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An in-depth analysis of .NET Core 3.0 support for WPF and Winforms APIs

.NET Core 3.0 will be RTM soon and it supports WPF and Winforms APIs.

In my last post I’ve been exploring .NET Core 3.0 new APIs by comparing compiled bits with NDepend, of .NET Core 3.0 against .NET Core 2.2.

In this post I will compare .NET Core 3.0 Windows Forms (Winforms) and WPF APIs with .NET Framework 4.x.

I won’t make the suspense last: .NET Core 3.0 support for Winforms and WPF APIs is almost complete, I found very few breaking changes.

I will now explain what I’ve done with NDepend to explore this API diff, and then dig into the results. If you are wondering How to port desktop applications to .NET Core 3.0 see Microsoft explanations here.

Comparing .NET Core 3.0 Winforms and WPF APIs vs. NET Framework 4.x with NDepend

From the NDepend Start Page select Compare 2 versions of a code base menu. Then use Add assemblies in Folder buttons to add .NET Framework assemblies from folder C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319 and Microsoft.WindowsDesktop.app nuget package assemblies (from folder C:\Users\psmac\.nuget\packages\microsoft.windowsdesktop.app\3.0.0-preview-27325-3\ref\netcoreapp3.0 on my machine).

Comparing .NET Core 3.0 Winforms WPF APIs with .NET Framework

A minor difficulty was to isolate the exact set of assemblies to focus on. Here is the list of concerned assemblies I came up with:

Notice that to preserve the correspondance between APIs and assemblies packaging, the attribute TypeForwardedToAttribute is massively used to delegate implementations.

Usage of TypeForwardedToAttribute

The few breaking changes

With the default NDepend rules about API breaking changes, I’ve only found 16 public types and 52 public methods missing. Here are the types:

16 types missing in WPF Winforms .NET Core 3.0 API

16 types missing on a total of 4.095 public types, well done!

Number of public types per assemblies

The 52 public methods missing are: (on a total of 42.645 public methods)

