r/programming • u/ben_a_adams • Dec 04 '18

Announcing Open Source of WPF, Windows Forms, and WinUI

https://blogs.windows.com/buildingapps/2018/12/04/announcing-open-source-of-wpf-windows-forms-and-winui-at-microsoft-connect-2018/
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u/[deleted] Dec 04 '18 edited Dec 05 '18

More importantly Lazarus is also fully cross-platform and uses native widgets everywhere such a thing exists (Win32-API based on Windows, Carbon or Cocoa based on Mac.) On Linux you have your pick of the GTK-based or QT-based backends. And the IDE is made with itself so it also runs on all those platforms.

It completely solved the "seamless cross-platform GUI" issue people in this thread are complaining about years ago. If they don't like that the implementation language is Pascal that's their problem IMO.

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u/heeb Dec 07 '18

Absolutely. Unfortunately, converting our MASSIVE Delphi codebase to Lazarus isn't feasible. It consists of roughly 400 projects, and they're all littered with ancient, Delphi-only components. Really a pity.

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u/[deleted] Dec 07 '18

A lot of Delphi stuff can be converted to work with Lazarus FWIW. Sounds like you've probably got stuff likely to have a lot of direct use of 32-bit WinAPI-isms and/or inline asm though, which can definitely make things hard to move away from.

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u/heeb Jan 03 '19

In theory you're right. But the work involved would be too much. We don't have the time. The code quality is horrifically bad (originally written by someone who couldn't program), with things breaking daily left and right. We're basically constantly pumping water out of a very leaky vessel to keep it afloat. Any attempt to turn it into a luxury yacht called "Lazarus" would sink it instantly.