Bought-in ribbon UI component experience with DotNet.

Question

What is people's experience in using bought-in components for ribbon-based user interfaces in DotNet (specifically c#, though I imagine the components should be language agnostic like any other DotNet beastie). We're using VS 2008.

I've looked at other similar questions on Stack Overflow, like this one, but I'm more interested in feedback from anyone who has actually used one or more third-party products, and for Winforms work, not C++/MFC.

In the past we've used TMS components with Delphi, but now we need ribbon support, preferably with glass capability. It looks like DotNetBar from DevComponents is a decent fit... does any one have experience with this or similar components? Ease of use, speed of bug fixes etc?

I know about the MS licence issue, so there's no need to discuss that. Just real-world experience please.

Answer 1

I have used DevExpress

PRO

• It's very complete..
• All components (next to the ribbon) have a consistent look and feel AND behaviour
• Easy to use (winforms designer support very good)
• Not many bugs that I know of

CON

• All painting is done by .NET so it's a bit "heavy"
• The devexpress library is HUGE. Including the ribbon in your product automatically includes ate least 3 extra dll's of 500-1000Kb

Answer 2

I am a DevExpress user. I am currently working on a winforms project. I use their ribbon implementation and it hasn't failed me once.

One of the main benefits I see with this supplier is that they have a a decent documentation, large user base and many components (so your app doesn't have bits and blob from all over the world wide web). The ribbon does what ribbon should do, I see little rocket science there. I would even say that the glow you get when hovering over a ribbon's button is bit nicer than in the office suite. You also get the same rich tooltip's appearance as well.

DevExpress release fixes about once a month, but they aren't related to the ribbon very often.