VO Conversion

After wondering about some remarks in the Vulcan Newsgroups concerning forms-migration and the mention of the Windows Presentation Foundation as the logical next step in UI development I was doubting myself. Was there something I missed, something I had completely overlooked? I never positioned WPF as a replacement for regular Windows forms in traditional data-entry applications.

In the days surrounding Christmas I found some time for reading and found confirmation that Microsoft is targeting WPF as the platform for a new bread of applications. LOB applications, the typical domain of most Visual Objects (and Vulcan?) applications should be developed using WinForms technology according to MS.

Glenn Block bLogs about WPF and I think this post provides some good insight into what WPF is, what it is designed for and even more important what tools are currently available.

http://blogs.msdn.com/gblock/archive/2007/10/26/wpf-composite-client-guidance-it-s-coming.aspx

It seems GrafX is not the only company with a forms migration issue to consider.

I also found this quote in a very interesting bLog post ( http://neverindoubtnet.blogspot.com/2007/10/requiem-for-acropolis-fanfare-for-cab.html ):

"But let’s get real. WPF development is much harder today than WinForms development. The poverty of WPF design tools and the steep learning curve are going to kill developer productivity for the next year at least. If you intend to deliver a large application in reasonable time, you should think twice before leaving WinForms."

The whole post is worth reading and provides an interesting perspective on WPF and some other MS-technologies in the application development space. It also confirmed the conclusion I drew after 30 minutes that Acropolis showed promise but was confusing to me.

So my conclusion for now is; yes WPF is a viable solution for applications where you need a super rich User Interface with modern User Interaction, 'the cool apps'. For our traditional domain as VO or Vulcan developers it's not an option, at least not yet. Certainly migration is out of the question. To me more confirmation that the big app that does everything is on its way out.. And again: splitting UI from Business Logic can't be a bad thing.