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Part 6: Desktop User Interfaces

It is a common misconception for newcomers to the .NET platform to assume this framework is

only concerned with the construction of web-based user interfaces (which I suspect is due to the

term “.NET,” as this tends to conjure up the notion of the “Internet” and therefore “web programs”).

While it is true that .NET provides outstanding support for the construction of web applications,

this part of the book focuses on traditional desktop user interfaces using two GUI frameworks,

Windows Forms and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).

Chapter 27: Programming with Windows Forms

The original desktop GUI toolkit that shipped with the .NET platform is termed Windows Forms.

This chapter will walk you through the role of this UI framework, and illustrate how to build main

windows, dialog boxes, and menu systems. As well, you will understand the role of form inheritance

and see how to render 2D graphical data using the System.Drawing namespace. To illustrate these

topics using a cohesive example, we wrap up by building a (semicapable) painting application.

Chapter 28: Introducing Windows Presentation Foundation and XAML

.NET 3.0 introduced a brand-new GUI toolkit termed WPF. Essentially, WPF allows you to build

extremely interactive and media-rich front ends for desktop applications (and indirectly, web appli-

cations). Unlike Windows Forms, this supercharged UI framework integrates a number of key

services (2D and 3D graphics, animations, rich documents, etc.) into a single unified object model.

In this chapter, you will begin your examination of WPF and the Extendable Application Markup

Language (XAML). Here, you will learn how to build WPF programs XAML-free, using nothing but

XAML, and a combination of each. We wrap up by building a custom XAML viewer, which will be

used during the remainder of the WPF-centric chapters.