.NET is the free, open-source, cross-platform framework for building modern apps and powerful cloud services.
Enter the world of .NET — Microsoft’s cross-platform framework that serves as the backbone for a spectrum of powerful application development technologies. In this journey through the Microsoft ecosystem, we’ll explore the unique features of WinForms, WPF, WinUI, .NET MAUI, Blazor and ASP.NET Core APIs.
Before we dive into the details of each technology, it’s important to note that the information here is gathered from trusted sources like Microsoft’s official Learn blogs, the .NET official website, and other reputable sources. Microsoft’s commitment to transparent and detailed documentation ensures that you’re getting accurate insights.
WinForms
Windows Forms is a UI framework for building Windows desktop apps. It provides one of the most productive ways to create desktop apps based on the visual designer provided in Visual Studio. Functionality such as drag-and-drop placement of visual controls makes it easy to build desktop apps.
With Windows Forms, you develop graphically rich apps that are easy to deploy, update, and work while offline or while connected to the internet. Windows Forms apps can access the local hardware and file system of the computer where the app is running.
A demonstration of the user interface in a WinForms application.To learn how to create a Windows Forms app, see Tutorial: Create a new WinForms app.
Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)
A UI framework that is resolution-independent and uses a vector-based rendering engine, built to take advantage of modern graphics hardware. WPF provides a comprehensive set of application-development features that include Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML), controls, data binding, layout, 2D and 3D graphics, animation, styles, templates, documents, media, text, and typography. WPF is part of .NET, so you can build applications that incorporate other elements of the .NET API.
WPF empowers the creation of a user-friendly interface with its design capabilities.If you want to create a skinned user interface, dynamically load some areas of the UI components from a web service, bind to XML or want to develop a desktop application which has the web-like navigation style, then WPF is a great choice.
To learn how to create a WPF app, see Tutorial: Create a new WPF app.
Windows UI Library (WinUI)
The Windows UI Library (WinUI) is a native user experience (UX) framework for both Windows desktop and UWP applications.
By incorporating the Fluent Design System into all experiences, controls, and styles, WinUI provides consistent, intuitive, and accessible experiences using the latest user interface (UI) patterns.
With support for both desktop and UWP apps, you can build with WinUI from the ground up, or gradually migrate your existing MFC, WinForms, or WPF apps using familiar languages such as C++, C#, Visual Basic, and JavaScript (using React Native for Windows).
At this time, there are two generations of the Windows UI Library (WinUI): WinUI 2 for UWP and WinUI 3 in the Windows App SDK. While both can be used in production-ready apps on Windows 10 and later, each have different development targets.
.NET WAUI
.NET Multi-platform App UI (MAUI) is an open-source, cross-platform framework for building Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows applications that leverage the native UI and services of each platform from a single .NET code base. Because .NET MAUI favors platform native experiences, it uses WinUI 3 and the Windows App SDK so apps get the latest user experience on Windows. This gives your apps access to everything you get with WinUI 3 plus the ability to reach to other platforms.
With .NET MAUI, you can craft a desktop experience with the feel of the web..NET MAUI for Windows is a great choice if:
You want to share as much .NET code as possible across mobile and desktop applications.
- You want to ship your application beyond Windows to other desktop and mobile targets with native platform experiences.
- You want to use C# and/or XAML for building cross-platform apps.
- You’re using Blazor for web development and wish to include all or part of that in a mobile or desktop application.
For more information about .NET MAUI visit the link.
Blazor
Blazor is a web framework that is part of the ASP.NET Core framework. Blazor enables you to create progressive web apps using C#, having significantly less reliance on JavaScript that was necessary in previous versions of ASP.NET.
This model is intended to make Blazor appealing to current C# developers, since they can focus less on JavaScript and write more in C# for full-stack development.
In Blazor, both the server-side code (APIs, models, etc.) and the client are written in C#. This enables Blazor developers to do full-stack development all in .NET, though it’s also possible to write JavaScript if desired.
Blazor Tutorials: Build your first web app with ASP.NET Core using Blazor.
ASP.NET Core APIs
In the realm of backend development, ASP.NET Core APIs take the spotlight. These APIs provide a robust foundation for building scalable and high-performance backend services, supporting modern application architectures such as microservices.
With ASP.NET you use the same framework and patterns to build both web pages and services, side-by-side in the same project.
Conclusion
From WinForms to .NET MAUI, we’ve explored Microsoft’s tech universe. Each tool adds a unique touch to the toolkit. Whether you’re into desktop apps, web experiences, or robust backends, Microsoft’s ecosystem has you covered.
But it doesn’t end here. Microsoft keeps evolving. Stay curious, explore, and find more on their official blogs, the .NET website, and other reliable sources.
Resources:
For further exploration and in-depth information, consider checking out these resources:
