ASP.NET web app versus Windows App

[dcbud]

I'm hoping to get a response from developers with experience in both
developing applications for Windows and the Web using VS.NET2005. I'm
looking for input as to why we would want to develop a web application
versus a Windows Application. I know all the standard reasons,
Availability, Easier Deployment (although that is really not an issue
any more with Windows Apps in .NET), etc, I'm looking for more better
reasons why we should develop for the web. The application we are
building is a Financials Application (Fund Accounting, AP, Payroll,
etc.) most likely to just be used within an LAN environment and the
chances of it being used outside the LAN are very minimal. It's a very
data input intensive application with alot of reporting involved. Also,
there are requirements that will require use of the local computer
resources (i.e. Printing Checks, Exporting Data to excel Spreadsheets,
Importing files from other systems, etc.). The CEO of our company will
not tolerate a slow performing application or an application that is
not easy for the user to use as far as inputting data into the system.
Our CEO wants to go Web because he thinks the User Interface will look
more "clean" and organized and that our productivity will be about the
same as if we were doing it in Windows (keep in mind that our
development experience in ASP.NET is very limited compared to our
Windows App experience). The other reason is that he feels it will give
us an edge in the market having a web app. I disagree with all of
those arguments with the exception of the market edge reason. However;
not having much experience at all in the web environment, I would like
some input from developers out there who have done really large
applications in both a web environment and a Windows App environment..
Thanks!

 

[Wiktor Zychla [C# MVP]]

I'm hoping to get a response from developers with experience in both

developing applications for Windows and the Web using VS.NET2005. I'm
looking for input as to why we would want to develop a web application
versus a Windows Application. I know all the standard reasons,
Availability, Easier Deployment (although that is really not an issue
any more with Windows Apps in .NET), etc, I'm looking for more better
reasons why we should develop for the web. The application we are
building is a Financials Application (Fund Accounting, AP, Payroll,
etc.) most likely to just be used within an LAN environment and the
chances of it being used outside the LAN are very minimal. It's a very
data input intensive application with alot of reporting involved. Also,
there are requirements that will require use of the local computer
resources (i.e. Printing Checks, Exporting Data to excel Spreadsheets,
Importing files from other systems, etc.). The CEO of our company will
not tolerate a slow performing application or an application that is
not easy for the user to use as far as inputting data into the system.
Our CEO wants to go Web because he thinks the User Interface will look
more "clean" and organized and that our productivity will be about the
same as if we were doing it in Windows (keep in mind that our
development experience in ASP.NET is very limited compared to our
Windows App experience). The other reason is that he feels it will give
us an edge in the market having a web app. I disagree with all of
those arguments with the exception of the market edge reason. However;
not having much experience at all in the web environment, I would like
some input from developers out there who have done really large
applications in both a web environment and a Windows App environment..
Thanks!

you could possibly then think of a mixed architecture - a desktop client
that uses a webservice as a data source. this could possibly mix the best of
two worlds: you have a client application with unrestricted user interface
and great responsiveness and an application server (inside or outside the
lan) that deals with the business logic layer of the system.

this "ui looks more clean" argument is rather subjective and should not be
considered seriously. as for the productivity - since you have no patterns
to follow, it could decrease dramatically!

Regards,
Wiktor Zychla

 

[Jeff]

Here are your reasons for using a Windows Forms app and NOT a Web app (in
your own words, actually):
<<..a very data input intensive application with alot of reporting involved.
Also,
.... will require use of the local computer resources (i.e. Printing Checks,
Exporting Data to excel Spreadsheets, Importing files from other systems,
etc.). The CEO of our company will not tolerate a slow performing
application or an application that is
not easy for the user to use as far as inputting data into the system.>>

Your CEO's "clean UI" argument is basically nonsense as there is nothing to
prevent a Windows Forms application from looking clean. On the contrary, it
will likely be less time consuming to create a clean UI in a Windows Forms
application than it would be in a Web application.

-FWIW

 

[Eliyahu Goldin]

our productivity will be about the

same as if we were doing it in Windows (keep in mind that our
development experience in ASP.NET is very limited compared to our
Windows App experience).

You can do very nice and effective things in Asp.Net provided you already
have few years of intensive experience filled with making mistakes, taking
ineffective decisions, redoing from the scratch etc. There is no way how you
can bypass this stage.

Eliyahu

 

[Laurent Bugnion]

Hi,

Your CEO's "clean UI" argument is basically nonsense as there is nothing to
prevent a Windows Forms application from looking clean. On the contrary, it
will likely be less time consuming to create a clean UI in a Windows Forms
application than it would be in a Web application.

-FWIW

How true! With a windows form, you know exactly what environment the
application will run on, and you know exactly how it will look like.
With a web application, however, and though CSS is much more standard in
different browsers than it used to be, you will still spend considerable
time making it look good in all the target web browsers.

Laurent

 

[Jeff]

<< There is no way how you can bypass this stage >>

SO TRUE!
If you've never developed a Web application and have only been doing Windows
Forms programming, then you are in for a huge surprise and one heckuva
learning curve. Don't be fooled by the VS.NET designer that lets you
dran-n-drop controls onto a Web page. It will look terrible unless you
hand-tweak the HTML extensively (i.e., you'll need to have expert-level
understanding of HTML just to get the page layout to look good; and once you
have that level of expertise, you'll probably want to avoid VS.NET
altogether for HTML uses [while using it exclusively for code-behind work]).
That's just HTML considerations. In addition to learning HTML, you'll need
to really understand all of the following in order to create a truly useful
ASP.NET Web application:

1. HTTP (3-way handshake, etc.)
2. The request/response model
3. state management
4. Client-side logic and scripting vs. Server-side.
5. HTML and CSS (content and layout vs. styling)
6. Browser variations and limitations
7. IIS (Web server; what role it plays and implementation decisions)

Most of that stuff is not relevant to Windows Forms applications (except
some state management considerations might be relevant).

Ask your CEO to rerun his numbers on the TCO and ROI of this thing - this
time taking into account the amount of time it will take for his/her
developers to go up the learning curve on *each* of the above-listed topic
areas. I'd suggest two years of full-time development before you're really
going to be productive with Web applications. I've been doing it for 3 years
full time and believe I'm just now *starting* to get it (I came from about
10 years of desktop client/N-tier application development before that). For
perspective Kevin Spencer, one of the Microsoft MVPs with ASP.NET has
previously pointed out that Web application development is arguably the most
difficult or challenging type of programming there is, in part because one
must master all of the things listed above. He had more to say, but that's
pretty close.

-HTH

 

[drewdr]

The other reason is that he feels it will give
us an edge in the market having a web app.

It's very hard to go against the Zeitgeist in a competitive market.