Yep. But as I said, the source that needs user input is NOT a web server, nor is it likely to be (unless I have no choice). If this XAML idea does not pan out, I may look further down that road. I may also consider hosting ASP.Net, but that's a lot of trouble in its own right. Or simply providing a HTTP end point, serving a Form, and parsing the submit. But XAML seems (at first look) to offer what I need IF I can figure out how to make it work.
I've got all the pieces already in place except one. I already have a pipe in place. I already have a mechanism for getting textual metadata that describes the needed user input. The UI application already displays that UI, albeit primitively. And I harvest the user input to send back to remote process that needs the user input. I've even experimented with coding it as HTML and doing the whole form thing solely on the client, but that's was also getting messy AND has typical HTML/Form layout issues that XAML (being designed specifically for the task) does not. Addressing that leads to the possibility of hosting ASP.Net on the client, use of Cassini/other local or remote, and down another rabbit hole we go. I just want a simple/flexible way of describing a interactive UI so that it can be integrated into an existing application. The UI will ideally be represented as text (various reasons) and having WYSIWYG tools available. Hopefully, I can find a way to getting the UI defined/designed, displayed, and harvest user input without going through a lot of trouble and overhead for development or maintenance. XAML seems close, but may not be any more practical than other solutions. That's what I'm trying to determine, but I lack the XAML/WPF background to make a decent call without undue delay. HTML/HTTP may be the answer, I hope not... Russ -----Original Message----- From: Discussion of advanced .NET topics. [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Shawn Wildermuth (MVP) Sent: Friday, July 27, 2007 1:57 PM To: ADVANCED-DOTNET@DISCUSS.DEVELOP.COM Subject: Re: [ADVANCED-DOTNET] Dynamic remote UI - XAML? Isn't building an arbitrary UI that is transmitted over a network what Web Browsers do? Thanks, Shawn Wildermuth http://adoguy.com http://wildermuthconsulting.com Microsoft MVP (C#), MCSD.NET, Author and Speaker -----Original Message----- From: Discussion of advanced .NET topics. [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Robert Lee Sent: Friday, July 27, 2007 4:54 PM To: ADVANCED-DOTNET@DISCUSS.DEVELOP.COM Subject: Re: [ADVANCED-DOTNET] Dynamic remote UI - XAML? Russ, Where XAML would benefit you in this situation (as far as I can tell) would only be if you were going to create a WPF app that dynamically loads the XAML file to build its UI. Your "Creator" process would need to create the XAML, or change portions of a master file. If you are not going to use WPF then XAML may be overkill, unless you need, or plan on implementing all of the objects that XAML can represent (d3 animation frames, time slices, video objects, vectors etc). I think that a dynamic UI engine that reads a standard XML or some binary file would be better suited to what you need to do. I have done this on a lesser scale with control files, and dynamic control creation in VB6 for an in house editing utility, allowing for the addition of new editing screens, and files without having to get me involved. You could download Expression Blend (http://www.microsoft.com/Expression/products/download.aspx?key=blend2previe w) if you want to get an idea of what XAML output looks like. You might also want to check out these links. http://blogs.msdn.com/bethmassi/archive/2007/07/17/an-example-of-dynamic-pro gramming-in-vb.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/bethmassi/archive/2007/07/18/making-our-code-more-dyna mic.aspx HTH, Rob -----Original Message----- From: Discussion of advanced .NET topics. [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Russ Alan Sent: Friday, July 27, 2007 3:24 PM To: ADVANCED-DOTNET@DISCUSS.DEVELOP.COM Subject: [ADVANCED-DOTNET] Dynamic remote UI - XAML? I have an unusual requirement that seems to be a good fit for XAML. But, not having much experience with XAML, I'm not sure how to proceed and don't even have the basis for searching out references without (committing more time than I have available). In a nutshell, without going into NDA territory, I have a need to express somewhat arbitrary UI metadata from a binary running on one machine, display it on a different machine in a running process (not browser) for user interaction, harvest the results, and ship the results back the originating machine. I've considered several different ways, including an embedded browser. But the remote machine is not a web server and I don't want to deal with reimplementing or hosting ASP, nor do I want to "roll my own". What I *think* I would like to do, is describe the UI in XAML, instantiate the form, and harvest the results. But in several searches I've found no information about doing this. Rather than spend more time digging, looking for something that may not be reasonable, I thought I would ask if anyone has done this or seen anything that would help narrow down my search. Am I barking up the wrong tree? Russ =================================== This list is hosted by DevelopMentor. http://www.develop.com View archives and manage your subscription(s) at http://discuss.develop.com =================================== This list is hosted by DevelopMentor. http://www.develop.com View archives and manage your subscription(s) at http://discuss.develop.com =================================== This list is hosted by DevelopMentor. http://www.develop.com View archives and manage your subscription(s) at http://discuss.develop.com =================================== This list is hosted by DevelopMentor® http://www.develop.com View archives and manage your subscription(s) at http://discuss.develop.com
