The document discusses the evolution and migration strategies of the .NET framework, highlighting the transition from older frameworks to .NET 5 and its unified platform capabilities. It covers alternatives like Blazor and DotVVM for web applications, as well as desktop options such as WPF and UWP. Additionally, it addresses the migration from WCF to gRPC and provides strategies for developers to ensure a smooth transition to modern frameworks.

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.NET is Dead
Long Live .NET
MARK RENDLE :: CTO, visualrecode.com
@markrendle :: mark@gibraltarsoftware.com

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.NET Timeline
https://twitter.com/buhakmeh/status/1250127850457440256

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.NET Frameworks
1.0: Windows Forms
ASP.NET Web Forms
3.0: Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)
Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)
Windows Workflow (WF)
☹ Silverlight
3.5: ASP.NET MVC
4.0: ASP.NET Web API

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.NET 5
THE FUTURE IS NOW

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.NET 5 Unified Platform
Source: Microsoft

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.NET Frameworks
1.0: Windows Forms
ASP.NET Web Forms
3.0: Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)
Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)
Windows Workflow (WF)
☹ Silverlight
3.5: ASP.NET MVC -> ASP.NET Core MVC
4.0: ASP.NET WebAPI -> ASP.NET Core MVC

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How?
GETTING FROM 4 TO 5

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Microsoft recommends
.NET 4.x .NET 5
ASP.NET Web Forms Blazor
WCF ASP.NET Core gRPC
Workflow Foundation Open-source
Silverlight Blazor
WPF WPF or UWP
Windows Forms Windows Forms or UWP

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Web Forms -> Blazor?

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Web Forms -> Blazor
ASP.NET Web Forms
ASPX pages
Code-Behind
Round-trips
.NET 4.x only
Blazor
Razor Components
Partial Classes
WebSockets or WASM
.NET 5 only

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Web Forms -> DotVVM
ALTERNATIVE PATH

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DotVVM
View - ViewModel architecture
Supports .NET Core & ASP.NET 4.5
Gradual migration
www.dotvvm.com

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DotVVM demo

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github.com/RendleLabs/fwDays2020

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Desktop

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Desktop options in .NET 5
WPF (Windows-only)
WinForms (Windows-only)
UWP (Windows-only)
Avalonia (x-plat)
Uno Platform (it's complicated)

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Uno Platform

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Uno Platform
UWP
iOS
Android

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Uno Platform
UWP
iOS
Android
WebAssembly

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Uno Platform
UWP
iOS
Android
WebAssembly
◦ Browser
◦ Electron

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Uno Platform
UWP
iOS
Android
WebAssembly
◦ Browser
◦ Electron
◦ macOS
◦ Linux
◦ Windows < 10

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Uno Platform Demo

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github.com/RendleLabs/fwDays2020

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WCF -> gRPC

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WCF with SOAP over HTTP
WCF
.NET
PythonJava

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WCF with NetTCP
WCF
WCF
WCFWCF

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WCF Configuration
I heard you like XML…

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gRPC

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Protobuf
o Data serialization
o Language-neutral
o Platform-neutral
o Extensible
o Small
o Fast
o Simple

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gRPC
o Remote Procedure Calls
o Language-neutral
o Platform-neutral
o Extensible
o Small
o Fast
o Simple(ish)

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gRPC
NetTCP performance
SOAP interoperability

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gRPC supports
.NET
Java
Go
C++
Objective-C
Swift
Node.js
Python
Ruby
Dart
PHP
Perl
Rust
Haskell
Scala
Kotlin
Elixir
Erlang
Web
devblogs.microsoft.com/aspnet/grpc-web-experiment

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.NET Core gRPC Demo

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github.com/RendleLabs/fwDays2020

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docs.microsoft.com/dotnet/architecture/grpc-for-wcf-developers/

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Migration Strategies
OR, HOW NOT TO BREAK THE WORLD

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Re-architect
→ Move as much code as possible into new SDK class libraries
→ Dual-target e.g. net472 and netstandard2.1
→ Extract components to standalone services
→ e.g. Data Access, Mail, etc.
→ Review 3rd-party components
→ Infragistics, ComponentOne, DevExpress?

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Pre-migration
→ Make sure your NuGet packages are up-to-date
→ And have .NET Standard versions!
→ Remove framework-specific references
→ e.g. ASP.NET's Server, WCF's OperationContext
→ Clean up your code!
→ Go async.

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Client Shims
→ Only for .NET clients
→ Backward-compatible wrapper around gRPC client
→ Can support .NET & .NET Core clients
→ e.g. Start with .NET 4.8 WPF app and migrate to .NET 5

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Server shims
→ WCF Proxy to gRPC service
→ Support Basic HTTP, NetTCP, etc.
→ Still requires Windows server(s)

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Visual ReCode
FROM GIBRALTAR SOFTWARE
CREATED BY ME

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Visual ReCode
1.0: WCF to ASP.NET Core gRPC
◦ Including support for Duplex and Session services
◦ Available now
1.5: WCF REST to ASP.NET Core MVC
2.0: WebAPI 2.x to ASP.NET Core MVC
visualrecode.com

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Get in touch
twitter.com/markrendle
twitter.com/visualrecode
www.linkedin.com/in/markrendle
visualrecode.com