NET Event - Migrating WinForm

From legacy to WPF/SL
Migrating applications from Windows Form to WPF/Silverlight
Raffaele Garofalo

Who am I?
Raffaele GarofaloNET Software ArchitectMCP (MCAD, MCSD, MCTS)
Blog: http://blog.raffaeu.com
Twitter: @raffaeu
Company: Nephila Capital Ltd. (www.nephila.com)
I am Italian, sorry for my bad English

My Books
Microsoft
APRESS

Summary
Reasons for migrating
Choose the right technology
Is Windows Form dead?
Choose the right architecture
The team
Some useful tools

Reasons for migrating
Legacy application that requires refactoring (partial)
Legacy application developed with a very old technology (FoxPro, VB6, …) (re-write)
Application that requires a more complex UI (User Interface) not sustainable with Windows Form (partial)
Specific request from the Customer (at the end, he has the money …)
New project (never start a new project with an old technology!)

Always consider the budget!
You do not need to re-write everything, you can keep the existing UI and migrate only the new features
Windows Form can live in parallel with WPF/SL
You can host Windows Form in WPF (WindowsFormHost) and WPF in Windows Form (ElementHost) or SL in Windows Form (embed browser)

Is Windows Form dead?
No, it is not. There are still thousands of active projects done in Windows Form
Win Form is still the following step after VB6
WPF is not intended to replace Windows Forms
It is not dead but it is an old technology. It is still available
It does not separate UI from code, I can’t employ a designer for the UI

Choose the right technology
First rule: WPF is for Standalone, Silverlight is for Web, Phones
Second rule: WPF works only on Windows OS, Silverlight works on Windows, MAC, Linux
Third rule: WPF is a more powerful technology, Silverlight uses a restricted version of the NET Framework but more feasible for Web and Media
WPF requires a knowledge of XAML for WPF, Silverlight requires XAML for SL, HTML and JS and WCF

What can I do with?
WPF
Full .NET Framework(i.e. Split() has 6 overrides)
UI objects derives from Visual base class
Routed events, more control
Cryptography more powerful
Not a lot of choices for Media management
SILVERLIGHT
Restricted version of .NET(i.e. Split() has 3 overrides)
UI objects derives from Control
Routed events, less control
SL supports only 4 hash algorithms
Great support to Media management and streaming

What Microsoft suggests? SL
If you're just starting out, and there's a question as to which technology to choose (Silverlight or WPF) then start with Silverlight. It is generally easier to move up to WPF from Silverlight than it is to move the other way. Silverlight has a smaller API, and is therefore generally considered easier to learn.
If you need a desktop application with only basic system integration, consider building a Silverlight Out-of-Browser application. Silverlight 4 Trusted Applications with IDispatch support provide access to many system resources previously unavailable to web technologies.
If you need deep system integration, excellent multi-touch support, device access, local resources, and all the other things that go with a solid desktop application, then consider moving up to WPF.
If you're a C++ developer, you can choose to go with C++ and MFC, or use C++ with WPF on the front end, like the Expression team did.

Still missing …
WPF
A good designer tool, VS is not cool as Blend
The Control toolkit is not exhaustive, you still need a third party control library
Silverlight
Same thing
Interaction with HTML and Javascript still lacks in some parts
Still requires to recompile your .dlls

Composite Frameworks
Create an application using Modules (independent assemblies)
Specialize teams in different areas (UI, Presentation, Business)
Reusable architecture
Increase quality and usability by sharing common services and functionality

Composite for WPF/SL
Prism
Requires observer patterns (message broker)
Cool navigation service in V4
Only IoC with Unity (Microsoft)
Astonishing resources and documentation
caliburn
Auto-wiring
Transitions between Views
Open source with less technology limits
Available also for Windows Phone

Demo
WinForm demo application (MSDN, Telerik)
WPF demo application (MSDN, Codeplex)
Silverlight demo application (MSDN, Telerik)
WPF showcasehttp://windowsclient.net/community/showcase.aspx
Silverlight showcasehttp://www.silverlight.net/showcase/

Choose the right architecture
Layered application or monolithic block?
SOA or not SOA? If I work with Silverlight that’s the only choice …
TDD or not TDD?
What about an O/RM? Entity Framework, Nhibernate or what?
What about security, especially if I am working with SL?
Design patterns, is M-V-VM mandatory?

