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Why you should develop systems in WPF, not WinForms
Part two of a eleven-part series of blogs

We think - cautiously - that WPF is a better platform for client tool development than Windows Forms. This blog gives 10 reasons why.

  1. 10 reasons why WPF is better than Windows Forms
  2. WPF Forms are Quicker to Create (this blog)
  3. Flow Layout Trumps Absolute Positioning
  4. WPF Works for Websites
  5. Styles are Much Better in WPF
  6. WPF is (I think) the Way of the Future
  7. Better Data Binding
  8. Selecting Controls in the Document Outline Window
  9. Triggers
  10. StoryBoards and Animations
  11. Drawing!

Posted by Andy Brown on 25 September 2012

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1 - WPF Forms are Quicker to Create

This should come with a proviso: once you've learnt XAML, it's quicker.

Designing a Form in WinForms

To create the form shown at the start of this blog in Windows Forms, I had to drag controls onto a form, position them correctly and then change their properties:

Dragging a control onto a form The properties of a button
Drag controls on ... ... then change their properties

Designing a Form in WPF

For the same process in WPF, you type in the XAML:

Typing XAML for a button

Provided that you know the main tags and attributes and can type reasonably quickly, creating this button is faster in XAML.

 

The speed difference particularly shows when you want to copy and paste controls:

Two buttons in XAML

The two buttons are similar; I created them by copying the OK button and editing it.

If you're a slow two-fingered typist, you might be better off sticking to WinForms.

  1. 10 reasons why WPF is better than Windows Forms
  2. WPF Forms are Quicker to Create (this blog)
  3. Flow Layout Trumps Absolute Positioning
  4. WPF Works for Websites
  5. Styles are Much Better in WPF
  6. WPF is (I think) the Way of the Future
  7. Better Data Binding
  8. Selecting Controls in the Document Outline Window
  9. Triggers
  10. StoryBoards and Animations
  11. Drawing!
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