What kind of VS project to use?

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What kind of VS project to use?

Ivica Nesic 21

Greetings community,

This is somehow beginner's question, because I don't really have an experience with this.

My experience level: Last 10 years, I've been working with Excel and VBA, as well as small windows forms application that were pulling data from SQL server, and creating Excel files as report. I've been using VB.NET

However, after one presentation, I've been told that I should try WPF for faster UI, and I should start using C# instead of VB for easier finding examples and answers on my questions.

My intention are Windows desktop apps, not mobile at the moment.

So, when I start VS and its "Create a new project" wizard and select filters at "C#", "Windows" and "Desktop", few dozens of choices comes up, and amongst them are "WPF Application" (with .NET Core) and "WPF App (.NET Framework). My apps should not go to the internet, only to machines that are on the local network (it's a small biz). Which one should I choose so I could start learning what I was suggested?

My apologies for my English, and thanks for your answers.

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Answer 1

Karen Payne MVP 35,586 Volunteer Moderator

Hello,

First off much of my reply a) comes from experience b) taking into account your background. In some cases I'm sparse and other places elaborate more. In the end I feel my recommendation and suggestions should give you enough information to make an informed choice.

In regards to C# vs VB.NET finding assistance and code samples, there are indeed more out there documentation wise and people in C# than VB.NET along with VB.NET is not really going any place in regards to improvements.

Concerning which type of project

WPF is a great choice although coupling this project type with C# with a VBA background will take a decent time to adjust.
Windows Forms using .NET Framework/C# is very solid for desktop applications.
Windows Forms using .NET Framework Core/C# is also a good choice while coming from VBA the difference between using .NET Framework and .NET Framework Core is not really going to be notice while someone who has been work with .NET to .NET Core will notice a difference.

Is one better performance wise? I'd say the first part to answer this is, it depends on how well user code is written. If the code is poorly written in any of these types of projects nothing will assist with performance which can happen when first learning.

Compelling reason for WPF

Richer user interface than Windows Forms any flavor
More emphasis on OOP

Downside to WPF

Longer learning curve than Windows Forms when done correctly

Downside to .NET Core (presently)

Windows Forms is considered in preview mode, all the bugs have not be handled

Upside to Windows Forms classic (.NET Framework 4.8 and lower)

Proven technology
Not missing much from .NET Core

When looking at the three for you my recommendation is Windows Forms classic, not Windows Forms .NET Core unless you have special needs for the user interface that Windows Forms is not capable of.

Go with Windows Forms classic, write the bulk of code in class projects called by code in Windows Forms. Later if you decide to roll with .NET Core it's an easier transition.

Ivica Nesic 21 Reputation points

2021-05-24T16:30:00.897+00:00

Hello Karen,

Thank you very much for your quick and very detailed answer.

If I could beg for just another one piece of info considering speed of drawing UI related WPF vs Windows Forms: the most slowest UI I ever had to draw, was panel for ordering products. Every time when some customer called to make an order, my app had to open new form, pull only those products present on stock from database, and for each product, draw one control (consisted of several controls). Pulling one list of data from server in local network costs fraction of a second. Drawing form consisted of 150 controls in average, costs painful 10 seconds on low-end office machine. Would WPF have better result in constantly redrawing that kind of UI, providing that I convinced boss to invest in better graphic cards in next cycle of renewing hardware?

Thanks again.
Karen Payne MVP 35,586 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2021-05-25T00:56:19.45+00:00

Doubtful that with a 150 controls on a form in Windows forms or a window in WPF is going to save you much time, hard to say as I've never gone past say 50 controls on a form or window and 50 is really pushing it (and I build enterprise size applications only). I think your better option is to reevaluate the need for that many controls in the first place e.g. using a TabControl and only load as needed rather than load everything at once.

I would also caution against using asynchronous methods to speed things up.
Ivica Nesic 21 Reputation points

2021-05-25T07:50:16.08+00:00

At first my boss was keen to stop salespeople from entering anything inexistent in the order form. Also, he wanted anyone to be able to do that work without too much thinking, so any salesperson can be easily replaceable if need. I gave him what he wanted, and it took him a month to realize that our customers don't have ten seconds to wait every time they call, and he dropped it out at the end. We moved to my suggestion eventually, but my boss is the man who signs my paycheck, so I had to do what he wanted at first.

What I wanted with this question is not to suggest me a solution for particular app, but to suggest me what is better solution for upcoming future. Will Windows Forms become obsolete at some point? Will WPF like apps, being more easily transferable amongst different platforms, take the prime role? Does it get better results on new harware than Windows Form? Should I invest time to learn it?

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