions with the GDI+ FAQ
> http://www.bobpowell.net/faqmain.htm
>
> All new articles provide code in C# and VB.NET.
> Subscribe to the RSS feeds provided and never miss a new article.
>
>
> "Amir Tohidi" <AmirTohidi@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:BA447A76-B9BC-4EBA-9715-0D4192FF4721@microsoft.com...
> > Hi
> >
> > Apart from simple test harnesses, I haven't done much with WinForms. As
> > for
> > WPF, I know what it stands for :-)
> >
> > Having Googled for a while, I couldn't find a no nonsense web site that
> > helps me understand where WinForm and WPF sit in the Microsoft world. For
> > example, is WPF the replacement for WinForms?
> >
> > Please comment or point me to some decent articles. Please note that I am
> > mainly interested in these technologies from an Arcitecture point of view.
> > For example:
> >
> > * Why would a company want to migrate an existing WinForms app to WPF (or
> > is
> > that a silly question)
> >
> > * If starting a new Windows application, what are the key considerations
> > in
> > chossing between WinForms vs WPF
> >
> > * Which environment is better suited for delivering functionaly rich GUI
> > in
> > a RAD environment
> >
> > Thanks
> > Amir
> >
> >
>

ActiveXIE
Fri Dec 14 01:09:00 PST 2007

Hi Bob

I am about to develop Industrial automation application for commercial use.

I need to generate sine waveform. Please let me know if you can give
reference of existing applications developed for such use and code samples.

It could be using winforms or WPF any.

Please let me know what do you mean by
1) in my opinion the tools available for creating WPF applications
as well as the support from third-party suppliers for components and so on
is pretty poor at the moment.

2) WPF lacked the facilities I needed



--
Alpana


"Bob Powell [MVP]" wrote:

> A company may wish to migrate an existing application to WPF to add a new
> look to the application, or, if the application was an intensely graphical
> one, to increase performance.
>
> Architecturally, WPF applications and Windows Forms applications only have
> about one thing in common, Databinding. Otherwise chalk and cheese is a good
> analogy.
>
> If you are starting a new application, I not wish to discourage you from a
> WPF app but in my opinion the tools available for creating WPF applications
> as well as the support from third-party suppliers for components and so on
> is pretty poor at the moment. Having actually tried to create an industrial
> strength application in WPF I found that it lacked the facilities I needed
> and so went for CAB / Windows Forms solution with some WPF content hosted on
> Windows Forms.
>
> Personally, given the amount that Visual Studio 2008 crashes and the fact
> that Blend 2.0 still isn't available I would hold off of starting any
> serious project on a WPF platform and look at it as a learning thing.
>
> If you need to deliver an application in a short time with good features and
> support, go for a Windows Forms application while paying close attention to
> your data model so that migration to WPF eventually is painless.
>
> --
> --
> Bob Powell [MVP]
> Visual C#, System.Drawing
>
> Ramuseco Limited .NET consulting
> http://www.ramuseco.com
>
> Find great Windows Forms articles in Windows Forms Tips and Tricks
> http://www.bobpowell.net/tipstricks.htm
>
> Answer those GDI+ questions with the GDI+ FAQ
> http://www.bobpowell.net/faqmain.htm
>
> All new articles provide code in C# and VB.NET.
> Subscribe to the RSS feeds provided and never miss a new article.
>
>
> "Amir Tohidi" <AmirTohidi@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:BA447A76-B9BC-4EBA-9715-0D4192FF4721@microsoft.com...
> > Hi
> >
> > Apart from simple test harnesses, I haven't done much with WinForms. As
> > for
> > WPF, I know what it stands for :-)
> >
> > Having Googled for a while, I couldn't find a no nonsense web site that
> > helps me understand where WinForm and WPF sit in the Microsoft world. For
> > example, is WPF the replacement for WinForms?
> >
> > Please comment or point me to some decent articles. Please note that I am
> > mainly interested in these technologies from an Arcitecture point of view.
> > For example:
> >
> > * Why would a company want to migrate an existing WinForms app to WPF (or
> > is
> > that a silly question)
> >
> > * If starting a new Windows application, what are the key considerations
> > in
> > chossing between WinForms vs WPF
> >
> > * Which environment is better suited for delivering functionaly rich GUI
> > in
> > a RAD environment
> >
> > Thanks
> > Amir
> >
> >
>

