How do I rewrite the WPF code to winform

Question

0.00/5 (No votes)

See more:

So I am working on a small project where I want to connect a application with my WiFi lightbulb.
I already have the source files for the original Windows application but its made with WPF.
I would like to make it into a WinForm application because it makes things alot easier to build and develop since im not too good with WPF.

The issue is that even though I have the source code infront of me,
its very confusing. I thought it would be just copy/pasting it(Sounds lazy but I needed the same functionallity in a WinForm)
but it turns out that it wasnt that simple.

As you can see in the GitHub link below, everything is there.
https://github.com/dotMorten/LifxNet/tree/master/src/SampleApps/SampleApp.Windows

1. It find the connected lightbulb(s)
2. Its able to turn it on and off.

For some reason it was really hard to find which did which and how to convert it into a WinForm state and not a WPF.

What I need help with exactly is.

1. What makes the application able to find the lightbulb and how do I achieve the same thing in a WinForm application. (Since its apparently not the same code as a WPF)
2. Which function is it that controls the light switch (On/Off )

Any help is highly appriciated!

What I have tried:

I've tried reading through the code (the WPF application) and tried to recreate it in WinForm, I've also googled for about 2 days now and no success.

Posted 12-Aug-16 5:54am

BladeLogan

Updated 12-Aug-16 6:30am

Add a Solution

2 solutions

Add a Solution

Add your solution here

Treat my content as plain text, not as HTML

Preview 0

…

Existing Members

Sign in to your account

...or Join us

Download, Vote, Comment, Publish.

Your Email
Password
Forgot your password?

Your Email
This email is in use. Do you need your password?
Optional Password

I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Please subscribe me to the CodeProject newsletters

When answering a question please:

Read the question carefully.
Understand that English isn't everyone's first language so be lenient of bad spelling and grammar.
If a question is poorly phrased then either ask for clarification, ignore it, or edit the question and fix the problem. Insults are not welcome.
Don't tell someone to read the manual. Chances are they have and don't get it. Provide an answer or move on to the next question.

Let's work to help developers, not make them feel stupid.

This content, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

OriginalGriff · Answer 1 · 2016-08-12T06:12:00

Solution 1

Basically, don't: the two systems really aren't close enough to try and use the same code, or even to try and find "similar" controls.
Instead, use the debugger to run the WPF app, and find the code that does the work, by stepping through and using breakpoints to work out what is doing what.

Then consider copying the non-UI methods that deal with the light - or even the whole class if it's well written - and write your own UI to interface with it.

But the WPF specific code won't be much use to you here.

Posted 12-Aug-16 6:12am

OriginalGriff

Comments

BladeLogan 12-Aug-16 12:14pm

Thank you for the quick answer! I really appriciate it like really!

Here is the thing..
I found this in the code and it is locating the bulbs

ObservableCollection<LifxNet.LightBulb> bulbs = new ObservableCollection<LifxNet.LightBulb>();
LifxNet.LifxClient client = null;

Now I added that and the needed references but what do I do now? Do I add the "bulbs" to a listbox?

OriginalGriff 12-Aug-16 12:26pm

That code doesn't locate anything: it just sets up a List-with-knobs-on; something else uses that collection to find the bulbs and fill it - but it isn't that code.

BladeLogan 12-Aug-16 12:29pm

Im assuming you are talking about

private void Client_DeviceDiscovered(object sender, LifxNet.LifxClient.DeviceDiscoveryEventArgs e)
{
var _ = Dispatcher.RunAsync(Windows.UI.Core.CoreDispatcherPriority.Normal, () =>
{
var bulb = e.Device as LifxNet.LightBulb;
if (!bulbs.Contains(bulb))
bulbs.Add(bulb);
});
}

OriginalGriff 12-Aug-16 13:58pm

Looks like it to me...

Philippe Mori · Answer 2 · 2016-08-12T06:30:00

Obviously, you need to understand code to convert it. Thus it does not make any sense to convert a WPF application to WinForms if you don't understand it.

Thus given that you don't understand WPF code, then the only remaining option would be to start from a blank WinForms application and add all required functionality to the WinForms application.

But then since WPF is much more powerful that WinForms, you have to ensure that you could implement everything you want in WinForms.

But if the WPF application, then why you would convert it? If something in not broken, then don't fix it.

Given than WPF is far superior in its abilities and should also support more easily Hi-DPI devices and some other modern features, it would almost never make sense to convert WPF code to WinForms.

Even if you want to convert the application to WinForms, you need to learn WPF to be able to know hot existing code works. Assuming that this code can be ported to WinForms, it would make no sense to do so once you understand WPF as you might at that point make any necessary adjustment directly to the WPF application.

WPF is far superior to WinForms because it help separate the UI from the logic so that it is possible to have one UI designer that don't do much programmation to design (in Blend) and to have a programmer that do the UI model without doing the UI. This is really nice as the UI is much more less tie to the code so it is easier to change the UI without modifying code.

WPF is also superior because it allows animation, transformation and more to be applied to the UI...

About your code
Here we don't do other work... As such, if you have a specific question, then show specific code that you would like to convert. Nobody here would convert a whole application for nothing.

And as already explained, the whole idea to convert WPF to WinForms make little sense. Usually, it would be much easier to convert from WinForms to WPF as one could in theory write an event-based WPF application. However, this make little sense as you loose all the benefit of UI and model separation...