Is Expression Blend/Studio good for Desktop Application? - expression-blend

I am building a desktop application using VS2010 C#. I plan to design and implement my own ribbon and redesign other UI controls graphically. Would Expression Studio/Blend be useful for my purpose? I have not used the software and from the web it says it's mainly for Web.

Expression Web is for web design. Expression Blend is for Windows Presentation Foundation and Silverlight.
If you want to use Windows Forms then you have to either do it all by hand or use the Visual Studio 2010 designer but if you want to use WPF then Blend is the way to go.

Related

Difference between winforms, web forms, and windows forms

Right now I am working on c# windows applications developement. But my concern is I want to know what is the difference between winforms in c# .
what is the difference between winforms and windows forms in c#?
Thanks
Winforms and Windows Forms are the same thing. Winforms is the shortened name for Windows Forms.
From Wikipedia:
Windows Forms (WinForms) is the name given to the graphical
application programming interface (API) included as a part of
Microsoft .NET Framework
Additional info from MSDN answer:
Based on my understanding, you want to know the difference between
Windows based application and WinForms application development using
c#. Windows based application is that the application is
developed under Window Operating System, excluding such application
developed under other Operating System like Linux & Unix.
However,there are two kinds of windows based application in .net, WinForm &
Web application. you can develop several different kinds of
Windows-based applications. You can create Windows Forms and Windows
service applications that leverage the power of the .NET Framework, or
you can use Visual C++ to create Windows Win32-based applications
However, the WinForm application is a kind of managed application,
develop on .Net platform. It's the extension of the Windows-based
application. The Windows Forms classes contained in the .NET Framework
are designed to be used for GUI development. You can easily create
command windows, buttons, menus, toolbars, and other screen elements
with the flexibility necessary to accommodate shifting business needs.
The topics in this section provide details about how to use the
features offered by Windows Forms.

visual studio testing capabilities

I am looking to find out the testing tool capabilities that are offered with Visual Studio. From my research, I understand that you offer both functional and load testing tools for both web and Windows-based applications. I read the ‘coded UI Tests’ feature automates UI testing. My questions is, does this feature only work on .NET-based applications or can I use it to do UI testing on an application that was written in PowerBuilder?
You can find here the configurations that are supported by coded UI.
PowerBuilder is not in the list but depending on the technology it relies on (MFC?) it might work.
You can download a trial version of VS and try it on a PB application.

Easy Language/IDE to Develop GUI Program?

I'm planning on developing an Windows desktop-based GUI application, and I don't have a clue which language or IDE to choose. I'd REALLY like something with a WYSIWYG GUI editor. My application will rely on web-based XML feeds, so built in support for that would be great. I don't want the application to have any dependencies or require admin rights to run. Cross-platform is nice, not not required.
I'm willing to learn a new language if that's necessary.
Delphi is well reputed for Windows GUI application developpment. It's even a 'RAD' Studio (rapid application development studio) as they call it.
Check out Delphi. Alternatively FreePascal with its Lazarus IDE is pretty much an open-source Delphi clone, which while not as polished, offers cross-platform support.
For Windows, I will definitely go for C#.
If you know c++ and have MFC experiences, it should be fairly easy to learn.
Yes, it has WYSIWYG GUI editor.
Designing a User Interface (Visual C#)
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms173080(v=vs.80).aspx
and it seems this is what you are looking for?
SyndicationFeed Class
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.servicemodel.syndication.syndicationfeed.aspx
Good Luck!
There are several variants.
Windows only
C# + MSVS:
One of the best choices on Windows platform today
+good documentation
+big developers community
-you need a system which has .net installed.
Delphi
+easy to start
all-in-one tool with GUI editor
not very widespread
Cross-platfrom
Qt or wxWidgets or some other toolsets
If you're looking for a free solution, you can use SharpDevelop, which is a free IDE for C# or VB.NET, and has a GUI designer similar to the one in Visual Studio. You should be able to use any classes and libraries from/for the .NET Framework.
You'll need the .NET Framework, but starting with Windows Vista it's installed by default (.NET Framework 3.0, I think).

