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While the old APIs keep working, Microsoft does like to come up with completely new APIs every five years or so. If you want to do basic UI on Windows today, y

While the old APIs keep working, Microsoft does like to come up with completely new APIs every five years or so. If you want to do basic UI on Windows today, you can use: - Win32 UI - MFC - .NET WinForms - WinFX - .NET WPF - WinRT - UWP And I'm sure there are many others that I'm forgetting.

jack_tripper 1y ago
Adding new APIs does not hinder your ability to use the old APIs you're familiar with. I think apps like Notepad++ and Sumatra PDF are still written in Win32.
- sirwhinesalot 1y ago
  Of course it does, those APIs don't work well together. It's a pain in the ass to use the features only available in the new APIs on old applications. Microsoft has put some effort into making it work but it's still hugely hit and miss. You can mix WPF and WinUI2, but not WinUI3.
  - ptx 1y ago
    Amazing. I thought they fixed that years ago with "XAML islands", but apparently [1] they un-fixed it again with WinUI 3 and still haven't re-fixed it? [1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/desktop/modernize/xaml-islands/xaml-islands https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/desktop/moder...
    - sirwhinesalot 1y ago
      Yup, though I wouldn't even say they "fixed it" with XAML islands since they lock you into .NET core 3... They also keep doing boneheaded decisions like the new DWriteCore, which is a reimplementation of DirectWrite, and some features are only available in DWriteCore, but DWriteCore is not a strict superset and doesn't even interoperate directly with Direct2D like DirectWrite did. So once again, either stay on the "stable" as people like to call it version, which is effectively frozen, or use the new one and rewrite half you app! And then people wonder why nobody uses Microsoft APIs if they can avoid it.
- tsimionescu 1y ago
  It doesn't directly, but the fact that these old APIs are abandoned still matters. It's not like you'll get bug fixes for Win32 (non-CVE) issues, it's just that it will keep working as is.
- qcnguy 1y ago
  You can't get a competitive UX by using Win32, even basics like resizable windows and proper hidpi support is missing. And the number of people who know this API is probably sub-1% these days. There are dozens of us left, dozens!
mghackerlady 1y ago
If I ever need to make a windows GUI I'm gonna do it in win32, it seems like the only one that's reliably there
- baq 1y ago
  Funny thing is this is also true on Linux nowadays

jack_tripper 1y ago

Adding new APIs does not hinder your ability to use the old APIs you're familiar with. I think apps like Notepad++ and Sumatra PDF are still written in Win32.

sirwhinesalot 1y ago
Of course it does, those APIs don't work well together. It's a pain in the ass to use the features only available in the new APIs on old applications. Microsoft has put some effort into making it work but it's still hugely hit and miss. You can mix WPF and WinUI2, but not WinUI3.
- ptx 1y ago
  Amazing. I thought they fixed that years ago with "XAML islands", but apparently [1] they un-fixed it again with WinUI 3 and still haven't re-fixed it? [1] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/desktop/modernize/xaml-islands/xaml-islands https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/desktop/moder...
  - sirwhinesalot 1y ago
    Yup, though I wouldn't even say they "fixed it" with XAML islands since they lock you into .NET core 3... They also keep doing boneheaded decisions like the new DWriteCore, which is a reimplementation of DirectWrite, and some features are only available in DWriteCore, but DWriteCore is not a strict superset and doesn't even interoperate directly with Direct2D like DirectWrite did. So once again, either stay on the "stable" as people like to call it version, which is effectively frozen, or use the new one and rewrite half you app! And then people wonder why nobody uses Microsoft APIs if they can avoid it.
tsimionescu 1y ago
It doesn't directly, but the fact that these old APIs are abandoned still matters. It's not like you'll get bug fixes for Win32 (non-CVE) issues, it's just that it will keep working as is.
qcnguy 1y ago
You can't get a competitive UX by using Win32, even basics like resizable windows and proper hidpi support is missing. And the number of people who know this API is probably sub-1% these days. There are dozens of us left, dozens!

mghackerlady 1y ago

If I ever need to make a windows GUI I'm gonna do it in win32, it seems like the only one that's reliably there

baq 1y ago
Funny thing is this is also true on Linux nowadays