Windows Forms and Longhorn

  • Article

It appears many PDC attendees
seem to have questions like:

1.
WinFX is wonderful and all that,
but do you guys have anything I can use before the Longhorn timeframe?
2.
Hey, I just moved to .NET and started writing Windows Forms apps. Are you telling
me this stuff is going to be obsolete?

BradA has addressed these questions
in his newsgroup post,
but I would like to reiterate here so that the message is clear.

- Windows Forms is a part of the WinFX API stack in Longhorn. Your Windows Forms apps will run great on Longhorn and will be fully able to utilize its capabilities like Indigo and WinFS.

As PDC attendees will learn from [this](https://www.mymsevents.com/MyMSEvents/search.aspx?s=1&keywords=cli391&keywordtype=1&track=0&speaker=0&timeslot=0&catFast+Tracks=0&future=0) talk,  
there will be a great interop story between [Avalon](https://msdn.microsoft.com/longhorn/default.aspx?pull=/msdnmag/issues/04/01/Avalon/default.aspx) and  
Windows Forms. Windows Forms apps will be able to host Avalon controls and vice versa.
  • There are a ton of cool new features in Windows Forms in .NET Framework Whidbey,
    as well as some remarkable design time improvements. Check out all the Windows
    Forms sessions     at the PDC.
  • You can use the cool new features of Windows Forms and develop apps that run not only
    on Longhorn, but on current and previous generation Windows OSes too.
  • Heard of ClickOnce,
    the new client application deployment technology? That will be available in the Whidbey
    timeframe for Windows Forms applications.

So get on to managed code today and write client apps using Windows Forms - its a
great step towards WinFX and Longhorn!