Which future for WINDOWSFORMS ?

[Enrico Ghezzi]

Hi

i must start this year a very big database ( desktop ) application.

i think 2 possibilty :

1) Visual Studio (2008) with WindowsForms
2) Delphi 2007 VCL


i have read some news on the web on windowsforms....
Is a dead tecnology ? without future ( long termine )

Are there other tecnology in substitution of the windowsforms ?




I DON'T WANT REWRITE ALL MY BIG APPLICATION Beetween 3-5 years
( MS philosophy -.- )

 

[ThunderMusic]

Hi,
Actually, you are on a MS newsgroup so I assume you know you will receive
replies in favor of MS technologies...

I think Windows Forms is not dead, yet... Actually, for an administrative
application, it can do the job just fine, but users tend to find these apps
a bit dull.

The alternatives are :

- WebForms : With ASP.NET you can achieve a very rich environment that is
centralized on a server, so you know exactly on which machine it runs and
under which credentials. You won't ever need to update your user's desktop
since all the pages and libraries are on the server. The disadvantage of
this approach is the lack of uniformity between browsers. But if you are
working for a particular business, it's easier to define "The Browser".

- Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF): The new extremely enhanced
WindowsForms. It may be a bit too much for your needs, but you can be sure
you won't have to rewrite your things soon with this technology because it's
new born (or almost). With it you can also achieve very rich environment,
but the code runs on the user's desktop, so additional care should be taken
when dealing with credentials. And you will definitly have to update your
user's desktop with each new version of the app.

Those are the only two I see that would be interesting. I'm not so into
other languages like Delphi and C++, so...

Good luck and I hope it helps

ThunderMusic

 

[PvdG42]

Hi

i must start this year a very big database ( desktop ) application.

i think 2 possibilty :

1) Visual Studio (2008) with WindowsForms
2) Delphi 2007 VCL


i have read some news on the web on windowsforms....
Is a dead tecnology ? without future ( long termine )

Are there other tecnology in substitution of the windowsforms ?




I DON'T WANT REWRITE ALL MY BIG APPLICATION Beetween 3-5 years
( MS philosophy -.- )

First, are you talking about .NET WinForms specifically, or Windows Forms
applications in general? As I'm sure you are aware, Windows Forms apps can
be created using many different technologies. Win API, MFC, ATL, .NET
WinForms to name a few.
Assuming you mean .NET, why do you assume that you will have to rewrite your
applications every 3 - 5 years? Because new technologies (or, versions
thereof) become available? Just because a new technology arrives on the
scene, that doesn't force you to rewrite and adopt it. As a case in point,
take MFC. I have several MFC apps I developed to support my work and to use
as examples in the classroom. After almost 10 years, these applications work
just fine and while I *could* rewrite them in .NET C++/CLI Winforms, I have
no reason, or need, to do so. As MFC is being enhanced in VS 2008, nobody is
forcing me to rewrite the applications even now. FWIW, I can make the same
point about .NET v1.1 applications working now and into the foreseeable
future.