C# and 3D ?

[JAM]

I was wondering if there is any simple extension of .NET framewrok,
that allows mixing on the form 3D images such as OpenGL or DirectX and
standard .NET controls such as sliders, buttons etc.

I'm aware about so called Windows 3D but I hate XML in WPF used to
program it. I would be much happier with OpenGL like API accessed from
C#. Is there a user firendly method of operating Windows 3D in WPF
without need to code it in XML ?

I was briefly looking at XNA but on surface this is strictly gaming
environment that isolate user from standard .NET controls (I might be
wrong on this).

I'm amatour, so expensive professional packages are out of my league.

JAM

 

[Alexander Mueller]

I was wondering if there is any simple extension of .NET framewrok,
that allows mixing on the form 3D images such as OpenGL or DirectX and
standard .NET controls such as sliders, buttons etc.

There is an open-source succesor to MS' deprecated Managed DirectX (MDX)
called SlimDX, http://slimdx.org/

I'm aware about so called Windows 3D but I hate XML in WPF used to
program it. I would be much happier with OpenGL like API accessed from
C#. Is there a user firendly method of operating Windows 3D in WPF
without need to code it in XML ?

You can write all the WPF-code in C#

MfG
Alex

 

[JAM]

There is an open-source succesor to MS' deprecated Managed DirectX (MDX)
called SlimDX,http://slimdx.org/


You can write all the WPF-code in C#

Alex.

Thanks for the info. I will look at the open-source.

Regarding WPF I was briefly looking at the book "3D programming" by
Charles Petzold and I was immiedietly put off by large amount of XML
code there. I admit it, I did not even attempt to read it, just gave
it a glimpse at the bookstore. Call me old date, but I don't
understand current obsession with XML. In fact I find XML hard to
read, and ugly looking not even mentioning space waster and I plainly
refuse to use it for coding

Anyway, when you say WPF code can be written in C#, I on purpose put
the clause "user friendly". If by writing in C# you mean generating
XML from C#, than "thank you very much" but forget it. I'm not
interested in such pseudo solution. Since I'm amatour, I do my
programming for fun, and I refuse to use coding practice that I highly
dislike.

If on the other hand WPF code can be truly written in C# without
generating ugly XML, than, is there a good book or some other type of
starting guide that you would recommend on the subject ?

MfG
Alex

JAM

 

[JAM]

[...] Call me old date, but I don't
understand current obsession with XML. In fact I find XML hard to
read, and ugly looking not even mentioning space waster and I plainly
refuse to use it for coding

Even if you're trying to write XSLT programs?  Wow...that's hard-core.

I don't even know what XSLT is

The fact is, XML is a perfectly fine declarative language.  Its  
general-purpose nature solves a lot of basic issues that come up when  
representing hierarchy in some collection of data, and it's especially  
good for human-readable, annotated data.

I highly disagree with the "human-readable" part of the statement.
ISure, brackets with key words are descriptive, but they are just hard
on the eyes. I see the advantage to store data in such format (if we
disregard wasted disk space), so future obsolete software does not
make data unreadable, but coding in such format is in my opinion a
joke.

Obstinance isn't really a great personality trait in any endeavor, but  
it's especially counter-productive for programmers who are only just  
starting out learning something new.

I don't want to be rude, but since you think it is a good idea to give
strangers a lesson, let me give you some pointers in life. There is a
difference between job and hobby. Hobby is to do things ones likes and
not neccesairly learn something because one must to stay knowledgable
on the job. I make my living as a mechanical engineer and do not have
any need to code anything to earn money. Like and dislike something
is very subjective and might not neccesairly be the same for you and
me. Let me restate, I find html style of XML ugly and hard to read. It
is irrelevant if you personally find it "human-readable". When I
originally read about XML it was advertised to general public that XML
is more human readable for storing data in such format versus binary.
And, yes, I can agree here but extending this to the code especially
when comapred to C family I find this an exaggeration. IMHO XML code
is as readable as the old basic from MS-DOS.

In any case, the C# code related to WPF doesn't generate XML.  It  
generates WPF objects, just like the run-time would do using XML.  C# and  
XML are two different mechanisms to create the same underlying data.

Excellent. That is what I'm looking for. Thank you for this
explanation.

You might try starting with MSDN.  Specifically, the System.Windows  
namespace, and most of the namespaces within (System.Windows.Forms being  
an obvious exception ).

Here are a couple of pages to get you started:http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/lib...om/en-us/library/system.windows.controls.aspx

Pete

JAM