Parent Assembly Name Parent Type Name Method name
System.Security.Principal.Windows System.Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity .ctor(String,String)
System.Security.Principal.Windows System.Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity Impersonate()
System.Security.Principal.Windows System.Security.Principal.WindowsIdentity Impersonate(IntPtr)
System.Security.Principal.Windows System.Security.Principal.IdentityReferenceCollection get_IsReadOnly()
System.Security.Permissions System.Net.EndpointPermission ToString()
System.Security.Permissions System.Security.HostProtectionException GetObjectData(SerializationInfo,StreamingContext)
System.Security.Permissions System.Security.Policy.ApplicationDirectory Clone()
System.Security.Permissions System.Security.Policy.ApplicationTrust Clone()
System.Security.Permissions System.Security.Policy.PermissionRequestEvidence Clone()
System.Security.Permissions System.Security.Policy.Site Clone()
System.Security.Permissions System.Security.Policy.StrongName Clone()
System.Security.Permissions System.Security.Policy.Url Clone()
System.Security.Permissions System.Security.Policy.Zone Clone()
System.Security.Permissions System.Security.Policy.GacInstalled Clone()
System.Security.Permissions System.Security.Policy.Hash Clone()
System.Security.Permissions System.Security.Policy.Publisher Clone()
System.Security.Cryptography.Pkcs System.Security.Cryptography.Pkcs.EnvelopedCms .ctor(SubjectIdentifierType,ContentInfo)
System.Security.Cryptography.Pkcs System.Security.Cryptography.Pkcs.EnvelopedCms .ctor(SubjectIdentifierType,ContentInfo,AlgorithmIdentifier)
System.Security.Cryptography.Pkcs System.Security.Cryptography.Pkcs.EnvelopedCms Encrypt()
System.Security.Cryptography.Pkcs System.Security.Cryptography.Pkcs.ContentInfo Finalize()
System.Security.Cryptography.Cng System.Security.Cryptography.ECDiffieHellmanCng FromXmlString(String)
System.Security.Cryptography.Cng System.Security.Cryptography.ECDiffieHellmanCng ToXmlString(Boolean)
System.Security.Cryptography.Cng System.Security.Cryptography.ECDsaCng FromXmlString(String)
System.Security.Cryptography.Cng System.Security.Cryptography.ECDsaCng ToXmlString(Boolean)
System.Security.Cryptography.Cng System.Security.Cryptography.RSACng DecryptValue(Byte[])
System.Security.Cryptography.Cng System.Security.Cryptography.RSACng EncryptValue(Byte[])
System.Security.Cryptography.Cng System.Security.Cryptography.RSACng get_KeyExchangeAlgorithm()
System.Security.Cryptography.Cng System.Security.Cryptography.RSACng get_SignatureAlgorithm()
System.Printing System.Printing.PrintQueue set_Name(String)
System.Printing System.Printing.IndexedProperties.PrintInt32Property op_Implicit(PrintInt32Property)
System.Printing System.Printing.IndexedProperties.PrintStringProperty op_Implicit(PrintStringProperty)
System.Printing System.Printing.IndexedProperties.PrintStreamProperty op_Implicit(PrintStreamProperty)
System.Printing System.Printing.IndexedProperties.PrintQueueAttributeProperty op_Implicit(PrintQueueAttributeProperty)
System.Printing System.Printing.IndexedProperties.PrintQueueStatusProperty op_Implicit(PrintQueueStatusProperty)
System.Printing System.Printing.IndexedProperties.PrintBooleanProperty op_Implicit(PrintBooleanProperty)
System.Printing System.Printing.IndexedProperties.PrintThreadPriorityProperty op_Implicit(PrintThreadPriorityProperty)
System.Printing System.Printing.IndexedProperties.PrintServerLoggingProperty op_Implicit(PrintServerLoggingProperty)
System.Printing System.Printing.IndexedProperties.PrintDriverProperty op_Implicit(PrintDriverProperty)
System.Printing System.Printing.IndexedProperties.PrintPortProperty op_Implicit(PrintPortProperty)
System.Printing System.Printing.IndexedProperties.PrintServerProperty op_Implicit(PrintServerProperty)
System.Printing System.Printing.IndexedProperties.PrintTicketProperty op_Implicit(PrintTicketProperty)
System.Printing System.Printing.IndexedProperties.PrintByteArrayProperty op_Implicit(PrintByteArrayProperty)
System.Printing System.Printing.IndexedProperties.PrintProcessorProperty op_Implicit(PrintProcessorProperty)
System.Printing System.Printing.IndexedProperties.PrintQueueProperty op_Implicit(PrintQueueProperty)
System.Printing System.Printing.IndexedProperties.PrintJobPriorityProperty op_Implicit(PrintJobPriorityProperty)
System.Printing System.Printing.IndexedProperties.PrintJobStatusProperty op_Implicit(PrintJobStatusProperty)
System.Printing System.Printing.IndexedProperties.PrintDateTimeProperty op_Implicit(PrintDateTimeProperty)
System.Printing System.Printing.IndexedProperties.PrintSystemTypeProperty op_Implicit(PrintSystemTypeProperty)
System.Printing System.Windows.Xps.XpsDocumentWriter raise__WritingProgressChanged(Object,WritingProgressChangedEventArgs)
System.Printing System.Windows.Xps.XpsDocumentWriter raise__WritingCompleted(Object,WritingCompletedEventArgs)
System.Printing System.Windows.Xps.XpsDocumentWriter raise__WritingCancelled(Object,WritingCancelledEventArgs)
System.Drawing System.Drawing.FontConverter Finalize()

Portability to .NET Core 3.0 analysis

Microsoft offers a Portability Analyzer tool to analyze changes in desktop API that will break your desktop app. I’ve tested it on NDepend but I just got very coarse results. Did I miss something? At least it is mostly green 🙂

Portability Analyzer analysis on NDepend

I wrote last year a post named Quickly assess your .NET code compliance with .NET Standard let me know in comment if it is worth revisiting this post for desktop APIs. Btw, my guess is that desktop APIs won’t be part of .NET Standard vNext (since there is no plan to support it on all platforms) but I haven’t found any related info on the web.

Why migrate your desktop app to .NET Core 3.0?

This is a great news that Microsoft embeds good-old desktop APIs in .NET Core 3.0 with such an outstanding compatibility. It is worth noting that so far (February 2019) there is no plan to port Windows Forms and WPF on other platforms than Windows.  So, what are the benefits of porting an existing application to .NET Core 3.0?

I found answers in this recent How to Port Desktop Applications to .NET Core 3.0 Channel9 30 minutes video at 5:12. Basically you’ll get more deployment flexibility, Core Runtime and API improvements and also more performances.

Microsoft promises to not urge anyone to port existing Winforms and WPF application to .NET Core 3.0. However for a Visual Studio extension shop like us if it is decided that VS will run on .NET Core 3.0 in the future, we hope to be notified many months ahead. We discussed that on twitter with Amanda Silver in January 2019. It looks like this spring 2019 they will take a decision. As a consequence to support both Visual Studio past versions running on .NET fx and new versions running on .NET Core 3, an extension will need to support both .NET Fx and .NET Core 3 desktop APIs.

