Vista - GDI replacement?

Hi,
just before I get deeper into WPF, I have a little question. Would you
recommend it to build a GUI like in VisualStudio.NET 2005 or any other quite
complex application?

Thanks,
Jan Kucera

> Hi,
> just before I get deeper into WPF, I have a little question. Would
> you
> recommend it to build a GUI like in VisualStudio.NET 2005 or any other
> quite
> complex application?
>
> Thanks,
> Jan Kucera

Depends how bleeding edge you want to be. Building a WPF GUI right now is
akin to building a web page circa 1997. The form designers, Cider and Sparkle,
are very limited so you resort to hand editing XAML for anything complex.
If you are working on a project that has short development cycle and you
need a stable v1.0 soon then I would stick with WinForms/GDI. Otherwise if
you're in it for the long haul then WPF is well worth the trouble. We were
able to prototype a version of our flagship product in a couple of months
(not counting the couple of months to learn XAML).

-Paul

The subject is "GDI replacement?", and in that context. Yes, that is what WPF
is for...it's the next generation for UI design.

In the context of, should I move my existing GDI app to 100% WPF, or should
I just Interop my GDI control into a WPF app. That is a difficult question,
but you could go the interop route, and make sure new controls were WPF. Then
when WPF V2 comes out, and Interop controls can composite with WPF controls,
the two technologies will live together in harmony and peace and the world
becomes a utopia of integration...or something like that.

"Jan Kucera" wrote:

> Hi,
> just before I get deeper into WPF, I have a little question. Would you
> recommend it to build a GUI like in VisualStudio.NET 2005 or any other quite
> complex application?
>
> Thanks,
> Jan Kucera
>

"TheRHogue" <TheRHogue@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:E31B69A0-6ABB-4292-9B3B-94F754575132@microsoft.com...
> The subject is "GDI replacement?", and in that context. Yes, that is what
> WPF
> is for...it's the next generation for UI design.
>

Well... but there is a still chance to trying developers to simplify the UI
and avoid that one like in Visual Studio, and that no efforts are being in
that area.

> In the context of, should I move my existing GDI app to 100% WPF, or
> should
> I just Interop my GDI control into a WPF app. That is a difficult
> question,
> but you could go the interop route, and make sure new controls were WPF.

I am actually thinking about new applications. I leave my "old ones" in .NET
2 and WinForms, but I'm not sure about those new projects which are going to
be a bit larger but I am not sure that I will manage to create such UI in
WPF.

> Then when WPF V2 comes out, and Interop controls can composite with WPF
> controls,
> the two technologies will live together in harmony and peace and the world
> becomes a utopia of integration...or something like that.
>

Cooool! ;-)

Jan

I don't see a problem using WPF to create something complicated like
VisualStudio.

If you use WPF, you can created a VisualStudio type UI very quickly, and it
will be stylable and themeable. There are many benefits going with WPF...the
learning curve will take about 6 months before you might understand the full
power of the platform. So, now is the time to play around with WPF because it
ships very soon.


"Jan Kucera" wrote:

>
> "TheRHogue" <TheRHogue@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:E31B69A0-6ABB-4292-9B3B-94F754575132@microsoft.com...
> > The subject is "GDI replacement?", and in that context. Yes, that is what
> > WPF
> > is for...it's the next generation for UI design.
> >
>
> Well... but there is a still chance to trying developers to simplify the UI
> and avoid that one like in Visual Studio, and that no efforts are being in
> that area.
>
> > In the context of, should I move my existing GDI app to 100% WPF, or
> > should
> > I just Interop my GDI control into a WPF app. That is a difficult
> > question,
> > but you could go the interop route, and make sure new controls were WPF.
>
> I am actually thinking about new applications. I leave my "old ones" in .NET
> 2 and WinForms, but I'm not sure about those new projects which are going to
> be a bit larger but I am not sure that I will manage to create such UI in
> WPF.
>
> > Then when WPF V2 comes out, and Interop controls can composite with WPF
> > controls,
> > the two technologies will live together in harmony and peace and the world
> > becomes a utopia of integration...or something like that.
> >
>
> Cooool! ;-)
>
> Jan
>
>

Well.. I'd say "6 months to understand the full power of the platform" is
too much.
It took me 4-5 days of the deep submersion.

