What exactly is WPF, and why is it better than C#?

Yvar Birx

I've seen this popular thing on here. It's called WPF, I never really looked into it, because I am not into new things. But I've seen some cool things you can create with it. But, what exactly is it, is it different than Forms C#?

Thomas Daniels

Difference between Windows Forms and WPF: http://joshsmithonwpf.wordpress.com/2007/09/05/wpf-vs-windows-forms/[^] Information about WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation): http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa970268.aspx[^] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Presentation_Foundation[^]

In some cases, my signature will be longer than my message...

<em style="color:red"> <b>ProgramFOX</b></em>

ProgramFOX

Lost User

C# is a language. WPF is a presentation framework (like window's forms). You can use VB, C# or other languages in the creation of applications that use Windows Forms, Silverlight, or WPF for the UI. I'd go with Silverlight (I am actually) since it most closely matches what will be available in Windows 8.

AspDotNetDev

For starters, I made this and this (both funky UI's that would be hard to make with Windows Forms) in WPF with relative ease. For one, the binding syntax is super customizable. It really makes MVVM super powerful. On top of that, user interfaces are super customizable. You can put at tree inside a button inside a rich text control (or whatever you want). And since views are templated, you can override views and make them look however you want. And since it's all declarative, it's really easy to do. And pretty much everything can be nested and layed out however you like, as with this example of a label/circle/button inside of a button:

<Button>
<StackPanel>
<TextBlock>Hello</TextBlock>
<Ellipse Width="100" Height="100" Fill="Azure"></Ellipse>
<Button>Nested Button!</Button>
</StackPanel>
</Button>

If you want something fun to work on, WPF is where it's at (though the new WinRT stuff is similar in that it uses XAML and it's the way Microsoft seems to be going from now on). Note to hamsters: I had to recreate this entire post, because my browser froze when I pasted the above code snippet. :mad:

Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

Yvar Birx

I see. I still wish Microsoft would allow your application to contain every referenced DLL, so people do not have to download the .NET framework.

Lost User

You'll have that issue with anything written in Visual Studio. I'd imagine you'd have that issue with anthing written in any technology.

Dave Calkins

Not true. If you're writing native C++/Win32/MFC code you can distribute all the runtime lib and MFC dependencies as DLLs in your install directory. Very clean. Its a shame the newer technologies seem to completely ignore deployment hassles and just dump it all on the end user to install some framework/runtime just to run your app. Xcopy deployment is the way it should be imo :) Its not that you have the issue in any technology, its that you have the issue when the technologies are built without regard for deployment.

loctrice

MehGerbil wrote:

You can use VB, C# or other languages in the creation of applications

FTFY

If it moves, compile it

Dan Neely

Disagree strongly. The one framework installation to rule them all is a major security enhancement. A single update gets library fixes deployed to every client application; without it most would remain exploitable for months or years in the future because even of the application developer did create a new redistributable with the fix most users would never check for a new version.

Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt

Lost User

I think you're looking at it with rose colored glasses. I'm pretty sure that is the sort of nonsense that frameworks were meant to fix.

Lost User

I'll never understand why people hate on VB. I can understand not liking a particular language - what I don't understand is being bothered by someone else's use of it.

Dave Calkins

Yes, that's a good point and is a strength of the single central update approach. On the downside, its possible that the single update can then break older software. Or another scenario is where you want to install and run 3 different versions of an application which was built against 3 versions of some dependency which might not be completely backwards compatible. Being able to have multiple versions of an app installed side by side and each using the runtime they were built for can be a nice feature. But the security concern is a valid one and one approach for that is the central update. You can distribute with your own dependencies though provided you do keep up to date and your users keep up to date with things.

Dave Calkins

My comment wasn't addressing use of frameworks, it was deployment of those frameworks. There are cases where being able to cleanly deploy with the framework embedded in the application can be a good thing.

Dan Neely

Dave Calkins wrote:

Being able to have multiple versions of an app installed side by side and each using the runtime they were built for can be a nice feature.

Which is why breaking changes are contained to major framework version increments, the only changes between major versions are to close exploits, and you can install and force an app to run on an old version of the framework. If you write software that relies on an exploit in a run time to work, it's not only your code that deserves to be broken. Edit: Whoracle's attempts to try and do the absolute minimum changes needed to close an exploit without breaking any applications that are doing similarly doggy activities was part of why we recently had the barrage of serial exploits where slightly modified versions of the attack worked around each new patch.

Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason? Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful? --Zachris Topelius Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies. -- Sarah Hoyt

Lost User

What I meant to say was that I've never had an application cleanly deploy that way - not even using the scenario you present. The C++ runtime, or the browser, or a .PDF reader, or Direct X, or such and such a toolkit, or security updates for the C++ runtime included with the software has to be updated, patched, re-installed, configured, homogenized, or a dozen user agreements signed, checked, read, viewed, or clicked through. This is with software distributed on a disk - because within 2 weeks the disk is out of date. Most of these require a re-boot whereas an update to Silverlight does not. Yes, XCOPY would be very nice. I've never had it happen.

loctrice

I actually write VB part of the time. I don't have an issue with it at all. Isn't it a Meme?

If it moves, compile it

Lost User

Yes. People like to pick on the VB folks because they cannot defend themselves.

Dave Calkins

Yes, thats true :) Maintaining a completely clean xcopy deployment might not be possible, but I try and achieve that to the degree it is possible. Noting the security concerns raised by the other poster, it is nice to be able to have a more self contained install and control the dependencies, but as was said, you then also have to be aware of updating and ensuring your users do so too.

Dave Calkins

I understand what you're saying but its not necessarily a valid assumption that an application which is more self contained is doing anything "dodgy" or relying on exploits. Of course those things wouldn't be good :)

Pete OHanlon

My apologies, in advance, for the code dump. I do a lot of WPF, and the combination of XAML and C# in WPF is extremely powerful. Here's part of an application I'm currently working on, where an interface element is hidden until it's needed, then it's displayed almost transparent until the user needs it and when they mouse over or touch down on it, the control moves into view and makes itself solid.

    </Storyboard>
</UserControl.Resources>
<UserControl.Triggers>
    <EventTrigger RoutedEvent="Mouse.MouseEnter" SourceName="histogramView">
        <BeginStoryboard Storyboard="{StaticResource OnMouseEnter1}"/>
    </EventTrigger>
    <EventTrigger RoutedEvent="TouchDown" SourceName="histogramView">
        &