Exploring .NET Core 3.0 new API

.NET Core 3.0 is representing a major step for the .NET community. It is interesting to analyze what’s new in the API directly from the compiled bits. In this post I will first explain how to diff .NET Core 3.0 against .NET Core 2.2 with NDepend, and then how to browse diff results.

Arguably the biggest progress of .NET Core 3.0 will be the support for Winforms and WPF on the Windows platform. Since everything is new here, compare to .NET Core 2.2, we won’t analyze this part. However it will be interesting to analyze .NET Fx Winforms/WPF APIs vs .NET Core 3.0 Winforms/WPF APIs in another post (that I finally wrote here).

Analyzing two versions of .NET Core with NDepend

It takes a few minutes to download NDepend trial, install it and start VisualNDepend.exe, and it takes a few minutes to compare .NET Core 3.0 against .NET Core 2.2. If you want to browse the diff on your machine, expect 5 to 10 minutes to get hands-on.

First Start VisualNDepend.exe and click Compare 2 versions of a code base:

How to compare 2 versions of a code base

For both builds, choose Add Assemblies in Folder:

  • Choose C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App\2.2.2  for Older Build
  • Choose C:\Program Files\dotnet\shared\Microsoft.NETCore.App\3.0.0-preview-27324-5 for Newer Build
Choose assemblies in folder to analyze

Respectively 156 and 161 assemblies are gathered. Click Ok to run two analysis, on older and newer build. Both analysis results will be then diffed automatically.

Ready to compare 2 versions of .NET Core

Querying new API

Let’s start with a few CQLinq code queries to explore the new .NET Core 3.0 APIs:

This query match all new public code elements, including new assemblies, namespace, types, methods and fields:

Use the NDepend query result to browse this large new API set : 5 new assemblies, 83 new namespaces, 297 new types, 4 924 new methods and 307 new fields. Note that code elements with pink background are not matched by the query, they are just here for preserving the code hierarchy in the result:

.NET Core 3.0 new public API

Download here this long list obtained by exporting the query result to excel. For a better result formatting I actually used this refined query to show properly parent assemblies/namespaces/types in excel columns:

It is interesting to just focus on the 297 new public types with the code query below. Download the list here or browse the same list at the end of this post.

New .NET Core 3.0 Public Types

It is also interesting to browse the new 1.101 public methods and 38 public fields added on public types that existed already in .NET Core 2.2.  Download this list here.

API Breaking Changes

NDepend proposes 6 default rules to browse API breaking changes.

These rules matche 19 public types removed from .NET Core 2.2 (see list below) 176 public methods removed and 36 public fields removed

.NET Core 2.2 Types Removed

Listing Methods Changed

Exploring the API evolution is useful for API consumers. For those working on the framework .NET Core itself, it is interesting to also browse implementation changes. The NDepend search by change panel proposes various options for that. Note that this search panel is actually a code query generator. The Edit query button proposes to edit and refine the currently generated query.

Another interesting point is that it is a semantic implementation change. All matched methods do behave differently at runtime. This makes this tool ideal to plan code change review without bothering with formatting and comments change.

Matched code elements can be highlighted in the metric view. From the screenshot above we can see at a glance that System.Xml and System.Data are much more stable than System.RunTime for example. By zooming in the view, we can get more information about which code was churned.

Highlight methods where code was changed

In the query result panel, a code element is underlined when its implementation changed. If you have compiled both source versions on your machine and analyzed those compiled versions, you can right click an underlined method and directly compare the diff in source code.

I hope you see value both in the results offered and in the how-to-diff procedure that can be applied to any .NET code base, assuming you have 2 versions to compare.

New .NET Core 3.0 types

Here is the list of the 297 new types added to .NET Core 3.0.

