6 ms·

I do mainly desktop dev but reading that Core is now the platform with rapid improvements I wonder if it's possible to write WPF or UWP apps with .NET Core or S

I do mainly desktop dev but reading that Core is now the platform with rapid improvements I wonder if it's possible to write WPF or UWP apps with .NET Core or Standard. Does anyone know?

michaelwda 8y ago
This is coming in .NET Core 3. Slated for Q1 2019 AFAIK. https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/dotnet/2018/05/07/net-core-3-and-support-for-windows-desktop-applications/ https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/dotnet/2018/05/07/net-core-...
- maxxxxx 8y ago
  Very good. For a moment I was worried that desktop development would stay on Framework which from the article seems to slowly being pushed into maintenance mode.
- qwerty456127 8y ago
  If WPF is coming in .NET Core, does this mean we are going to be able to run WPF apps on Linux and Mac?
  - maxxxxx 8y ago
    I highly doubt it. As far as I know WPF is way too entangled with Windows.
    - qwerty456127 8y ago
      But isn't .Net Core meant to be cross-platform?
      - SemiNormal 8y ago
        It is. The WPF library is just a separate package that includes a lot of Windows API calls to allow .NET Core to talk to WPF.
      - WorldMaker 8y ago
        In general, yes, but a lot of its cross-platform capabilities are community-contributed/community-led, there are still some APIs that don't have cross-platform implementations (because it hasn't been a community priority), but also there are APIs that simply can't work on any platform but Windows (obvious things like Registry access, for instance) and will either no-op or throw clear exceptions on other platforms. The "desktop app packs" for WPF and WinForms Microsoft has made very clear that they will not support anything other than Windows. (They also won't directly be a part of .NET Core according to diagrams, but packages installed on top of it.) It's also unclear if they can be open sourced (they probably cannot be), and if they can't be open sourced it is unlikely a community-led effort could easily work on making them cross-platform.
        qwerty456127 8y ago
        > The "desktop app packs" for WPF and WinForms WinForms work quite nice on Linux with Mono. Won't they cooperate?
        maxxxxx 8y ago
        I think Mono Winforms is a total rewrite of the Windows Winforms. There is no shared code.
        qwerty456127 8y ago
        Sure it is but why not use that code to let .Net Core support WinForms on Linux the way it is going to support it on Windows?
        maxxxxx 8y ago
        I think you have that a little backwards. This is not up to the Core developers but to the Mono developers. There is nothing preventing the Mono developers from supporting .Net Core.
        8y ago
  - algorithmsRcool 8y ago
    Nope, it will be a windows only capability. -Edit- I should add that the purpose of them adding this capability isn't to set up a new cross-platform UI suite. It is just to lure enterprise shops to .NET core by supporting more of their .NET Framework workloads
    - solarkraft 8y ago
      I'm still wondering whether it would be smart for them to port WPF or UWP to all platforms. They are already decoupling their services from Windows and a UI library would be quite a flagship for them. Then again they'd also lose the Windows vendor lock-in, which might still be more valuable to them. Then again they could sell their development toolchain and gain developer sympathy.
      - algorithmsRcool 8y ago
        Well, I think it is an engineering problem. WPF is basically cemented to DirectX which only exists on Windows.
  - simonh 8y ago
    There will be a desktop pack that extends Core with windows desktop application technologies. Bear in mind these are really .NET API wrappers round the underlying Windows systems, so since those underlying libraries and such don’t exist on Mac or Linux .NET APIs won’t have anything to provide access to. Think if it this way. Someone could write a .NET Core wrapper round the MacOS GUI libraries and platform APIs, but you couldn’t run that on Windows.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
Nelkins 8y ago
Not WPF per se, but if you're looking for something similar check out https://github.com/AvaloniaUI/Avalonia https://github.com/AvaloniaUI/Avalonia
- rpeden 8y ago
  Xamarin Forms also has WPF, OSX, and GTK renderers, so it might be an option. Based on GitHub activity it looks like they're being worked on fairly actively, too.
  - pknopf 8y ago
    You can also use QML with .NET Core. https://github.com/qmlnet/qmlnet https://github.com/qmlnet/qmlnet It is stable, I'm currently using it in production (https://medxchange.com/4klear-all-in-one-camera-recorder/ https://medxchange.com/4klear-all-in-one-camera-recorder/) PS: I'm the author.

