Comments on: Finally Onto WPF http://scottbilas.com/blog/finally-onto-wpf/ Take what you want, and leave the rest (just like your salad bar). Mon, 06 Feb 2012 03:15:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Scott http://scottbilas.com/blog/finally-onto-wpf/#comment-370 Scott Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:50:04 +0000 http://scottbilas.com/2010/01/14/finally-onto-wpf/#comment-370 I've done WPF integrating Forms but not the other way around (which is what it sounds like you're doing). I dunno, I guess it depends on the complexity of the UI's you are building. If it's just basic UI glue stuff, no point trying to complicate things by nesting extra hosts inside of hosts. But if you're doing anything at all fancy, like an asset browser or advanced property grid, I'd definitely do the forms-wpf bridge into Max. The schema should be the same either way, but the end user experience can be a lot better. I'm a big believer in slick tools and apps (when it's not too much extra work). I think people use their UI's more effectively if they look and feel good. WPF can make that a lot easier than Forms if you're doing anything more complicated than basic Windows controls. I’ve done WPF integrating Forms but not the other way around (which is what it sounds like you’re doing).

I dunno, I guess it depends on the complexity of the UI’s you are building. If it’s just basic UI glue stuff, no point trying to complicate things by nesting extra hosts inside of hosts. But if you’re doing anything at all fancy, like an asset browser or advanced property grid, I’d definitely do the forms-wpf bridge into Max. The schema should be the same either way, but the end user experience can be a lot better.

I’m a big believer in slick tools and apps (when it’s not too much extra work). I think people use their UI’s more effectively if they look and feel good. WPF can make that a lot easier than Forms if you’re doing anything more complicated than basic Windows controls.

]]> By: biddle http://scottbilas.com/blog/finally-onto-wpf/#comment-369 biddle Wed, 20 Jan 2010 20:14:12 +0000 http://scottbilas.com/2010/01/14/finally-onto-wpf/#comment-369 Hey Scott, have you poked around with WinForms/WPF integration? That has been my jumping off point into WPF. I was able to display animated buttons & such in a WinForms panel in 3dsmax (through an ElementHost) entirely from maxscript, no assembly required. At the moment it's no better than Winforms in terms of the number of hoops you have to do to bind UI events up to maxscript functions, but the results are certainly much better looking. Hey Scott, have you poked around with WinForms/WPF integration? That has been my jumping off point into WPF.

I was able to display animated buttons & such in a WinForms panel in 3dsmax (through an ElementHost) entirely from maxscript, no assembly required.

At the moment it’s no better than Winforms in terms of the number of hoops you have to do to bind UI events up to maxscript functions, but the results are certainly much better looking.

]]> By: Scott http://scottbilas.com/blog/finally-onto-wpf/#comment-368 Scott Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:34:36 +0000 http://scottbilas.com/2010/01/14/finally-onto-wpf/#comment-368 Arthur - thanks for the link, it looks like a very different approach to what I've been seeing in my reading. Arthur – thanks for the link, it looks like a very different approach to what I’ve been seeing in my reading.

]]> By: Scott http://scottbilas.com/blog/finally-onto-wpf/#comment-367 Scott Tue, 19 Jan 2010 00:28:24 +0000 http://scottbilas.com/2010/01/14/finally-onto-wpf/#comment-367 Cougar - I did some research into this earlier last year, and D3DImage came up as the best solution. It gets composited right in with the rest of WPF rendering. Search around, there are probably open source game engines that use D3DImage and can be used as a starting place for experiments. I don't know how well that D3D surface can be shared with native code, however. Anyway, for an intro, check this: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/WPF/D3DImage.aspx Cougar – I did some research into this earlier last year, and D3DImage came up as the best solution. It gets composited right in with the rest of WPF rendering. Search around, there are probably open source game engines that use D3DImage and can be used as a starting place for experiments. I don’t know how well that D3D surface can be shared with native code, however.

Anyway, for an intro, check this: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/WPF/D3DImage.aspx

]]> By: Arthur http://scottbilas.com/blog/finally-onto-wpf/#comment-360 Arthur Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:03:54 +0000 http://scottbilas.com/2010/01/14/finally-onto-wpf/#comment-360 Scott, check this Model-View-ViewModel framework by Paul Stovell, might be of interest to you: http://www.paulstovell.com/micromodels-introduction Scott,

check this Model-View-ViewModel framework by Paul Stovell, might be of interest to you: http://www.paulstovell.com/micromodels-introduction