ParentAssembly Full Name
WindowsBase System.Windows.Markup .ValueSerializerAttribute
System.Xml.Linq System.Xml.XPath.XDocumentExtensions
System.Threading.ThreadPool System.Threading.IThreadPoolWorkItem
System.Threading.Tasks System.Runtime.CompilerServices .AsyncIteratorMethodBuilder
System.Threading.Tasks System.Runtime.CompilerServices .ConfiguredCancelableAsyncEnumerable<T>
System.Text.Json System.Text.Json.JsonCommentHandling
System.Text.Json System.Text.Json.JsonTokenType
System.Text.Json System.Text.Json.JsonDocument
System.Text.Json System.Text.Json.JsonElement
System.Text.Json System.Text.Json .JsonElement+ArrayEnumerator
System.Text.Json System.Text.Json .JsonElement+ObjectEnumerator
System.Text.Json System.Text.Json.JsonProperty
System.Text.Json System.Text.Json.JsonValueType
System.Text.Json System.Text.Json.JsonReaderException
System.Text.Json System.Text.Json.JsonReaderOptions
System.Text.Json System.Text.Json.JsonReaderState
System.Text.Json System.Text.Json.Utf8JsonReader
System.Text.Json System.Text.Json.JsonWriterOptions
System.Text.Json System.Text.Json.JsonWriterState
System.Text.Json System.Text.Json.Utf8JsonWriter
System.Security.Principal.Windows System.Security.Principal .WindowsAccountType
System.Security.Cryptography.Primitives System.Security.Cryptography .PbeEncryptionAlgorithm
System.Security.Cryptography.Primitives System.Security.Cryptography .PbeParameters
System.Security.Cryptography.Algorithms System.Security.Cryptography.AesCcm
System.Security.Cryptography.Algorithms System.Security.Cryptography.AesGcm
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml Windows.UI.Xaml.CornerRadius
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml Windows.UI.Xaml.DurationType
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml Windows.UI.Xaml.Duration
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml Windows.UI.Xaml.GridUnitType
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml Windows.UI.Xaml.GridLength
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml Windows.UI.Xaml.Thickness
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml Windows.UI.Xaml.LayoutCycleException
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml Windows.UI.Xaml.Markup .XamlParseException
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml Windows.UI.Xaml.Automation .ElementNotAvailableException
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml Windows.UI.Xaml.Automation .ElementNotEnabledException
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml Windows.UI.Xaml.Media.Matrix
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml Windows.UI.Xaml.Media.Media3D.Matrix3D
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml Windows.UI.Xaml.Media.Animation.KeyTime
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml Windows.UI.Xaml.Media.Animation .RepeatBehaviorType
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml Windows.UI.Xaml.Media.Animation .RepeatBehavior
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime.UI.Xaml Windows.UI.Xaml.Controls.Primitives .GeneratorPosition
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime Windows.UI.Color
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime Windows.Foundation.Point
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime Windows.Foundation.Rect
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime Windows.Foundation.Size
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime System.WindowsRuntimeSystemExtensions
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime System.IO .WindowsRuntimeStorageExtensions
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime System.IO.WindowsRuntimeStreamExtensions
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime System.Threading.DispatcherQueueHandler
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime System.Threading.DispatcherQueuePriority
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime System.Runtime.InteropServices .WindowsRuntime.AsyncInfo
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime System.Runtime.InteropServices .WindowsRuntime.WindowsRuntimeBuffer
System.Runtime.WindowsRuntime System.Runtime.InteropServices .WindowsRuntime .WindowsRuntimeBufferExtensions
System.Runtime.Serialization System.Runtime.Serialization .ISerializationSurrogateProvider
System.Runtime.Loader System.Runtime.Loader .AssemblyDependencyResolver
System.Runtime.Intrinsics System.MidpointRounding
System.Runtime.Intrinsics System.Runtime.Intrinsics.Vector64
System.Runtime.Intrinsics System.Runtime.Intrinsics.Vector64<T>
System.Runtime.Intrinsics System.Runtime.Intrinsics.Vector128
System.Runtime.Intrinsics System.Runtime.Intrinsics.Vector128<T>
System.Runtime.Intrinsics System.Runtime.Intrinsics.Vector256
System.Runtime.Intrinsics System.Runtime.Intrinsics.Vector256<T>
System.Runtime.Intrinsics System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86 .FloatComparisonMode
System.Runtime.Intrinsics System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Aes
System.Runtime.Intrinsics System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Avx
System.Runtime.Intrinsics System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Avx2
System.Runtime.Intrinsics System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Bmi1
System.Runtime.Intrinsics System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Bmi2
System.Runtime.Intrinsics System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Fma
System.Runtime.Intrinsics System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Lzcnt
System.Runtime.Intrinsics System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Pclmulqdq
System.Runtime.Intrinsics System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Popcnt
System.Runtime.Intrinsics System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Sse
System.Runtime.Intrinsics System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Sse2
System.Runtime.Intrinsics System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Sse3
System.Runtime.Intrinsics System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Sse41
System.Runtime.Intrinsics System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Sse42
System.Runtime.Intrinsics System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Ssse3
System.Runtime.Intrinsics System.Runtime.Intrinsics.Arm.Arm64.Aes
System.Runtime.Intrinsics System.Runtime.Intrinsics.Arm.Arm64.Base
System.Runtime.Intrinsics System.Runtime.Intrinsics.Arm.Arm64.Sha1
System.Runtime.Intrinsics System.Runtime.Intrinsics.Arm.Arm64 .Sha256
System.Runtime.Intrinsics System.Runtime.Intrinsics.Arm.Arm64.Simd
System.Runtime.InteropServices System.Runtime.CompilerServices .IDispatchConstantAttribute
System.Runtime.InteropServices System.Runtime.InteropServices .StandardOleMarshalObject
System.Runtime.InteropServices System.Runtime.InteropServices .NativeLibrary
System.Runtime.Extensions System.AppDomainSetup
System.Runtime.Extensions System.Security.IStackWalk