I do mainly desktop dev but reading that Core is now the platform with rapid improvements I wonder if it's possible to write WPF or UWP apps with .NET Core or Standard. Does anyone know?

michaelwda 8y ago

This is coming in .NET Core 3. Slated for Q1 2019 AFAIK. https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/dotnet/2018/05/07/net-core-3-and-support-for-windows-desktop-applications/ https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/dotnet/2018/05/07/net-core-...

maxxxxx 8y ago
Very good. For a moment I was worried that desktop development would stay on Framework which from the article seems to slowly being pushed into maintenance mode.
qwerty456127 8y ago
If WPF is coming in .NET Core, does this mean we are going to be able to run WPF apps on Linux and Mac?
- maxxxxx 8y ago
  I highly doubt it. As far as I know WPF is way too entangled with Windows.
  - qwerty456127 8y ago
    But isn't .Net Core meant to be cross-platform?
    - SemiNormal 8y ago
      It is. The WPF library is just a separate package that includes a lot of Windows API calls to allow .NET Core to talk to WPF.
    - WorldMaker 8y ago
      In general, yes, but a lot of its cross-platform capabilities are community-contributed/community-led, there are still some APIs that don't have cross-platform implementations (because it hasn't been a community priority), but also there are APIs that simply can't work on any platform but Windows (obvious things like Registry access, for instance) and will either no-op or throw clear exceptions on other platforms. The "desktop app packs" for WPF and WinForms Microsoft has made very clear that they will not support anything other than Windows. (They also won't directly be a part of .NET Core according to diagrams, but packages installed on top of it.) It's also unclear if they can be open sourced (they probably cannot be), and if they can't be open sourced it is unlikely a community-led effort could easily work on making them cross-platform.
      - qwerty456127 8y ago
        > The "desktop app packs" for WPF and WinForms WinForms work quite nice on Linux with Mono. Won't they cooperate?
        maxxxxx 8y ago
        I think Mono Winforms is a total rewrite of the Windows Winforms. There is no shared code.
        qwerty456127 8y ago
        Sure it is but why not use that code to let .Net Core support WinForms on Linux the way it is going to support it on Windows?
        maxxxxx 8y ago
        I think you have that a little backwards. This is not up to the Core developers but to the Mono developers. There is nothing preventing the Mono developers from supporting .Net Core.
        8y ago
- algorithmsRcool 8y ago
  Nope, it will be a windows only capability. -Edit- I should add that the purpose of them adding this capability isn't to set up a new cross-platform UI suite. It is just to lure enterprise shops to .NET core by supporting more of their .NET Framework workloads
  - solarkraft 8y ago
    I'm still wondering whether it would be smart for them to port WPF or UWP to all platforms. They are already decoupling their services from Windows and a UI library would be quite a flagship for them. Then again they'd also lose the Windows vendor lock-in, which might still be more valuable to them. Then again they could sell their development toolchain and gain developer sympathy.
    - algorithmsRcool 8y ago
      Well, I think it is an engineering problem. WPF is basically cemented to DirectX which only exists on Windows.
- simonh 8y ago
  There will be a desktop pack that extends Core with windows desktop application technologies. Bear in mind these are really .NET API wrappers round the underlying Windows systems, so since those underlying libraries and such don’t exist on Mac or Linux .NET APIs won’t have anything to provide access to. Think if it this way. Someone could write a .NET Core wrapper round the MacOS GUI libraries and platform APIs, but you couldn’t run that on Windows.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

Nelkins 8y ago

Not WPF per se, but if you're looking for something similar check out https://github.com/AvaloniaUI/Avalonia https://github.com/AvaloniaUI/Avalonia

rpeden 8y ago
Xamarin Forms also has WPF, OSX, and GTK renderers, so it might be an option. Based on GitHub activity it looks like they're being worked on fairly actively, too.
- pknopf 8y ago
  You can also use QML with .NET Core. https://github.com/qmlnet/qmlnet https://github.com/qmlnet/qmlnet It is stable, I'm currently using it in production (https://medxchange.com/4klear-all-in-one-camera-recorder/ https://medxchange.com/4klear-all-in-one-camera-recorder/) PS: I'm the author.