The basics of WPF Software Development
Natali Pilko
Co-founder / VP of Strategic Partnership at Softacom - Delphi Experts - We help businesses handle and re-engineer legacy software code
WPF Software Development
WPF development is one of the widely applied options today when it comes to the necessity to build a desktop application for Windows. But what can it offer to developers and users? And why does it make sense to consider it?
What is WPF?
First of all, we need to explain that WPF is an abbreviation of Windows Presentation Foundation. So, these two terms means just the same thing.
WPF represents itself a development UI framework that is intended for building desktop client applications.
This development platform has a set of libraries and offers support for a wide range of various app features. This list includes resources, graphics, controls, documents, data binding, https://www.dhirubhai.net/redir/general-malware-page?url=etc%2eIt means that with WPF, developers have a possibility to create, display and control user interfaces, movies, images, docs different Windows OS versions.
It’s also worth mentioning that being developed by Microsoft Windows Presentation Foundation is included in .NET ecosystem and is its part.
WPF uses the following languages:
- C# (for backend development);
- XAML (for frontend development).
A little bit of history
The initial release of WPF happened on November 21, 2006. But it’s interesting to know that at that time this framework was introduced under the name of “Avalon”. But some years later it was re-named.
WPF was presented as part of .NET Framework 3.0.
Since that time the world has already welcomed a row of version upgrades.
WPF vs. WinForms: what’s the difference
If you have at least a basic understanding of Windows desktop app development, you’ve probably heard that for these aims WinForms can be also used. But are there any differences between WPF and WinForms? Or are they just the same?
Let’s state from the very beginning that they are completely different things and it’s really necessary to understand that fact.
- While WinForms is a layer on top of the standard Windows controls, WPF doesn't rely on standard Windows controls in the majority of cases as it was built from scratch. In WinForms controls can be customized, while in WPF we can use 3rd party controls.
- WinForms is considered to be easier in use if compared with WPF (but it matters only for developers, not users).
- WPF offers more scalability for UI elements that WinForms.
- While WinForms is not applied for designing, WPF is a great solution for UI designing.
- WPF fully supports data binding, while WinForms offers limited support.
WPF development: advantages and disadvantages
If we say that WPF, as well as any other framework, has both advantages and disadvantages nobody gets surprised as it is really typically for all the technologies.
However, we should admit that the list of benefits is rather impressive.
Advantages of WPF:
- almost unlimited possibilities in making custom UI controls;
- inherent scalability;
- highly advanced data binding possibilities;
- wide possibilities in adding animation and special effects to your apps;
- WPF is constantly updated and supported by Microsoft;
- a possibility to reuse existing code.
Disadvantages of WPF:
- a rather complicated framework to learn for developers;
- the development process can be rather time-consuming;
- no cross-platform support.
Need to build a Windows desktop app? We would be happy to offer you our WPF development services and to turn all your ideas into life to meet your business needs.