System.Runtime.Extensions System.Security.PermissionSet
System.Runtime.Extensions System.Security.Permissions .PermissionState
System.Runtime.Extensions System.Runtime.ProfileOptimization
System.Runtime System.ArgIterator
System.Runtime System.IAsyncDisposable
System.Runtime System.Index
System.Runtime System.Range
System.Runtime System.Text.Rune
System.Runtime System.Text.StringRuneEnumerator
System.Runtime System.Globalization.ISOWeek
System.Runtime System.Threading.Tasks.Sources .ManualResetValueTaskSourceCore<TResult>
System.Runtime System.Runtime.Remoting.ObjectHandle
System.Runtime System.Runtime.CompilerServices .AsyncIteratorStateMachineAttribute
System.Runtime System.Runtime.CompilerServices .CallerArgumentExpressionAttribute
System.Runtime System.Collections.Generic .IAsyncEnumerable<T>
System.Runtime System.Collections.Generic .IAsyncEnumerator<T>
System.Private.CoreLib System.IAsyncDisposable
System.Private.CoreLib System.Index
System.Private.CoreLib System.Range
System.Private.CoreLib System.Text .StringBuilder+ChunkEnumerator
System.Private.CoreLib System.Text.Rune
System.Private.CoreLib System.Text.SpanRuneEnumerator
System.Private.CoreLib System.Text.StringRuneEnumerator
System.Private.CoreLib System.Globalization.ISOWeek
System.Private.CoreLib System.Buffers.OperationStatus
System.Private.CoreLib System.Buffers.StandardFormat
System.Private.CoreLib System.Buffers.Text.Utf8Formatter
System.Private.CoreLib System.Buffers.Text.Utf8Parser
System.Private.CoreLib System.Buffers.Binary.BinaryPrimitives
System.Private.CoreLib System.Threading.Tasks.Sources .ManualResetValueTaskSourceCore<TResult>
System.Private.CoreLib System.Runtime.Remoting.ObjectHandle
System.Private.CoreLib System.Runtime.Loader .AssemblyDependencyResolver
System.Private.CoreLib System.Runtime.CompilerServices .AsyncIteratorMethodBuilder
System.Private.CoreLib System.Runtime.CompilerServices .AsyncIteratorStateMachineAttribute
System.Private.CoreLib System.Runtime.CompilerServices .CallerArgumentExpressionAttribute
System.Private.CoreLib System.Runtime.CompilerServices .ConfiguredCancelableAsyncEnumerable<T>
System.Private.CoreLib System.Runtime.CompilerServices .ConfiguredCancelableAsyncEnumerable<T >+Enumerator
System.Private.CoreLib System.Runtime.Intrinsics.Vector64
System.Private.CoreLib System.Runtime.Intrinsics.Vector128
System.Private.CoreLib System.Runtime.Intrinsics.Vector256
System.Private.CoreLib System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Bmi1+X64
System.Private.CoreLib System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Bmi2+X64
System.Private.CoreLib System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Lzcnt+X64
System.Private.CoreLib System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Popcnt+X64
System.Private.CoreLib System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Sse+X64
System.Private.CoreLib System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Sse2+X64
System.Private.CoreLib System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Sse41+X64
System.Private.CoreLib System.Runtime.Intrinsics.X86.Sse42+X64
System.Private.CoreLib System.Runtime.InteropServices .DllImportResolver
System.Private.CoreLib System.Runtime.InteropServices .NativeLibrary
System.Private.CoreLib System.Runtime.InteropServices .ComActivationContext
System.Private.CoreLib System.Runtime.InteropServices .ComActivationContextInternal
System.Private.CoreLib System.Runtime.InteropServices .ComActivator
System.Private.CoreLib System.Runtime.InteropServices .ComEventInterfaceAttribute
System.Private.CoreLib System.Runtime.InteropServices .DefaultParameterValueAttribute
System.Private.CoreLib System.Diagnostics.DebugProvider
System.Private.CoreLib System.Collections.Generic .IAsyncEnumerable<T>
System.Private.CoreLib System.Collections.Generic .IAsyncEnumerator<T>
System.Private.CoreLib Internal.Resources.PRIExceptionInfo
System.Private.CoreLib Internal.Resources .WindowsRuntimeResourceManagerBase
System.Private.CoreLib Internal.Threading.Tasks .AsyncCausalitySupport
System.Private.CoreLib Internal.Runtime.InteropServices .WindowsRuntime.ExceptionSupport
System.ObjectModel System.Reflection.ICustomTypeProvider
System.ObjectModel System.ComponentModel .TypeConverterAttribute
System.ObjectModel System.ComponentModel .TypeDescriptionProviderAttribute
System.ObjectModel System.Windows.Markup .ValueSerializerAttribute
System.Net.Sockets System.Net.Sockets.SafeSocketHandle
System.Memory System.Text.SpanRuneEnumerator
System.Memory System.Buffers.SequenceReader<T>
System.Memory System.Buffers.SequenceReaderExtensions
System System.StringNormalizationExtensions
System System.Reflection.ICustomTypeProvider
System System.Windows.Markup .ValueSerializerAttribute
System System.Runtime.InteropServices .StandardOleMarshalObject
System System.Diagnostics.ConsoleTraceListener
System System.Diagnostics .XmlWriterTraceListener
System System.Diagnostics.StackFrameExtensions
System System.Security.SecureStringMarshal
System System.Net.Sockets .SocketReceiveFromResult
System System.Net.Sockets .SocketReceiveMessageFromResult
System System.Net.Sockets.SocketTaskExtensions
System.Diagnostics.TextWriterTraceListener System.Diagnostics.ConsoleTraceListener
System.Diagnostics.TextWriterTraceListener System.Diagnostics .XmlWriterTraceListener
System.Data System.Xml.XmlDataDocument
System.Data System.Data.Common.DbColumn
System.Data System.Data.Common .DbDataReaderExtensions
System.Data System.Data.Common .IDbColumnSchemaGenerator
System.Core System.Security.Cryptography.AesCng
System.Core System.Security.Cryptography.DSACng
System.Core System.Security.Cryptography .TripleDESCng
System.Core System.Security.Cryptography.ECCurve
System.Core System.Security.Cryptography .ECParameters
System.Core System.Security.Cryptography.ECPoint
System.Core System.Security.Cryptography .IncrementalHash
System.Core System.Security.Cryptography .X509Certificates.CertificateRequest
System.Core System.Security.Cryptography .X509Certificates .DSACertificateExtensions
System.Core System.Security.Cryptography .X509Certificates .SubjectAlternativeNameBuilder
System.Core System.Security.Cryptography .X509Certificates.X509SignatureGenerator
System.ComponentModel.TypeConverter System.ComponentModel.VersionConverter
System.ComponentModel.Primitives System.ComponentModel .InvalidAsynchronousStateException
System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations .AssociatedMetadataTypeTypeDescriptionPr ovider
System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations .MetadataTypeAttribute
System.ComponentModel.Annotations System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations .AssociatedMetadataTypeTypeDescriptionPr ovider
System.ComponentModel.Annotations System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations .MetadataTypeAttribute
mscorlib System.TupleExtensions
mscorlib System.AppDomainSetup
mscorlib System.Globalization .GlobalizationExtensions
mscorlib System.Threading.ThreadPoolBoundHandle
mscorlib System.Threading.PreAllocatedOverlapped