KeithP
Fri Dec 14 08:45:03 PST 2007

I'm a huge fan of WPF, so I'll throw out my impressions of it:
The primary advantage to it is that it doesn't sit on GDI like WinForms, so
you've got a vector-based UI that supports virtually any resolution, is
accelerated by the 3D card (GDI is accelerated but not to the extent that
vector-based systems can). It's a very declarative tech where most of the UI
eye candy is written on the page by the designer independent of the coder.
Also, the databinding is done in such a way that if you connect the property
of one control with another via an event handler (i.e. declare that the color
of a control's background is Blue if myButton.IsPressed, your control's
background will change to blue when pressed (and back to its original color
once the condition is false)...all the magic of DependencyProperty. This
means a TON of stuff that would have traditionally required writing event
handlers and having several code paths for buttons, etc., is all done inside
the WPF code automatically. This is also true for asynchronous databinding.
In a nutshell, if you say "IsAsynchronous=true" for your datasource
declaration, the dependency property it's bound to listens for the
OnDataBindComplete(or something like that...can't recall it right now), and
automatically updates from the proper thread while maintaining responsiveness.
And from a flexibility standpoint, its styling facilities are a radical
departure from WinForms. WPF apps have a logical tree (of buttons, grids,
etc) that have no inherent look to them; they just have functionality (a
button can be pressed, grid can hold stuff, a textbox has a Text property).
But they can look like whatever you want to define their template as. So for
example, if you want to draw a tab control, you could implement it as a radio
button group where each tab is a radiobutton because a tab control logically
functions like a radio button group.

Bob
Fri Dec 14 13:21:37 PST 2007

I don't know of any article that specifically deals with the comparison of
these two data binding systems but effectively in the WPF model they threw
out almost everything _except_ the concept of databinding.

Objects must still implement INotifyPropertyChanged or provide a
<property>Changed event for each property.

WPF databinding is different inasmuch as the DataContext is inherited by
child controls whereas in Windows Forms the DataSource needs to be
explicitly set for each control.


--
--
Bob Powell [MVP]
Visual C#, System.Drawing

Ramuseco Limited .NET consulting
http://www.ramuseco.com

Find great Windows Forms articles in Windows Forms Tips and Tricks
http://www.bobpowell.net/tipstricks.htm

Answer those GDI+ questions with the GDI+ FAQ
http://www.bobpowell.net/faqmain.htm

All new articles provide code in C# and VB.NET.
Subscribe to the RSS feeds provided and never miss a new article.


