Winforms vs WPF

Difference between Winforms vs WPF

Winforms is referred to as Windows Forms. It is a graphical user interface for.Net framework desktop applications. It has a set of managed libraries in .net framework. It offers an extensive client library to provide the interface to access the native windows graphical interface elements and graphics from managed code.

In Windows application, Windows forms provide a wrapper consisting of a set of C++ classes for development of Windows applications and every control in windows form application is a concrete instance of a class. It provides a variety of controls such as text boxes, buttons, labels and web pages along with options to create a custom control. For this, there is windows form designer tool available in Visual Studio to handle the controls in the form and arrange them as per the desired layout for adding code to handle the events.

In windows forms, application setting is another feature to create, store and maintain the information. Windows form class can be extended using inheritance to design application framework, which provides the abstraction and code reusability. Forms should be compact with controls on its limited size. Forms can be broken into chunks packaged in assemblies that can automatically update itself. Designing the application provide the scalability and flexibility with ease for debugging and maintenance. Windows forms cannot be passed across application domain boundary.

WPF is abbreviated as Windows presentation framework. It was initially released by Microsoft with.Net framework 3.0 in the year 2006. It is a graphical user interface framework for building the windows applications. WPF is more than just a wrapper, it is part of a .net framework. It contains the mixture of managed and unmanaged code.

The major components of WPF architecture are presentation framework, presentation core, and mallcore. In WPF, UI elements are designed in XAML while behaviors can be implemented in a procedural language. With XAML in WPF, the programmers can work in parallel with designers. WPF is a powerful framework to create a windows application and it has great features like data binding, media services, templates, animations, direct3D, and alternative input.

WPF application development can be done with help of Microsoft tools like Visual Studio and Expression Blend. VS is mainly used by the developer for creating the WPF application and whereas Blend is mainly used by the designers for WPF applications.

Head To Head Comparison Between Winforms vs WPF (Infographics)

Below are the top 6 comparisons of Winforms vs WPF:

Key Differences between Winforms vs WPF

Both Winforms vs WPF are popular choices in the market; let us discuss some of the major Difference Between Winforms vs WPF:

1. Windows forms are not vector based UI. Whereas WPF is a vector graphics based UI presentation layer. With help of being vector based it allows the presentation layer to scale the UI components smoothly without having any issues in size distortion.
2. Windows forms are easier to use while developing the applications whereas WPF is little difficult to use as it requires good knowledge to use the controls.
3. In windows forms, we can customize the controls as per the requirements. In WPF, we have third party controls as well to enrich the applications capabilities.
4. Windows forms have less learning curve. Whereas WPF has more learning curve as requires to understand the full flow of controls and design part as well.
5. Windows forms are less time consuming or less tricky. WPF is trickier and more time to consume for getting the things in place while developing the applications.
6. Windows forms are not being used for developing new applications. WPF is being used mainly to develop new applications.
7. Windows forms are large support in terms of developers, online community, libraries for helping in any sort while developing the application for the beginners. WPF is also having enough support and libraries available to develop the applications and get the support quickly for the beginners.
8. In Windows forms, controls are difficult to customize whereas, in WPF, controls can be customized easily as it completely written from scratch.
9. Windows forms are poor in providing consistency. WPF provides more consistency across the applications.
10. In Windows forms, UI has been designed with help of language of business logic code. In WPF, it uses the XAML as a markup language to design the UI part of the application
11. Windows forms are mainly based on pixel whereas WPF is not pixel based which allows the scalability of the UI part for the application
12. Windows forms support data binding in a limited way whereas WPF is fully supported data binding.
13. Windows forms are not used with different themes or skins. WPF is mainly skinnable or themeable, where different skins or themes can be used for UI.
14. Windows forms require less effort for designing the UI. WPF requires more effort as most of the work needs to do yourself.

Winforms vs WPF Comparison Table

Below is the topmost comparison among Winforms vs WPF:

Conclusion – Winforms vs WPF

Winforms vs WPF both are being mainly used for the same purpose for developing and designing the windows applications but WPF can be used for the web application as well. The difference between them is mainly of scalability, performance as WPF can render fast as compared to windows forms, complexity, and support.

WPF is being mainly used as it is the latest and has good features for designing the UI for developing them.Net framework applications. It provides the flexibility and compatibility of third party controls enriches the usage of WPF framework. It allows the separate work for designer and programmer as XAML is used for designing and C# is being used for programming.

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