mscorlib System.Runtime.ProfileOptimization
mscorlib System.Runtime.Remoting.ObjectHandle
mscorlib System.Runtime.CompilerServices .RuntimeFeature
mscorlib System.Runtime.CompilerServices .IsByRefLikeAttribute
mscorlib System.Runtime.CompilerServices.ITuple
mscorlib System.Runtime.CompilerServices .IsReadOnlyAttribute
mscorlib System.Runtime.CompilerServices .TupleElementNamesAttribute
mscorlib System.Runtime.CompilerServices .IDispatchConstantAttribute
mscorlib System.Runtime.InteropServices .RuntimeInformation
mscorlib System.Runtime.InteropServices .Architecture
mscorlib System.Runtime.InteropServices .OSPlatform
mscorlib System.Reflection.Emit.DynamicILInfo
mscorlib System.Security.IStackWalk
mscorlib System.Security.PermissionSet
mscorlib System.Security.Permissions .PermissionState
mscorlib System.Security.Principal .WindowsAccountType
mscorlib System.Diagnostics.Tracing .EventSourceCreatedEventArgs
Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic.Collection
Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompareMethod
Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic.ComClassAttribute
Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic.ControlChars
Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic.DateAndTime
Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic.Information
Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic .MyGroupCollectionAttribute
Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic.VariantType
Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic .VBFixedArrayAttribute
Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic .VBFixedStringAttribute
Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic.VBMath
Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.FileSystem
Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO .DeleteDirectoryOption
Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO .RecycleOption
Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO .SearchOption
Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO .UICancelOption
Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.UIOption
Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO .MalformedLineException
Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO .SpecialDirectories
Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO .TextFieldParser
Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.FieldType
Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .BooleanType
Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .DecimalType
Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .Versioned
Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .DoubleType
Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic .ApplicationServices.StartupEventArgs
Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic .ApplicationServices .StartupNextInstanceEventArgs
Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic .ApplicationServices .UnhandledExceptionEventArgs
Microsoft.VisualBasic Microsoft.VisualBasic.Devices .NetworkAvailableEventArgs
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.CallType
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.Collection
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompareMethod
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.ComClassAttribute
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.Constants
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.ControlChars
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.DateAndTime
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic .HideModuleNameAttribute
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.Information
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic .MyGroupCollectionAttribute
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.Strings
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.VariantType
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic .VBFixedArrayAttribute
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic .VBFixedStringAttribute
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.VBMath
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.FileSystem
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO .DeleteDirectoryOption
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO .RecycleOption
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO .SearchOption
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO .UICancelOption
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.UIOption
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO .MalformedLineException
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO .SpecialDirectories
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO .TextFieldParser
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO.FieldType
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .BooleanType
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .Conversions
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .DecimalType
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .DesignerGeneratedAttribute
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .SiteDelegate0
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .SiteDelegate1
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .SiteDelegate2
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .SiteDelegate3
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .SiteDelegate4
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .SiteDelegate5
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .SiteDelegate6
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .SiteDelegate7
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .IncompleteInitialization
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .NewLateBinding
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .ObjectFlowControl
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .ObjectFlowControl+ForLoopControl
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .Operators
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .OptionCompareAttribute
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .OptionTextAttribute
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .ProjectData
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .StandardModuleAttribute
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .StaticLocalInitFlag
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .Utils
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .Versioned
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.CompilerServices .DoubleType
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic .ApplicationServices.StartupEventArgs
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic .ApplicationServices .StartupNextInstanceEventArgs
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic .ApplicationServices .UnhandledExceptionEventArgs
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Core Microsoft.VisualBasic.Devices .NetworkAvailableEventArgs

