BrianMc1958
asked on
NEWBIE: Development and maintenance time for Windows Forms vs ASP.NET?
Dear Experts,
My company is trying to decide between Windows Forms and ASP.NET (browser-based). I'm looking for (a lot of) general advice...
In particular, could anyone compare the development and maintenance times for the same UI written in Windows Forms vs. ASP.NET?
I know "it depends!", but if we made the following assumptions:
We are equally skilled at both technologies (We're not, but for the sake of comparison, let's pretend.)
We would be working in Visual Studio 2005 in either case.
We would be using C# exclusively if Windows Forms.
The UI is fairly complex, with a few dozen interconnected screens and connections to an MS SQL db.
We're ignoring deployment issues for now (That's a different question...)
We're just looking for ballpark advice, like: "This is usually about twice as fast as that...".
Thanks!
--BrianMc1958
My company is trying to decide between Windows Forms and ASP.NET (browser-based). I'm looking for (a lot of) general advice...
In particular, could anyone compare the development and maintenance times for the same UI written in Windows Forms vs. ASP.NET?
I know "it depends!", but if we made the following assumptions:
We are equally skilled at both technologies (We're not, but for the sake of comparison, let's pretend.)
We would be working in Visual Studio 2005 in either case.
We would be using C# exclusively if Windows Forms.
The UI is fairly complex, with a few dozen interconnected screens and connections to an MS SQL db.
We're ignoring deployment issues for now (That's a different question...)
We're just looking for ballpark advice, like: "This is usually about twice as fast as that...".
Thanks!
--BrianMc1958
As a general advice I would look at these issues first
WebForms
For
- You will be reaching any user anywhere in the world that has a browser
- Updates to UI are transparent to the user, deploy to IIS and user sees immediately
Against
- Nowhere near as good as WinForms when it comes to complex UI
- I don't personally like fiddling with HTML and Server Controls (personal opinion, maybe biased)
WinForms
For
- Excellent for complex UI
Against
- Updates to UI need to be installed on each user's PC (You can make automatic updates but that is extra effort)
I would think of who the application is for. A small group of people? People from several countries, or world wide. The wider the audience the more ASP.NET is suitable. Winforms are richer and probably faster than Webforms but you cannot deploy worldwide without much effort
WebForms
For
- You will be reaching any user anywhere in the world that has a browser
- Updates to UI are transparent to the user, deploy to IIS and user sees immediately
Against
- Nowhere near as good as WinForms when it comes to complex UI
- I don't personally like fiddling with HTML and Server Controls (personal opinion, maybe biased)
WinForms
For
- Excellent for complex UI
Against
- Updates to UI need to be installed on each user's PC (You can make automatic updates but that is extra effort)
I would think of who the application is for. A small group of people? People from several countries, or world wide. The wider the audience the more ASP.NET is suitable. Winforms are richer and probably faster than Webforms but you cannot deploy worldwide without much effort
Development and maintenance both depend on the knowledge of developers. Yes you did say that but that is all it comes to
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ASKER
To gbzhhu: The application is for a small group of people who share an intranet (basically, office workers.)
To AW: I do the "back-end" work myself. I agree that's about 85%! I realized after I had posted that I wasn't very clear about this: My question applies ONLY to the UI.
To AW: I do the "back-end" work myself. I agree that's about 85%! I realized after I had posted that I wasn't very clear about this: My question applies ONLY to the UI.
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Also you said "We are equally skilled at both technologies (We're not, but for the sake of comparison, let's pretend.)"
I would say that getting a fancy web interface is more complex and you would have to be more skilled than to get the same interface with winforms. But "assuming you are equally skilled" then I would go with web forms since you can reach a wider audience and push updates easier
I would say that getting a fancy web interface is more complex and you would have to be more skilled than to get the same interface with winforms. But "assuming you are equally skilled" then I would go with web forms since you can reach a wider audience and push updates easier
ASKER
This is all very, very helpful. I would like to keep this question open a little while longer in case anyone else has more to say. It's very important to us...
Thanks again,
BrianMc1958
Thanks again,
BrianMc1958
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ASKER
Thanks very much, folks. I'll be passing this along to our people. Wish us luck!
--BrianMc1958
--BrianMc1958
ASKER