"Amir Tohidi" <AmirTohidi@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:FE25ADAD-9580-4562-9B9C-161E833F7E9C@microsoft.com...
> Hi Bob
>
> Thanks for your insight and help.
>
> Is there an article that discusses data binding related matters and
> compares
> WinForms vs WPF data binding?
>
> Thanks
> Amir
>
> "Bob Powell [MVP]" wrote:
>
>> A company may wish to migrate an existing application to WPF to add a new
>> look to the application, or, if the application was an intensely
>> graphical
>> one, to increase performance.
>>
>> Architecturally, WPF applications and Windows Forms applications only
>> have
>> about one thing in common, Databinding. Otherwise chalk and cheese is a
>> good
>> analogy.
>>
>> If you are starting a new application, I not wish to discourage you from
>> a
>> WPF app but in my opinion the tools available for creating WPF
>> applications
>> as well as the support from third-party suppliers for components and so
>> on
>> is pretty poor at the moment. Having actually tried to create an
>> industrial
>> strength application in WPF I found that it lacked the facilities I
>> needed
>> and so went for CAB / Windows Forms solution with some WPF content hosted
>> on
>> Windows Forms.
>>
>> Personally, given the amount that Visual Studio 2008 crashes and the fact
>> that Blend 2.0 still isn't available I would hold off of starting any
>> serious project on a WPF platform and look at it as a learning thing.
>>
>> If you need to deliver an application in a short time with good features
>> and
>> support, go for a Windows Forms application while paying close attention
>> to
>> your data model so that migration to WPF eventually is painless.
>>
>> --
>> --
>> Bob Powell [MVP]
>> Visual C#, System.Drawing
>>
>> Ramuseco Limited .NET consulting
>> http://www.ramuseco.com
>>
>> Find great Windows Forms articles in Windows Forms Tips and Tricks
>> http://www.bobpowell.net/tipstricks.htm
>>
>> Answer those GDI+ questions with the GDI+ FAQ
>> http://www.bobpowell.net/faqmain.htm
>>
>> All new articles provide code in C# and VB.NET.
>> Subscribe to the RSS feeds provided and never miss a new article.
>>
>>
>> "Amir Tohidi" <AmirTohidi@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:BA447A76-B9BC-4EBA-9715-0D4192FF4721@microsoft.com...
>> > Hi
>> >
>> > Apart from simple test harnesses, I haven't done much with WinForms. As
>> > for
>> > WPF, I know what it stands for :-)
>> >
>> > Having Googled for a while, I couldn't find a no nonsense web site that
>> > helps me understand where WinForm and WPF sit in the Microsoft world.
>> > For
>> > example, is WPF the replacement for WinForms?
>> >
>> > Please comment or point me to some decent articles. Please note that I
>> > am
>> > mainly interested in these technologies from an Arcitecture point of
>> > view.
>> > For example:
>> >
>> > * Why would a company want to migrate an existing WinForms app to WPF
>> > (or
>> > is
>> > that a silly question)
>> >
>> > * If starting a new Windows application, what are the key
>> > considerations
>> > in
>> > chossing between WinForms vs WPF
>> >
>> > * Which environment is better suited for delivering functionaly rich
>> > GUI
>> > in
>> > a RAD environment
>> >
>> > Thanks
>> > Amir
>> >
>> >
>>

Bob
Fri Dec 14 13:33:29 PST 2007

I'll explain my statements:

WPF controls provided by Microsoft are basic and definitely do not have the
functionality for creating industrial strength applications. Third party
support is on the increase with suppliers such as SyncFusion, Infragistics
and others providing early versions of component frameworks. These are
however late beta or early release versions and are not very evolved.

XAML is fantastic for creating a UI if you have the controls to hand that
you need and there are tricks you can use to "coerce" existing controls into
doing what you want but this is not universal or easy. The process of
actually creating a WPF control is very exacting and not at-all well
documented by Microsoft so the ability of the developer in the street to
create their own custom offerings is still limited. Early adopters have to
fight to obtain even the most basic information with blogs all dedicated to
the famous 12 line WPF bling-bling demo and very little real-meat for the
serious developer. I work in a serious financial environment and we are
contemplating the future with WPF and have come to the conclusion that it
isn't yet ready for prime-time but are confident that it will get there.
Anyway, when did any 1.0 framework ever come out of MS fully baked?

--
--
Bob Powell [MVP]
Visual C#, System.Drawing

Ramuseco Limited .NET consulting
http://www.ramuseco.com

Find great Windows Forms articles in Windows Forms Tips and Tricks
http://www.bobpowell.net/tipstricks.htm

Answer those GDI+ questions with the GDI+ FAQ
http://www.bobpowell.net/faqmain.htm

All new articles provide code in C# and VB.NET.
Subscribe to the RSS feeds provided and never miss a new article.


"ActiveX_IE" <ActiveXIE@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:E93CBACE-16DA-43E2-918D-D7ADF46CE6F9@microsoft.com...
> Hi Bob
>
> I am about to develop Industrial automation application for commercial
> use.
>
> I need to generate sine waveform. Please let me know if you can give
> reference of existing applications developed for such use and code
> samples.
>
> It could be using winforms or WPF any.
>
> Please let me know what do you mean by
> 1) in my opinion the tools available for creating WPF applications
> as well as the support from third-party suppliers for components and so on
> is pretty poor at the moment.
>
> 2) WPF lacked the facilities I needed
>
>
>
> --
> Alpana
>
>
> "Bob Powell [MVP]" wrote:
>
>> A company may wish to migrate an existing application to WPF to add a new
>> look to the application, or, if the application was an intensely
>> graphical
>> one, to increase performance.
>>
>> Architecturally, WPF applications and Windows Forms applications only
>> have
>> about one thing in common, Databinding. Otherwise chalk and cheese is a
>&