I have to wonder if VS2008/WPF is really ready for prime time.
It isn't. Plain and simple. WPF is to WinForms as Vista is to Windows;
some nice shiny new promises with very questionable implementation.
I started to rewrite a small stats application for one of my customers a few
weeks ago. I got as far as wondering why I couldn't get root-lines to show
up on a tree-view control, and after much Googling realised that I'd need
100+ lines of XAML template-altering non-intuitive chevron and curly bracket
laced code written by some hobbyist on the internet for something that still
wouldn't quite work the same way as the original root lines in good old
fashioned WinForms. This is how MS define WPF as being "finished". Yeah,
right...
If MS really want people to start seriously developing with this new
platform, they need to finish it first. Some areas feel like giant leaps
forward, others feel like big steps backwards and some controls just haven't
been implemented at all.
Couple that to a severe lack of decent examples and sample code, and the web
being littered with samples that date back to November CTPs using code that
doesn't work anymore, and it didn't take me long to realise I won't be using
WPF for anything any time soon.
Error Option Strict On disallows implicit conversions from
'System.Windows.Application' to 'WpfApplication1.Application'.
Yep, I got that every time as well. Turns out VS2008 isn't strictly
finished for the new platform either. There were many basic GUI things I
found that couldn't be done in VS and required me to use Expression Blend,
many simple layout things I couldn't do in Expression that I had to do in
VS2008 (I can't tell you how much fun it is to keep switching from one
gigantically memory hungry app to another every 5 minutes, telling it to
reload your project) and some relatively simple things that couldn't be done
in either one and required me to edit XAML directly.
And don't even get me started on the new printing services. Such a
collossal wreck that even Tom Cruise himself wouldn't be able to help.