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Visual Studio's UI is almost all WPF-based, as are parts of Windows itself (such as Server Manager since WS2012) so if MS were to abandon WPF it would backfire

Visual Studio's UI is almost all WPF-based, as are parts of Windows itself (such as Server Manager since WS2012) so if MS were to abandon WPF it would backfire badly unless they decide to kill-off VS and replace it with VSCode... now that's a scary thought.

maxxxxx 10y ago
Sure. But there is no innovation in WPF. They could simplify the binding syntax or integrate MVVM better for example. Look at what they did with Razor and MVC. Also visual studio is not exactly a showcase for WPF. 2008 (the last without WPF) had macros and the UI was easily customizable. It was also much faster. they are still far away from that functionality.
dethswatch 10y ago
VS is probably the only reason that WPF is being touched at all. Eventually, they'll say that VS is dead and VSCode is the new VS, then we'll be off WPF and win32 ties, it'll also put to bed the "Why is VS not 64bit yet?" line of inquiry.
- MichaelGG 10y ago
  VSCode isn't even remotely near VS. But WPF did get a lot of work once VS decided to use it. Up until then, WPF couldn't even render text without making it blurry - that's how little effort it had. I'm guessing that with the Longhorn disaster WPF lost whatever resources it was going to get to make it really kick ass.
  - WorldMaker 10y ago
    The WinRT/UWP XAML stack is the return/revenge of the Longhorn XAML stack. It took a while to get here, but it is the present now.
    - zeroc8 10y ago
      Yeah, but now you can use ReactXP for that, just like the Skype team does. And it runs on UWP, Android, IOS and Web.
      - WorldMaker 10y ago
        ReactXP looks interesting, I will explore it some. If your goal is to write .NET (C#, F#, VB.NET, what have you), ReactXP doesn't help. UWP XAML is the answer people seem to be looking for but for whatever reason keep missing it as the successor to WPF.
        maxxxxx 10y ago
        The problem with UWP is that there is no migration path from WPF. They are so different that you have to pretty much rewrite from scratch.
        WorldMaker 10y ago
        My experience is that there isn't as much to rewrite as most developers think. (But then I've had in the past to maintain Silverlight versions of WPF applications, so I'm biased.) If you are already using patterns like MVVM, databinding, service models, and keeping business logic separated from UI/UX logic, the transition should be mostly seamless from what I've seen outside of a few XAML tweaks (which are primarily fiddly details like namespace changes). In the case of more complicated migrations, you can now use the Desktop Bridge: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/porting/desktop-to-uwp-root https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/porting/desktop...
        maxxxxx 10y ago
        I tried to rewrite a WPF app when WinRT came up and it was hopeless. I'll admit I haven't looked at it again so maybe things have improved since then.
        DaiPlusPlus 10y ago

maxxxxx 10y ago

Sure. But there is no innovation in WPF. They could simplify the binding syntax or integrate MVVM better for example. Look at what they did with Razor and MVC. Also visual studio is not exactly a showcase for WPF. 2008 (the last without WPF) had macros and the UI was easily customizable. It was also much faster. they are still far away from that functionality.

dethswatch 10y ago

VS is probably the only reason that WPF is being touched at all. Eventually, they'll say that VS is dead and VSCode is the new VS, then we'll be off WPF and win32 ties, it'll also put to bed the "Why is VS not 64bit yet?" line of inquiry.

MichaelGG 10y ago
VSCode isn't even remotely near VS. But WPF did get a lot of work once VS decided to use it. Up until then, WPF couldn't even render text without making it blurry - that's how little effort it had. I'm guessing that with the Longhorn disaster WPF lost whatever resources it was going to get to make it really kick ass.
- WorldMaker 10y ago
  The WinRT/UWP XAML stack is the return/revenge of the Longhorn XAML stack. It took a while to get here, but it is the present now.
  - zeroc8 10y ago
    Yeah, but now you can use ReactXP for that, just like the Skype team does. And it runs on UWP, Android, IOS and Web.
    - WorldMaker 10y ago
      ReactXP looks interesting, I will explore it some. If your goal is to write .NET (C#, F#, VB.NET, what have you), ReactXP doesn't help. UWP XAML is the answer people seem to be looking for but for whatever reason keep missing it as the successor to WPF.
      - maxxxxx 10y ago
        The problem with UWP is that there is no migration path from WPF. They are so different that you have to pretty much rewrite from scratch.
        WorldMaker 10y ago
        My experience is that there isn't as much to rewrite as most developers think. (But then I've had in the past to maintain Silverlight versions of WPF applications, so I'm biased.) If you are already using patterns like MVVM, databinding, service models, and keeping business logic separated from UI/UX logic, the transition should be mostly seamless from what I've seen outside of a few XAML tweaks (which are primarily fiddly details like namespace changes). In the case of more complicated migrations, you can now use the Desktop Bridge: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/porting/desktop-to-uwp-root https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/porting/desktop...
        maxxxxx 10y ago
        I tried to rewrite a WPF app when WinRT came up and it was hopeless. I'll admit I haven't looked at it again so maybe things have improved since then.
      - DaiPlusPlus 10y ago