❔ ✅ Help choosing a framework
Hello!
I'm making a little windows app that's got a healthy mishmash of requirements, and not being too familiar with the windows frameworks or windows desktop app development in general I'm having a hard time figuring out what suits my needs best. Here's what the needs to do:
1. Be installable through a setup wizard (I will share this software with people who can't build the app from code themselves)
2. Run on startup after installation
3. Sit in the taskbar corner by default
4. Have a simple tiny gui pop up when you press the corner icon (and maybe a context menu on right-click)
5. Act as a local webserver that listens for web requests on localhost (a simple HttpListener is sufficient here)
6. Consume a restful API (of a device on the same local network as the computer) (I think an HttpClient will be all I need here as the api is somewhat simple, but I might possibly consider an external library like flurl or refit for convenience)
As far as I can tell, the taskbar corner part seems like a hassle to deal with in terms of WPF. Winforms can more easily do that part, but it's not as good as WPF when it comes to GUI. I haven't looked much into maui and WinUI 3, but those also seem like candidates. If anyone has experience with apps like Steam, f.lux or voicemeeter, this is the style of "startup taskbar app" I'm thinking of.
As some of you might be able to tell, it's point 1-4 I'm mostly in the dark about. Point 5-6 I know how to do each of them in isolation, but I added them just in case these two points don't play well together, don't match well with point 1-4, or rules out any of the frameworks. I'm also wondering whether it would be better for some or all of the HTTP work to be largely done as a windows service or if it could all be contained within the app itself as a sort of multi-threaded/asynchronous task based app.
I'm developing in VS2022 Community if that matters. Any input would be greatly appreciated!
I'm making a little windows app that's got a healthy mishmash of requirements, and not being too familiar with the windows frameworks or windows desktop app development in general I'm having a hard time figuring out what suits my needs best. Here's what the needs to do:
1. Be installable through a setup wizard (I will share this software with people who can't build the app from code themselves)
2. Run on startup after installation
3. Sit in the taskbar corner by default
4. Have a simple tiny gui pop up when you press the corner icon (and maybe a context menu on right-click)
5. Act as a local webserver that listens for web requests on localhost (a simple HttpListener is sufficient here)
6. Consume a restful API (of a device on the same local network as the computer) (I think an HttpClient will be all I need here as the api is somewhat simple, but I might possibly consider an external library like flurl or refit for convenience)
As far as I can tell, the taskbar corner part seems like a hassle to deal with in terms of WPF. Winforms can more easily do that part, but it's not as good as WPF when it comes to GUI. I haven't looked much into maui and WinUI 3, but those also seem like candidates. If anyone has experience with apps like Steam, f.lux or voicemeeter, this is the style of "startup taskbar app" I'm thinking of.
As some of you might be able to tell, it's point 1-4 I'm mostly in the dark about. Point 5-6 I know how to do each of them in isolation, but I added them just in case these two points don't play well together, don't match well with point 1-4, or rules out any of the frameworks. I'm also wondering whether it would be better for some or all of the HTTP work to be largely done as a windows service or if it could all be contained within the app itself as a sort of multi-threaded/asynchronous task based app.
I'm developing in VS2022 Community if that matters. Any input would be greatly appreciated!
