C# windows form app to silverlight or asp

Question

I am working on c# desktop windows form application using some 3rd/.net libraries and all forms are not WPF and no MVC.

I searched about this and I have some questions.

• I'm expecting to change the whole gui code to wpf/XAML/ html forms. I have two options now using asp or silverlight.

If I converted the project to asp/silverlight can I use the existing 3rd/.net libraries and I think I won't be able to get source code to recompile it?

knowing that the application contains tons lines of code and 6 projects in one solution. what do you recommend for less effort?

and I can't use gizmox because its commercial license

Answer 1

If you are moving from a WinForms to a Web Server based architecture, I would definitely recommend the MVC route. Silverlight as a technology is a dead end and in addition would not allow you to reuse .net code without recompilation. Using MVC allows you to re-use your existing code, for good or for ill, in the server tier without recompilation. Even if you did use the Silverlight technology you could wrapper your existing libraries in a WCF service tier on the server and have Silverlight call it as web service.

However; the move to a web based architecture will require you to re-write a lot of your code (almost all the UX code will need to be scrapped) and this raises the question of what you are trying to achieve by moving to a web based architecture; so you need to consider both the costs and effort as being substantial - there are no quick ways to move from WinForms to Web, but depending on your business requirements you might consider using ClickOnce or XBAP to distribute your existing Windows application via a browser.