4 ms·
Desktop development is a complete mess at the moment on Windows. Core 3.1 definitely has many good improvements and is good for class libraries but adding a GUI
by headacheache 6y ago
Desktop development is a complete mess at the moment on Windows. Core 3.1 definitely has many good improvements and is good for class libraries but adding a GUI currently has few desirable options
1)Winforms designer doesn't work with complex or 3rd party controls
2) WinUI doesn't work on Win32
3) WPF works but lengthens development and will soon be out of sorts with this WinUI
4) Really everyone wants cross-platform GUI but not much forthcoming except Uno or Avalonia but these are risky for large projects
5) Blazor could be interesting but only works as Desktop standalone using Electron.NET which seems a horrible dependence.
6) Old Winforms on defunct .NET framework works but looks horrible
7) Old 3rd party Winforms on defunct .NET framework is expensive
- thoraway1010 6y agoI don't get it either. Developing on windows used to be trivial. Winforms designer was drag and drop, click into code, write an extra module, done. I was told, oh, you are an idiot, you need to be using XAML / WPF etc etc. I tried - the stuff looks works, much more complicated to develop and does LESS! Even Visual Basic (remember that?) made GUI development trivial I thought compared to these new improved approaches.
- headacheache 6y agoI have a project due in about 2 weeks and genuinely have no viable options to build anything on core 3.1. Just found these links, 2nd one especially looks interesting. https://blog.stevensanderson.com/2019/11/01/exploring-lighter-alternatives-to-electron-for-hosting-a-blazor-desktop-app/ https://blog.stevensanderson.com/2019/11/01/exploring-lighte... https://blog.stevensanderson.com/2019/11/18/2019-11-18-webwindow-a-cross-platform-webview-for-dotnet-core/ https://blog.stevensanderson.com/2019/11/18/2019-11-18-webwi...