Alternative to Windows.Forms

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tommy Carlier
  • Start date Start date
T

Tommy Carlier

I'm curious: has anyone ever created an alternative for Windows Forms?
Maybe a more lightweight GUI library that replaces Windows Forms for
the .NET Framework?
 
Tommy said:
I'm curious: has anyone ever created an alternative for Windows Forms?
Maybe a more lightweight GUI library that replaces Windows Forms for
the .NET Framework?
Click to expand...

There are others like GTK#, WX.NET, QT#, FLTK.NET. I'm assuming by
lightweight you mean simpler to use (instead of lightweight like java's
swing). None of the other gui toolkits are simpler to use than
Windows.Forms though. They do work on other platforms besides Windows.

GTK# starter resources:
http://www.go-mono.com/gtk-sharp.html
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/5390
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/excerpt/MonoTDN_chap1/?page=last

One thing that makes it harder is the programming language. You might
check out boo, which is simple to use like python, but works for .NET:
http://boo.codehaus.org/
Here's a sample program:

import System.Windows.Forms from System.Windows.Forms

f = Form(Text: "Hello")

b = Button(Text: "Click Me",
Dock : DockStyle.Fill)

b.Click += do ():
print "clicked"

f.Controls.Add(b)
Application.Run(f)
 
If by lightweight, you mean vector graphics controls, and not win32
controls, it is being done with VG.net. We are creating some standard base
classes now. Mainly it has been used for non-standard GUI elements so far.

Regards,
Frank Hileman

check out VG.net: www.vgdotnet.com
Animated vector graphics system
Integrated Visual Studio .NET graphics editor
 
very nice, BTW :) !

Frank Hileman said:
If by lightweight, you mean vector graphics controls, and not win32
controls, it is being done with VG.net. We are creating some standard base
classes now. Mainly it has been used for non-standard GUI elements so far.

Regards,
Frank Hileman

check out VG.net: www.vgdotnet.com
Animated vector graphics system
Integrated Visual Studio .NET graphics editor
Click to expand...
 
Doug Holton said:
There are others like GTK#, WX.NET, QT#, FLTK.NET. I'm assuming by
lightweight you mean simpler to use (instead of lightweight like java's
swing). None of the other gui toolkits are simpler to use than
Windows.Forms though. They do work on other platforms besides Windows.

GTK# starter resources:
http://www.go-mono.com/gtk-sharp.html
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/wlg/5390
http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/excerpt/MonoTDN_chap1/?page=last

One thing that makes it harder is the programming language. You might
check out boo, which is simple to use like python, but works for .NET:
http://boo.codehaus.org/
Here's a sample program:

import System.Windows.Forms from System.Windows.Forms

f = Form(Text: "Hello")

b = Button(Text: "Click Me",
Dock : DockStyle.Fill)

b.Click += do ():
print "clicked"

f.Controls.Add(b)
Application.Run(f)
Click to expand...

I don't really need an alternative, I'm just curious how that would
work, how you could totally eliminate using the System.Windows.Forms
assembly and replace it with a different one. Thanks for the response,
I'll look into the possibilities.
 
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