Advanced Code Search : A Case Study

This morning I stumbled on a complex test to write. The need was to create and show a custom Form (written with Windows Form) that relies on the System.ComponentModel.BackgroundWorker to do initialization stuff without freezing the UI. The test is complex because after creating and showing the form, it must wait somehow to release the UI thread for a while to let the BackgroundWorker achieve the RunWorkerCompleted on the UI thread.

I know that this is something we’ve done in the past and I know this is tricky enough to not reinvent the wheel. But with a test suite of over 13.000 tests this is quite challenging to find where we did that. So I decided to use NDepend querying facility to search.

First I analyze all NDepend assemblies, test assemblies included. Then I generate a code query to match all classes that derive from Form. This can be done from the NDepend Search panel : search Form by name in third-party types and then use a right-click menu to generate the code query:

The CQLinq code query generated is:

60 classes are matched:

Let’s refine this query to match all methods that create any of those form classes.This could be achieved by iterating over (all methods) x (all form classes), but the NDepend.API extension method ThatCreateAny() acts like a join and operates in a linear time. For our search scenario, waiting a few seconds to get a search result is not a problem. But for a code rule written with CQLinq, this is important to run it as fast as possible in a few milliseconds, to run all queries and rules often in Visual Studio within a few seconds, hence the query performance entry on the documentation.

280 methods are instantiating some form classes. Let’s refine the query to match only tests method. The cleanest way would be to check for the usage of TestAttribute, but here just checking for parent assemblies names that contain “Test” is enough:

Still 122 test methods matched.

