Convert winform to web.

[Mr. X.]

Hello.

I am using C#, VS 2008, dotnet framework 3.5.

Is there any fast conversion tool from winform application to web-form?
I would like a sample, please.

Thanks

 

[Jeff Johnson]

I am using C#, VS 2008, dotnet framework 3.5.

Is there any fast conversion tool from winform application to web-form?

I've never heard of such a thing. Microsoft created an application block
called the UI Presentation application block (or something like that) to
help make it EASIER to transition between a WinForm UI and a Web UI, but
I've never heard of anything that will CONVERT one to the other. They're
just too different, despite how hard Microsoft tries to make them the same.

That said, I don't use WPF/XAML/whatever, so perhaps that may be a solution.
But if you're starting with an existing WinForm app, I say the answer is no.

 

[Arne Vajhøj]

I am using C#, VS 2008, dotnet framework 3.5.

Is there any fast conversion tool from winform application to web-form?

I have never heard about one.

And I am very skeptical about the feasibility of creating
such a converter that can handle anything but trivial examples.

Arne

 

[Jason Keats]

I am using C#, VS 2008, dotnet framework 3.5.

Is there any fast conversion tool from winform application to web-form?
I would like a sample, please.

http://www.visualwebgui.com/ claims to be such a tool.

 

[Arne Vajhøj]

What are the bests step to translate from win-form to web-form?
I.e :
1. Writing WPF ...
2. ???

WPF is not web form.

WPF is Silverlight.

(technically I think Silverlight is just a subste of WPF, but ...)

So first thing you need to decide on is ASP.NET web forms or
ASP.NET MVC or Silverligth.

Then you need to isolate the lower layers of the code,
reimplement the higher layers of code manually and let
those reuse the the lower layers.

Arne

 

[Mr. X.]

I will check that out.
Isn't any free tool for that?

Thanks

 

[Mr. X.]

I have installed it, and didn't find any clue, how can I convert from
win-form to web-form.
(Can't I just do deployment somehow?)

Thanks

 

[Jason Keats]

I have installed it, and didn't find any clue, how can I convert from
win-form to web-form.
(Can't I just do deployment somehow?)

As it says here
http://www.visualwebgui.com/tabid/665/Default.aspx
copy your WinForms code into VWG, then replace System.Windows.Forms with
Gizmox.WebGUI.Forms.

 

[Mr. X.]

When I installed it :
VWG_Professional_Studio_6.4.0_RC0a_NET3.5.zip.

I see that I have two main folders :
MSBuild
Gizmox

I didn't see any application nor user interface behinds those folders.
I see the "Gizmox\Visual WebGUI" folder.
Is that mean I should copy the code to that folder?
Should I declare IIS before translating?

Thanks

 

[Mr. X.]

Should I add reference to all dlls on :
...\Gizmox\Visual WebGUI\Assemblies
and subfolders ?

Thanks

 

[Jason Keats]

When I installed it :
VWG_Professional_Studio_6.4.0_RC0a_NET3.5.zip.

I see that I have two main folders :
MSBuild
Gizmox

I didn't see any application nor user interface behinds those folders.
I see the "Gizmox\Visual WebGUI" folder.
Is that mean I should copy the code to that folder?
Should I declare IIS before translating?

Mr X, I told you about the easiest way I know of converting WinForms
applications to WebForms.

The rest is up to you. I have no intention of holding your hand through
the process.

It may help to read their documentation, try their examples, and visit
their forums.

Good luck.

 

[Mr. X.]

I don't know if I am doing the right things.
I have created an IIS reference.
Some first problem :
I added reference to all the dlls in ..\Gizmox\Visual WebGUI\Assemblies.
The original code :
System.Windows.Forms.Control x;
....
x.Refresh();

The translated code :
Gizmox.WebGUI.Forms.Control x;
....
x.Refresh(); // this cannot be compiled.

Error 'Gizmox.WebGUI.Forms.Control' does not contain a definition for
'Refresh' and no extension method 'Refresh' accepting a first argument of
type 'Gizmox.WebGUI.Forms.Control' could be found (are you missing a using
directive or an assembly reference?)What is the alternative for x.Refresh() ?
Thanks

 

[willvv]

Hello.

I am using C#, VS 2008, dotnet framework 3.5.

Is there any fast conversion tool from winform application to web-form?
I would like a sample, please.

Thanks

Converting a desktop application to a web application has several challenges:
- Access to hardware
- Windows API calls
- Management of the application state
- Access to the file system
- Access control
- Use of desktop-specific UI/UX/controls

There are options to convert desktop applications in an automated way, these can convert both the UI and the code of the application:
- http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/9307/Converting-WinForms-Web-Forms-using-CodeDom
- http://visualwebgui.com/
- http://www.mobilize.net/webmap2

Even when using automated migration tools, in most of the cases you will have to perform a significant amount of manual work to get the application working in the same way as the original one.

Some of these tools will help with different objectives, the first one will help you convert only the UI and to WebForms, the last two ones will generate ASP.NET MVC, one using a custom runtime and set of libraries and the other with common HTML/JS/CSS libraries such as Kendo MVVM, Kendo UI, AngularJS or Bootstrap among others.
These tools will provide a solution that will be faster than writing the application in the web from scratch and will provide solutions or at least guidelines to approach the challenges mentioned before. However, there will be some differences from an application that was designed for the Web, simply because the architectures are different and usually the way of writing the code for a desktop application assumes thing that cannot be assumed for a web one.



Disclaimer: I work for Mobilize.Net, who built WebMAP2.