Layered application, why?
Why should I use a layered application if it requires:
More code
More time
More effort
More people
More money

Layered application, why?
The application we are designing is complex or it will be complex in the future
I need to be able to make my application scalable, maintainable and secure
I want to split the project over multiple teams and resources
I need to recycle as many code/features as I can
I need to cover with test as much surface as I can

Layered applications

SOA (Service Oriented Architecture)
Real reasons
We need to hide the datastore and the business logic
I need to spread the business logic over different technologies (WPF, Phones, REST)
I can’t migrate everything (like AS400 …) so I need a bridge between old/new
Developer’s reasons
I need to get certified on WCF
It is cool and I am the only one that doesn’t use it yet
I can write 10 times more code to do the same thing

TDD Overview

TDD Overview. A good unit test …
Run fast (they have short setups, run times, and break downs).
Run in isolation (you should be able to reorder them).
Use data that makes them easy to read and to understand.
Use real data (e.g. copies of production data) when they need to.
Represent one step towards your overall goal.

TDD Pros and Cons
PROS
Indicator of project’s health
Less time to fix bugs
You should write application using functional code
Good documentation for you code by function/requirements
CONS
One change may requires more effort on fixing tests than fixing real code
Time to write tests
You may not always need to write applications using functional code
Wrong test will document wrong requirement

O/RM, which one?
Nhibernate, Entity Framework are free, others are not
Nhibernate is 100% flexible but no IDE
EF has an IDE but is not flexible
Nhibernate has years and is open source
EF is still not mature and it is not open source
Nhibernate requires more experience, it is not for newbie

O/RM
PROS
You are not anymore Database technology driven
Write applications faster, do not need ton of SQL
Easier to test the data layer
CONS
Less flexibility because you can’t use all the power of a specific RDBMS
Devs tend to forget T-SQL/PL-SQL
The database become a simple container of data, no more logic in it

Security real facts, did you know?
Most developers have no clue about security
Most of the intranet applications are not secure at all, especially WinForm
SOA implies an additional layer of security
The database should also be encrypted
A web application with “secret” data should be always SSL
The NET framework provides tons of utilities and facilities to apply security

Security concerns for my application
Authentication, how the user will authenticate against the application
Authentication with SOA
Authorization, are we applying also granular security rights?
Logging, do we know what is going on? Do we have a trace?
Data protection, is security applied also at the data tier or do we use SA in SQL?

M-V-VM Overview

M-V-VM Main concepts
Provides separation of concerns
It is natural pattern for XAML platforms
Enables the developer-designer workflow
Increases application testability

Resources on M-V-VM
In the Box Visual Studio integration (SEE DEMO)
My Book
Gary McLean’s book
PRISM documentationhttp://compositewpf.codeplex.com/
Josh Smith http://joshsmithonwpf.wordpress.com/
Karl Shiffletthttp://karlshifflett.wordpress.com/

The Team
How big is the team I will work with?
How much experience do they have?Guru | Some exp. | newbie
What was their previous project? Do they know the difference between Client (WPF) and Web (SL)?
Is there a technology leader in the Team with some experience?

The right one
Never put too many seniors: “Too many cooks spoil the dinner”
Never use big teams, lot of technical debates and few hours on writing code
Put together devs that love the technology they are working with, negativity is a cancer
Tools make a developer life easier (documentation, books, controls, …)

Make your life easier
Choose a set of Controls, learn it and use it!
Apply one pattern for the UI, learn it and use it.
Do not “experiment” with customer money, do what you know and avoid the unknown
Do not over engineer, remember that the Customer can appreciate only what he can see … (a.k.a. no NASA web services)
Small steps, small releases, small iterations

Some tools
Books
Guidance
Best practices
Forums and Communities

Books
My book 
Architecting Applications for the Enterprise
PRISM’s Developer Guide (MS PRESS)
WPF 4 Unleashed (Adam Nathan)
Silverlight 4 Unleashed (L. Bugnion)

Guidance
Codeplexhttp://wpfslguidance.codeplex.com/
MSDN“Developers Guide to Microsoft PRISM”
WPFhttp://windowsclient.net
Silverlighthttp://silverlight.net

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NET Event - Migrating WinForm

by Raffaele Garofalo on Aug 14, 2011

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