Before filtering the result even more, let’s refine the query to display for each test the form class(es) it instantiates. This can be achieved with a LINQ range variable formsCreated that we use in the result:

We can now browse which form(s) are instantiated by each test:

Finally let’s browse only tests that use some asynchronous related code. Many ways can be used to check for asynchronous usages. The easiest way is certainly to look at methods called by a test method, and check which ones have named related to async stuff. I tried a few words like “Async” “Sync” “Thread” “TimeOut” “Wait”… and “Wait” worked:

In the source code of the highlighted test I had everything I needed for my scenario, including a link to a tricky stackoverflow answer that we found years ago. I found what I needed within a few minutes and had a bit of fun. I hope the methodology and the resulting query can be adapted to your advanced search scenarios.

Service Oriented Architecture, A Dead Simple Explanation

Service Oriented Architecture: A Dead Simple Explanation

Service-oriented architecture (SOA) has been with us for a long time. The term first appeared in 1998, and since then it’s grown in popularity. It’s also branched into several variants, including microservice architecture. While microservices dominate the landscape, reports of SOA’s death have been greatly exaggerated. So, let’s go over what SOA is. We’ll cover why it’s an architectural pattern that isn’t going anywhere. Then we’ll see how you can apply its design concepts to your work. Continue reading Service Oriented Architecture: A Dead Simple Explanation

C#_Features_A_List_of_the_Best_Ones

C# Features: An Exhaustive List of the Best Ones

The first post I wrote for the NDepend blog was about C# 8.0 features. That post inspired a sequel, followed by the series’ final chapter. Those posts dealt with the future. Today’s post, on the other hand, is all about what’s already here. I’ll make a list of the C# features I consider to be some of the best ones. For brevity’s sake, I’ll do the briefest overview of each feature, though.
Also, be warned: I’m going to use “C# feature” loosely throughout this post. So you’ll see some items that are, technically, .NET frameworks features. The reason for this choice is that, for many developers, C# and .NET are interchangeable. That’s the way they think, talk, and google about this topic.
Without further ado, let’s dive into it.

Continue reading C# Features: An Exhaustive List of the Best Ones

REST_vs_RESTful_The_Different_and_Why_the_Difference_Doesn_t_Matter

REST vs. RESTful: The Difference and Why the Difference Doesn’t Matter

What’s the difference between a REST API and a RESTful one? Is there a difference? This sounds like the kind of academic question that belongs on Reddit. But then you find yourself in a design session, and the person across the table is raising their voice.

The short answer is that REST stands for Representational State Transfer. It’s an architectural pattern for creating web services. A RESTful service is one that implements that pattern.

The long answer starts with “sort of” and “it depends” and continues with more complete definitions.

Continue reading REST vs. RESTful: The Difference and Why the Difference Doesn’t Matter

Self_Documenting_Code_vs._Comments_Turns_Out_It_s_Both_or_Neither

Self Documenting Code vs. Comments? Turns Out It’s Both or Neither

It’s been about a month since my last research post, and I’ve been musing about the next topic.  What should it be?  Well, I’ve decided.  Since I love nothing more than throwing the gates wide for everyone’s internet anger, I thought I’d weigh in on the subject of self documenting code vs comments.

I’ll be awaiting your rage below, in the comments.

Continue reading Self Documenting Code vs. Comments? Turns Out It’s Both or Neither

Visual_Studio_Enterprise_vs._Professional_Essential_Differences

Visual Studio Enterprise vs. Professional: Essential Differences

If you’re a .NET developer, then it’s overwhelmingly likely that you’re a Visual Studio user. There are alternatives to it, sure. But the product from the Redmond giant is the go-to when it comes to developing for the .NET framework.

For a newcomer, though, things can get confusing since Visual Studio isn’t a single thing.

Instead, it comes in several shapes and sizes.

Which one should you pick? What are the features that matter for your use case?

Since Visual Studio isn’t free—most editions aren’t, at least—you want to get the best bang for your buck.

That’s what this post is going to cover. As its title suggests, we’ll focus on the differences between the enterprise and professional editions of the integrated development environment (IDE).

By the end of the post, you’ll have learned enough to make an informed decision on which version of the IDE better suits your needs.

Wishing your edition of Visual Studio had full architecture tooling support?

Download a free trial of NDepend  and check out all of the architecture visualization you can get without needing to upgrade your VS edition.

Let’s get started.

Continue reading Visual Studio Enterprise vs. Professional: Essential Differences

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