Why does so much stuff in WPF not work ? [modified]
-
I'm going to ramble a little bit, then ask a serious question (although it doesn't sound serious, I mean it to be--I really don't understand). Christian, I agree with the frustrations of learning WPF. Some of it is fooling around until I have the lightbulb moment, but some seems just inexplicable. Example: I've created a dll with a bunch of core-level domain classes. Nothing to render in that package, strictly business-logic domain objects. This is simply referenced off of a shared drive (or off my local version, if I've been working with it). Next, I've created some user controls in my WPF application. In the same namespace as the app, just in a folder not-ingeniously named "UserControls". When working on the controls, VS renders them just fine. Finally, I add those controls to WPF forms by giving an xml namespace to my app's namespace (like "xmlns:local="appnamespace"), then adding a tag like local:myUserControl .../. The form won't render sometimes, saying it can't load the core dll, or one of its dependencies. This is obviously crap, as a) the control itself can render just fine and b) the application doesn't have any problem reading the dll when getting fired up for testing. I rather suspect it's something to do with rendering the XAML of the control into the XAML of the form, but I haven't been able to figure out why yet. (This morning, I went back to the form and it's rendering fine. Maybe something about forcing VS to lose and reestablish connection to the dll overnight?). /rant OK, now for the question: The people I work with are just in love with forms applications, and I really don't understand it. Why not just build web applications? Instead of having to worry about building an install which ensures that the machine on which my forms app being deployed has all these dependent things, just worry about keeping the web server(s) aligned with development. Why not build an application which is available anywhere on the planet (with a connection) to anyone (with a broswer), instead of limiting yourself to windows-based computers? It seems to me that it's much easier to build and deploy web applications, and there's a lot more knowledge out there how to do that, rather than the specialization of forms apps. Also that anything that can be delivered through forms can be delivered through a browser, so why not take the road that's easier? Or is that just my web background, and things really are easier with forms that I'm not getting?
agolddog wrote:
The people I work with are just in love with forms applications
My bet... They will have to learn how to do web app used as win app... Plus don't forget the cost of rewriting everything... It's easier to choose the technology on new project but there is often no cost effective returns on rewriting (unless your existing app needs to address new goals)... There is no web vs winapp: There is a need and a goal to serve...Choose the technology that will answer it... Cheers!
"Nothing is lost, Nothing is created, Everything is transformed" Lavoisier http://wlwilliamsiv.com