Paul Krill
Editor at Large

Microsoft open-sources WPF, WinForms, and WinUI XAML

news
Dec 4, 20182 mins

Developers will be able to contribute to these technologies on GitHub, as well as build a private copy of the UI stack

windows 7 logo on mirrors man with derby hat on dock
Credit: Getty Images / Microsoft

Microsoft is open-sourcing three Windows UX frameworks, including Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Windows Forms, and the Windows UI XAML library (WinUI).

All three frameworks will be made available on GitHub. Developers will be able to contribute to in Microsoft’s client UX technology, as well help debugging and fix issues. They also can build a private copy of the UI stack.

The open-sourcing of the three frameworks serves as a followup to having the open source .Net Core 3 framework support WPF, Windows Forms, and Universal Windows Platform (UWP) XAML, so existing and new Windows applications can run on .Net Core.

WPF is a UI framework for building desktop client applications, with an application model, controls, graphics, layout, data binding, and security. At the core of WPF is a rendering engine to take advantage of modern graphics hardware.

Windows Forms enables development of “smart clients,” described by Microsoft as graphically rich applications that are easily deployed and updated. These applications can work whether or not they are connected to the internet. A form in Windows Forms is a visual surface for displaying information to the user. WinUI has backward-compatible implementations of the default UWP XAML UI platform for Windows 10.

Where to download WPF, Windows Forms, and WinUI XAML

You can download the frameworks from their respective GitHub repos: WPF, Windows Forms, and Windows UI XAML Library.

Paul Krill

Paul Krill is editor at large at InfoWorld. Paul has been covering computer technology as a news and feature reporter for more than 35 years, including 30 years at InfoWorld. He has specialized in coverage of software development tools and technologies since the 1990s, and he continues to lead InfoWorld’s news coverage of software development platforms including Java and .NET and programming languages including JavaScript, TypeScript, PHP, Python, Ruby, Rust, and Go. Long trusted as a reporter who prioritizes accuracy, integrity, and the best interests of readers, Paul is sought out by technology companies and industry organizations who want to reach InfoWorld’s audience of software developers and other information technology professionals. Paul has won a “Best Technology News Coverage” award from IDG.

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