What are the benefits of using WPF over WinForms?

Question

Hello,

I have previously written user interfaces using .NET using WinForms.

I'm about to start development on a new piece of software. This software is just a simple utility which will make use of Rich Text fields, a few buttons, dialog boxes etc.

It seems WinForms is ideally suitable for this. I don't need anything flashy.

However WPF is something new and I'd like to learn it.

I made a hello world in WPF and I'm not happy ,because it takes way too much time to run the application and double that amount of time to compile it.

I'm new to WPF so I have more than one question:

1. What sort of applications is WPF suitable for?
2. What is the future of WinForms?
3. What is the current version of WPF? I gues its 1.0 since it came with NET framework 3.0
4. Will there be any major improvements in the next release of WPF on the things I found while making my first Hello WPF World application?
5. is WPF being updated together with NET 4.0(I mean,the next version will come with .NET v4?)

Answer 1

See: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/713193/wpf-v-s-winform/713249#713249

To answer your questions:

1. WPF can be used for any type of application, but it really shines in applications that make extensive use of 3D, video, animations, databinding against XML
2. Nobody knows for sure, but WinForms will definately be around for a while. Microsoft did not build WPF to replace WinForms.
3. Not, if you do not have need of functionality as described in the first point
4. The current version is WPF 3.5 SP1
5. They're going to introduce new controls (an Office-like Ribbon Control, DataGrid and more), improve performance, and more enhancements. See also: http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2008/02/19/net-3-5-client-product-roadmap.aspx
6. Yes, I believe so.

Answer 2

I read an article a couple of days ago from one of the Microsoft devs who had given a few talks about WPF. In the article he said that someone asked him a question very similar to yours. The person was creating a simple windows application with no need for any of the flashy 3D capabilities of the WPF, and he asked why should I use WPF over WinForms?

Basically the Microsoft dev said that there's no compelling reason for him to do so. Like Razzie mentioned, WPF wasn't created to replace WinForms, which is a proven platform. Rather it was designed to design new rich UI applications which Microsoft believes will be used widely in the years to come.

EDIT: Found the link to the blog entry: LINK

Answer 3

It took me awhile to get into WPF, but I think the area it really shines in is databinding. With very little effort, I was able to get rid of an enormous amount of display logic and let .NET handle all of it. This is a huge win if you are displaying a lot of data. I don't think its necessarily worth it if all your doing is passing a couple of parameters and pressing a button.