This app will be running only locally...I am still using the excel sheets but they are not user friendly and also I can't share my app with others due to codesecurity

Hi, I am planning to move my VBA/Excel application to WPF or WinForm C#, and adding some cool features. Basically I would like to load a map from google/Bing or manually, draw lines (pipe network) and after make some calculation on these lines. Until now I use several programs to do that Autocad for drawing, Excell for calculation etc. There are already a lot of apps doing some part of what I want to achieve. Google Map for drawing lines on map, EPANET free framework for pipe networks - but no examples how to integrate its features into C#. Also, commercials editions WaterCAD of Bentley and ArcGIS. So my question is … will WPF relief my pain or should I stick with WinForm to achieve the above?

I didn't know where to post this question, but this was as close as I could get. I have an excel application which I want to transfer to winform C#. Brief Description of Application 1) In my application I have several Sheets A,B,C etc (normally 40-50sheets) where I put my data. 2) After, I copy the data to A(1),B(1),C(1) (another 40-50sheets) and make my calculation via VBA, deleting, adding rows etc. until I get the required results. Sometimes, I create another copy of A eg. A(2) and start calculation again and after comparing the results of A(1) and A(2), I delete the unused version. 3) After I am satisfied with the result I make the reports of A(1),B(1),C(1) via Pivot tables. Questions 1) What is best way to simulate the Excel sheet in C# app eg. dataset, datatable, IList, since I have a lot of sheets (more than 100 per project)? 2) What database should I use (Access, XML, SQL) to store the data sheets of A,B,C and A(1),B(1),C(1) the application will be used Locally only? 3) My main question is, how should I solve this problem in theory, a pattern or perhaps a process description from experts would be really helpful :). I hope this makes sense....

Do you mean commercial components?

I completely agree with you ... first of all the app should function wout problems and after it should have "eye candies":) By the way I found an sample at http://windowsclient.net/downloads/folders/applications/entry1340.aspx[^] witch might suit my needs, but it uses a control manipulation approach.

So you are saying that outlook uses the approach of manipulating controls in SDI? I found an article http://richnewman.wordpress.com/2007/10/26/user-interface-design-for-business-applications/[^] Where I like the UI design "Montage Tabbed Interfaces – ‘IDE-style’ interfaces" also in the below article http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winforms/thread/e073c18f-1ffc-462b-b9d1-67444395a75c/[^] They suggest to use controls. Do you agree?

I see, However I am busting my head know how to implement the outlook approach... I mean is it MDI app and show/hide each time new form? Or do they use other pattern?

In my situation, I don't have large amount of detail to be displayed, rather data grouped in distinct way... I saw (don't remember where) an approach where instead of MDI the SDI is used with custom controls. A custom control in my situation would be a detail form which could show or hide depended on which button is clicked. Not quite sure if this approach is best.

Hi, I have a question about UI design in NET. I am creating a scientific application with C# and VS2008. Currently I am using a tab conrol were till now I have 3 level tab depth (eg tab inside tab etc) which is not very convenient, nor user friendly. I am thinking to switch to an outlook UI style were the general tabs will be moved to left panel with the form of buttons. While the right panel will have the detail form again with tabs but lesser depth. So my question is what is the best approach of doing this? Should I move to a MDI where in the right panel will load detail form's in full mode? Or should I search for some specific tab component?