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Ask HN: What is the best way to build a desktop app in Windows in 2023?

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Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to build a desktop app in Windows in 2023?

#81

Post by fassssst »

grumblingdev wrote: post #80
fassssst wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me make it easy for you, if you want it to look and feel native on Windows 11, use WinUI 3. ChatGPT gives a decent summary of the history of all that: https://chat.openai.com/share/6478dcdd-98d3-449a-84be-be5666...

Can I use TypeScript and WinUI 3? I remember a while back there was contraversy that MS wanted people to write Windows apps for store in TypeScript. What happened to that?

No, WinUI 3 supports C# and C++. You can use it with TypeScript indirectly via React Native.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to build a desktop app in Windows in 2023?

#82

Post by yumraj »

Shorel wrote: post #49
yumraj wrote: post #14

Looks like MFC is still a thing.

If MFC are an option, then wxWidgets is also an option.

Sure, but MFC is from Microsoft.

wxWidgets is not and things may have changed but my experience with most cross-platform libraries back in the day was that they could get close but never get real native UI experience.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to build a desktop app in Windows in 2023?

#83

Post by giantg2 »

grumblingdev wrote: post #54
fassssst wrote: post #8

Without more details, this is the way to get the most native Windows 11 look and feel: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/winui/winui3/ Disclosure: I work at Microsoft on a team that works on visual look and feel for Windows.

For someone coming back to Windows development after 5+ years, it is so incredibly difficult to figure out what is going on. I have never had so much confusion in my life. WinUI 2, WinUI 3, C++/WinRT, C#/WinRT, C++/CX, C++/CLI, WinRT (Windows Runtime - that's not a runtime), COM, C++ Win32, C# .NET, UWP, Fluent, Metro, .NET MAUI, PWA, React Native for Windows, WPF, Windows Forms, Windows API, Windows App SDK (which i…

I have no real experience. I came across this a while ago, but never got around to implementing the project I was looking at using this for.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-apps/powerapps-overv...

Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to build a desktop app in Windows in 2023?

#84

Post by madduci »

pjc50 wrote: post #65
madduci wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely, that would also be a solution, but how risky is to bet on it?

I don't think they can kill it, ever. On the other hand, it looks old, and you'll forever have DPI awareness misery for cases like "two monitors with different resolutions".

Or 4K resolution

Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to build a desktop app in Windows in 2023?

#85

Post by znpy »

My gf did exactly that for work.

It was a fairly complex desktop app that did a number of interesting things in the domain of graphics too.

It was a simple C++ and QT app, with the necessary domain-specific libraries.

If you need to develop a non-trivial gui app in windows then C++ and QT is a great combo.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to build a desktop app in Windows in 2023?

#86

Post by grumblingdev »

pjc50 wrote: post #79
fassssst wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me make it easy for you, if you want it to look and feel native on Windows 11, use WinUI 3. ChatGPT gives a decent summary of the history of all that: https://chat.openai.com/share/6478dcdd-98d3-449a-84be-be5666...

That's not a bad summary for AI, but it is very funny that every step of the way gets the adjective "modern". My own personal outsider take on this is that there are really only three eras that need to be considered: - "HWND era": win16/win32 classic UI aka "WinForms". This extends all the way up to ActiveX. Microsoft get to dictate the platform without real competition. - XAML era: the second system. Classic WinForm…

Does Microsoft have a reply for declarative UIs, e.g. React / SwiftUI / Jetpack Compose?

I had thought XAML was it and was ahead of the game, but it's kind of a different approach.

All the new ones define their declarative UI as inline source code.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to build a desktop app in Windows in 2023?

#87

Post by grumblingdev »

fassssst wrote: post #81
grumblingdev wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can I use TypeScript and WinUI 3? I remember a while back there was contraversy that MS wanted people to write Windows apps for store in TypeScript. What happened to that?

No, WinUI 3 supports C# and C++. You can use it with TypeScript indirectly via React Native.

Did Windows ever support writing apps with JavaScript? UWP maybe? I swear I remember it being a thing...

Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to build a desktop app in Windows in 2023?

#88

Post by m_fayer »

joeld42 wrote: post #13

I am using Avalonia. If I were doing windows only I might use MAUI or WPF or something but afaik they are pretty similar, and I want it to be cross platform on mac. The interface of the app is C#, the core is in CPP (I am tempted to use Zig but haven't worked with it enough to commit to it yet).

This option is painfully underappreciated.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to build a desktop app in Windows in 2023?

#89

Post by fassssst »

grumblingdev wrote: post #87
fassssst wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, WinUI 3 supports C# and C++. You can use it with TypeScript indirectly via React Native.

Did Windows ever support writing apps with JavaScript? UWP maybe? I swear I remember it being a thing...

You still can create a progressive web app and submit it to the Microsoft Store. Essentially the same as Win8 web apps but better since PWA’s use a Chromium-based web view. You don’t get native controls though.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best way to build a desktop app in Windows in 2023?

#90

Post by fuzztester »

grumblingdev wrote: post #54
fassssst wrote: post #8

Without more details, this is the way to get the most native Windows 11 look and feel: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/apps/winui/winui3/ Disclosure: I work at Microsoft on a team that works on visual look and feel for Windows.

For someone coming back to Windows development after 5+ years, it is so incredibly difficult to figure out what is going on. I have never had so much confusion in my life. WinUI 2, WinUI 3, C++/WinRT, C#/WinRT, C++/CX, C++/CLI, WinRT (Windows Runtime - that's not a runtime), COM, C++ Win32, C# .NET, UWP, Fluent, Metro, .NET MAUI, PWA, React Native for Windows, WPF, Windows Forms, Windows API, Windows App SDK (which i…

>There should be one obvious recommended way to build new apps, and all the other docs should be moved to a separate section.

Yeah. Unfortunately, Windows is not Python.

Even Python is not Python these days.

$ python

>import this

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_of_Python

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