Why we need Delphi prism

What is the need to use delphi prism instead of Visual studio;
i am a delphi programmer so i like object pascal but what else are that delphi prism have that other does not have
What do you mean by "Delphi Prism instead of Visual Studio"?! Delphi Prism is a pascal-flavor in .NET platform. Visual Studio is an IDE. Delphi Prism uses Visual Studio as its IDE. So when you code in Delphi Prism or debug your prism codes, you are doing it in Visual Studio, just as doing with C# or VB.NET.
.NET is supposed to support multiple programming languages and providing common types and libraries to all languages targeting it. Delphi Prism is just another .NET language. It has access to all the stuff that .NET provides to languages. It also has some distinct language features (refer to PRUZ post).
So you can use Delphi Prism when you want to code in Pascal for .NET platform, or if you really need any of its distinct language features in your .NET applications.
Of course Microsoft's own languages (C#, VB.NET, F#) have little edge in .NET over third-party language providers:
There are so many books and articles - including MSDN -
written about MS languages, or written about .NET with C# or VB.NET sample codes (recently Delphi
Prism added a tool to automatically
convert C# code snippet to Delphi
Prism code).
New .NET features would be
available first to Microsoft's own
languages first, and then to other
languages, so if you need a really
new .NET feature, you might have to
wait a few months to have it in your
favorite language.
And, some IDE features like visual
form designer for .NET compact
edition are only provided for C#
and VB.NET.
Like any other programming language, we don't need Delphi Prism. But Prism is an option for software developers with a Pascal/Delphi background to start developing for DotNET. Is this important? For some, yes. For others, not really.I have over 20 years of experience with Pascal and am familiar with every Delphi version since the first one. But 8 years ago, I also learned C# simply because Delphi was too weak as a tool for developing DotNET applications. And unfortunately, no matter how much Embarcadero/Borland tries, their development of Prism will also be behind the generic DotNET products that Microsoft keeps publishing.The advantage of Prism is that it's an add-on for Visual Studio. And you can use Prism to write applications for the Mono platform, which is used on Apple's Mac computers. It can also work together with C# and VB.NET applications and you can create mixed projects where you use Delphi, C# and VB.NET to create a single product. (Made of multiple assemblies, though.) Prism allows you to create Pascal code that you can use in your regular WIN32 environment but also in DotNET. This code can't be too platform-specific but in general you can get some very good results this way.Delphi Prism isn't fully developed by Borland/Embarcadero, though! It started with RemObjects, who created an alternative compiler for Delphi-like code, but with some additional features that you won't find in regular Delphi code. RemObjects started to just push out Delphi for DotNET from the market, since RemObjects provided a nicer product and they had focused more on the DotNET issues. So the two started to work together to create Prism.Like any programming language, Prism has some features that you won't find elsewhere. If those features are practical always depends on if you can find some practical usage for them. In my personal opinion, if you already have Visual Studio and you're only creating applications for the Windows platform then you won't really need Prism. If you have additional Delphi experience, you might like Prism for some projects. If you need to port a Delphi/WIN32 application to DotNET then Prism might help with that. But I don't know of any advantage that would make Prism a requirement.
Personally I think Delphi Prism do more bad than good for the (real) Delphi ecosystem.
I can not deny that the RemObject's product has many interesting things and technically well done, but as a (real) Delphi programmer and enthusiast I see that thay are dangerously distracting the attention and giving some ambiguos non clear message to new comers and .Net programmers.
A (MS) .Net programmer will never move to D. Prism, only Delphi programmers who wants a smooth transition while leaving the boat.
Since there is no tie between D. Prism and (real) Delphi it was a bad move to name it Delphi. They share some basic pascal syntaxis but that's all. They even do not share their improvments, nor they can be used fully integrated.
I bought Rad Studio for Delphi and C++ but I spend most of my time with Prism. As for the old saw that third party products for net are behind the Microsoft products, I say that is just ignorance talking in this case. Prism is not lacking anything that C octothorpe or Visual Basic has. The net system is best programmed by Hejilsburgs' best language, object pascal, and Rem Objects has been improving the best language for net all the time. Those guys at Rem Objects move fast and make things happen. All the updates come from them, Embarcadero just stands and salutes. By the way, the C# to Prism convertor really works. I grab code at msdn and paste it into Prism with no worries.
You can view old question Will you use Delphi Prism, about many opining about Delphi prism from Delphi developers and others.

Windows Mobile Hi-Res Designer in Visual Studio

Is it possible to do Windows Mobile development in Visual Studio (2008), where the Windows Mobile Forms designer appears in "hi-res" (VGA/>96 DPI), rather than the default lo-res view?
I'm using Resco controls, which have some built-in support for hi-res, but it's a little bit slow to develop any significant forms, because you don't know what it will look like until you run the application.
Change the FormFactor property on your forms to something with "VGA" in it.

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