]]> By: Cougar http://scottbilas.com/blog/finally-onto-wpf/#comment-359 Cougar Sat, 16 Jan 2010 11:17:35 +0000 http://scottbilas.com/2010/01/14/finally-onto-wpf/#comment-359 Hi Scott, thanks for this article. I have a question, though. Do you have any experience with embedding a Direct3D/OGL view into a WPF window? Right now I'm using WinForms, and a Control-derived custom control which serves merely as a HWND container used by the native engine to do its rendering (via D3D or OGL). I wonder what would happen with performance if I embedded such control into a WPF application using the WindowsFormsHost control... Hi Scott, thanks for this article. I have a question, though. Do you have any experience with embedding a Direct3D/OGL view into a WPF window? Right now I’m using WinForms, and a Control-derived custom control which serves merely as a HWND container used by the native engine to do its rendering (via D3D or OGL). I wonder what would happen with performance if I embedded such control into a WPF application using the WindowsFormsHost control…

]]> By: Scott http://scottbilas.com/blog/finally-onto-wpf/#comment-358 Scott Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:21:35 +0000 http://scottbilas.com/2010/01/14/finally-onto-wpf/#comment-358 Any search engine can exclude sites from searches. The problem is that there's never a way to permanently say "I don't ever want a search result returned from this domain, ever". Surfclarity gives me that exact feature. I set it and never have to worry about it again. As for popularity of any given technology, I don't find internet surveys helpful. What is helpful is knowing your own audience, which is unique to each of us. If it's the general shareware-downloading public, tech choices will be more least-common-denominator, cross-platform. If it's a game studio, then it's a simple matter to just require everyone to install .NET. That's my audience - where the installations of WinForms and WPF exactly overlap. So given that choice, I plan to never File|New Project -> Windows Forms Application ever, ever again. :) Any search engine can exclude sites from searches. The problem is that there’s never a way to permanently say “I don’t ever want a search result returned from this domain, ever”. Surfclarity gives me that exact feature. I set it and never have to worry about it again.

As for popularity of any given technology, I don’t find internet surveys helpful. What is helpful is knowing your own audience, which is unique to each of us. If it’s the general shareware-downloading public, tech choices will be more least-common-denominator, cross-platform. If it’s a game studio, then it’s a simple matter to just require everyone to install .NET.

That’s my audience – where the installations of WinForms and WPF exactly overlap. So given that choice, I plan to never File|New Project -> Windows Forms Application ever, ever again. :)

]]> By: Arthur http://scottbilas.com/blog/finally-onto-wpf/#comment-357 Arthur Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:06:08 +0000 http://scottbilas.com/2010/01/14/finally-onto-wpf/#comment-357 You may also look at the popularity of the WPF vs WinForms here http://www.hanselman.com/blog/CommentView.aspx?guid=B1DA522A-F6C1-4376-9240-71BE63B0F26C#783434f4-d183-4d8e-83ce-1f9498f2304d You may also look at the popularity of the WPF vs WinForms here http://www.hanselman.com/blog/CommentView.aspx?guid=B1DA522A-F6C1-4376-9240-71BE63B0F26C#783434f4-d183-4d8e-83ce-1f9498f2304d

]]> By: Arthur http://scottbilas.com/blog/finally-onto-wpf/#comment-356 Arthur Fri, 15 Jan 2010 15:50:40 +0000 http://scottbilas.com/2010/01/14/finally-onto-wpf/#comment-356 Hi Scott, an awesome article, thanks! Besides, Bing offers a better control over your search results. So for example to remove Experts-Exchange.com one needs to click on "Advanced" search option below the search bar on the right and merely further fine-tune the search results to exclude this domain/site :-) Hi Scott, an awesome article, thanks!
Besides, Bing offers a better control over your search results. So for example to remove Experts-Exchange.com one needs to click on “Advanced” search option below the search bar on the right and merely further fine-tune the search results to exclude this domain/site :-)

]]> By: Scott http://scottbilas.com/blog/finally-onto-wpf/#comment-354 Scott Fri, 15 Jan 2010 07:18:51 +0000 http://scottbilas.com/2010/01/14/finally-onto-wpf/#comment-354 I had discounted that book because I'd heard that Petzold had jumped the shark. A disappointing review of one of his previous works on .NET I think. But I'll check it out if you say it's the ultimate WPF book. It's good that it's a cover-to-cover type book instead of a reference. Google takes care of the references these days. Thanks for the offer of help too. I'm going to try to document some of the things I'm running into as I learn how to build with WPF. Would love you to be part of the conversation. I had discounted that book because I’d heard that Petzold had jumped the shark. A disappointing review of one of his previous works on .NET I think.

But I’ll check it out if you say it’s the ultimate WPF book. It’s good that it’s a cover-to-cover type book instead of a reference. Google takes care of the references these days.

Thanks for the offer of help too. I’m going to try to document some of the things I’m running into as I learn how to build with WPF. Would love you to be part of the conversation.

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