What is the Best UI Component Set for WPF?

Question

Looking for a general purpose WPF toolset. Currently looking at Telerik and Infragistics. Are there better options out there? Of those two, which is better?

Answer 1

I have no experience with Telerik, but if there's anything worse than Infragistics I'd be surprised. Not sure exactly what components you're after - have you seen WPF Toolkit?

HTH, Kent

Answer 2

Component One is pretty decent - a bit pricey, but decent. We are using it for our current project developing an application for a state health department, and are happy with it so far.

Answer 3

Also have a look at DevExpress. Their components are pretty good

Answer 4

Actipro has a WPF ribbon and a set of components (no DataGrid though or Charting).

There are a couple of vendors that offer their WPF Grid for free (a limited version of their enterprise edition, see Xceed).

For charting purposes there is Visifire.

Answer 5

I'm still of the opinion that you don't need to get a third-party control library early in a new WPF project in the same way we all feel when doing WinForms project. I'm not too sure of your background with WPF, you might have hit an impasse and need a specific control, but generally the things you can do with XAML, styles and control templates are amazing.

For those out there that typically buy a third-party library just because the out-of-the-box controls look too bland then persevere with XAML as you will get all the customisation you'll ever need and you will eventually learn how to create amazing UI's that you would never get if you just drag and drop readymade controls to the UI surface.

For the controls that have very specific behaviour, DataGrid, Calendar Controls and charting, I've found all I've needed on CodePlex.

As mentioned in earlier posts I also recommend the following for those who don't want to splash-out on third party control libraries.

• For Charting :- VisiFire (www.visifire.com and www.codeplex.com/visifire)
• For DataGrid and Calendar controls :- WPF Toolkit (www.codeplex.com/wpf)

Answer 6

DevComponents has a nice set.

Answer 7

We are using the Telerik controls for WPF. Initially we started out by rolling our own grids, combos, trees, etc, with custom styles and templates, but when it came time to polish everything up, we needed all the added functionality that Telerik provides. We are disapointed in some of their controls, like the carousel, but we are working with them to improve the control. We often find that the support they give (usually with complete coding samples) offsets the cost of the package. They follow Microsoft's naming conventions pretty well, so the learning curve is not too steep.

We have tried ComponentOne, but don't like those.

Answer 8

My company has licenses to the Infragistics control suite, and currently I'm staying away from all the controls exception for the docking manager, which is quite nice.

We're trying to get away from dependence on a Grid control and are using other UI implementations (like list boxes with custom data templates) to avoid being straight-jacketed into vendor specific implementation.

In our WinForms days, we were burnt quite a bit by relying on the Infragistics Grid control for everything.

Answer 9

If you are looking for a Ribbon or DataGrid control then Microsoft is releasing some controls outside the normal .NET Framework releases. These are available at http://www.codeplex.com/wpf

I prefer to stay away from third party controls where the source code is not available.

Answer 10

have time to check fpscomponents.com , have some unique WPF components, especially for Touch screen applications, as well as most of standard component pack for WPF