http://blog.opennetcf.org/ayakhnin

Thx... Alex


"TheRHogue" <TheRHogue@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:CAE60D64-164C-4D4A-8B9B-3A466CEC9652@microsoft.com...
>I don't see a problem using WPF to create something complicated like
> VisualStudio.
>
> If you use WPF, you can created a VisualStudio type UI very quickly, and
> it
> will be stylable and themeable. There are many benefits going with
> WPF...the
> learning curve will take about 6 months before you might understand the
> full
> power of the platform. So, now is the time to play around with WPF because
> it
> ships very soon.
>
>
> "Jan Kucera" wrote:
>
>>
>> "TheRHogue" <TheRHogue@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:E31B69A0-6ABB-4292-9B3B-94F754575132@microsoft.com...
>> > The subject is "GDI replacement?", and in that context. Yes, that is
>> > what
>> > WPF
>> > is for...it's the next generation for UI design.
>> >
>>
>> Well... but there is a still chance to trying developers to simplify the
>> UI
>> and avoid that one like in Visual Studio, and that no efforts are being
>> in
>> that area.
>>
>> > In the context of, should I move my existing GDI app to 100% WPF, or
>> > should
>> > I just Interop my GDI control into a WPF app. That is a difficult
>> > question,
>> > but you could go the interop route, and make sure new controls were
>> > WPF.
>>
>> I am actually thinking about new applications. I leave my "old ones" in
>> .NET
>> 2 and WinForms, but I'm not sure about those new projects which are going
>> to
>> be a bit larger but I am not sure that I will manage to create such UI in
>> WPF.
>>
>> > Then when WPF V2 comes out, and Interop controls can composite with WPF
>> > controls,
>> > the two technologies will live together in harmony and peace and the
>> > world
>> > becomes a utopia of integration...or something like that.
>> >
>>
>> Cooool! ;-)
>>
>> Jan
>>
>>

I'm assuming Alex and I are talking about 2 different things.

4-5 days only gives a general overview. It takes months to gain enough
experience to write quality production code in WPF. There are a lot of niche
areas like 3D, Flowdocuments, XPS, Annotations, etc..., not to mention all
the caveats of styling, templating, databinding, deployment, layout,
animation, using tools like EID...blah, blah, blah...

WPF is so big, that Charles Petzold could not even get half of the WPF
features like Typography, 3D, XPS, and so on into his book...I guess they ran
out of trees...I hope charles will make up for this oversight in a 2nd
edition.


"Alex Yakhnin" wrote:

> Well.. I'd say "6 months to understand the full power of the platform" is
> too much.
> It took me 4-5 days of the deep submersion.
>
> http://blog.opennetcf.org/ayakhnin
>
> Thx... Alex
>
>
> "TheRHogue" <TheRHogue@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:CAE60D64-164C-4D4A-8B9B-3A466CEC9652@microsoft.com...
> >I don't see a problem using WPF to create something complicated like
> > VisualStudio.
> >
> > If you use WPF, you can created a VisualStudio type UI very quickly, and
> > it
> > will be stylable and themeable. There are many benefits going with
> > WPF...the
> > learning curve will take about 6 months before you might understand the
> > full
> > power of the platform. So, now is the time to play around with WPF because
> > it
> > ships very soon.
> >
> >
> > "Jan Kucera" wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> "TheRHogue" <TheRHogue@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >> news:E31B69A0-6ABB-4292-9B3B-94F754575132@microsoft.com...
> >> > The subject is "GDI replacement?", and in that context. Yes, that is
> >> > what
> >> > WPF
> >> > is for...it's the next generation for UI design.
> >> >
> >>
> >> Well... but there is a still chance to trying developers to simplify the
> >> UI
> >> and avoid that one like in Visual Studio, and that no efforts are being
> >> in
> >> that area.
> >>
> >> > In the context of, should I move my existing GDI app to 100% WPF, or
> >> > should
> >> > I just Interop my GDI control into a WPF app. That is a difficult
> >> > question,
> >> > but you could go the interop route, and make sure new controls were
> >> > WPF.
> >>
> >> I am actually thinking about new applications. I leave my "old ones" in
> >> .NET
> >> 2 and WinForms, but I'm not sure about those new projects which are going
> >> to
> >> be a bit larger but I am not sure that I will manage to create such UI in
> >> WPF.
> >>
> >> > Then when WPF V2 comes out, and Interop controls can composite with WPF
> >> > controls,
> >> > the two technologies will live together in harmony and peace and the
> >> > world
> >> > becomes a utopia of integration...or something like that.
> >> >
> >>
> >> Cooool! ;-)
> >>
> >> Jan
> >>
> >>
>
>
>