The Trees The Fork Oak Day70 - Porting WPF App to Core

Porting a dotnet framework WPF app to dotnet core

2019-04-21
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Today I completed the porting work to move my old version of Traffic Control from dotnet framework to the new dotnet core preview. This lets me greatly simplify the project system and benefit from the performance improvements in dotnet core. Further, since dotnet core is where most of the innovation has been happening in .net land, its kinda the place to be at this point.

Porting a dotnet framework application (let alone a WPF app) is relatively straightforward, and more a manner of subtraction than rewriting. I will try to summarize in this post the general process.

To port over netframework app, you first need to have a cursory understanding of the anatomy of a csproj file. The new style csproj files have a streamlined the process significantly and made editing these files directly much more viable. In the process they have populated many of the properties that existed in old project files with sane defaults so that most of the time they can be omitted completely. What follows is a section by section conversion.

Project Tag

Old:

  <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<Project ToolsVersion="15.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003">

New:

  <Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk.WindowsDesktop">

Old style projects required an XML version tag, a ToolsVersion, and a URL to the schema description. The new style projects ignore the XML version, and populate the ToolsVersion and schema automatically depending on the Sdk property. The Sdk also tells msbuild where to import the default props and targets for csharp projects later on down the line.

Props and COnfiguration

Old:

  <Import Project="$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\Microsoft.Common.props" Condition="Exists('$(MSBuildExtensionsPath)\$(MSBuildToolsVersion)\Microsoft.Common.props')" />
<PropertyGroup>
  <Configuration Condition=" '$(Configuration)' == '' ">Debug</Configuration>
  <TargetPlatformVersion>8.1</TargetPlatformVersion>
  <Platform Condition=" '$(Platform)' == '' ">x64</Platform>
  <ProjectGuid>{81100206-5E00-4110-A875-6F75C4983D90}</ProjectGuid>
  <OutputType>WinExe</OutputType>
  <RootNamespace>TrafficControl</RootNamespace>
  <AssemblyName>TrafficControl</AssemblyName>
  <TargetFrameworkVersion>v4.7.2</TargetFrameworkVersion>
  <FileAlignment>512</FileAlignment>
  <ProjectTypeGuids>{60dc8134-eba5-43b8-bcc9-bb4bc16c2548};{FAE04EC0-301F-11D3-BF4B-00C04F79EFBC}</ProjectTypeGuids>
  <WarningLevel>4</WarningLevel>
  <AutoGenerateBindingRedirects>true</AutoGenerateBindingRedirects>
  <NuGetPackageImportStamp>
  </NuGetPackageImportStamp>
</PropertyGroup>
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Debug|x64'">
  <DebugSymbols>true</DebugSymbols>
  <OutputPath>bin\x64\Debug\</OutputPath>
  <DefineConstants>DEBUG;TRACE</DefineConstants>
  <DebugType>full</DebugType>
  <PlatformTarget>x64</PlatformTarget>
  <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
  <CodeAnalysisRuleSet>MinimumRecommendedRules.ruleset</CodeAnalysisRuleSet>
  <Prefer32Bit>true</Prefer32Bit>
  <LangVersion>latest</LangVersion>
</PropertyGroup>
<PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)|$(Platform)' == 'Release|x64'">
  <OutputPath>bin\x64\Release\</OutputPath>
  <DefineConstants>TRACE</DefineConstants>
  <Optimize>true</Optimize>
  <DebugType>pdbonly</DebugType>
  <PlatformTarget>x64</PlatformTarget>
  <ErrorReport>prompt</ErrorReport>
  <CodeAnalysisRuleSet>MinimumRecommendedRules.ruleset</CodeAnalysisRuleSet>
  <Prefer32Bit>true</Prefer32Bit>
</PropertyGroup>

New:

  <PropertyGroup>
  <OutputType>WinExe</OutputType>
  <TargetFramework>netcoreapp3.0</TargetFramework>
  <RuntimeIdentifier>win10-x64</RuntimeIdentifier>
  <UseWpf>true</UseWpf>
</PropertyGroup>

Old style projects required a ton of misc configuration which almost never changed from project to project. So when the MsBuild team got the chance to rework things, these were the first to go. In new style projects configuration and platform specific properties are no longer needed. Similarly, much of the complexity in specifying what framework and platforms to build for have been cleaned up.

Now the OutputType specifies what kind of asset to build (dll or exe), the target framework specifies what libraries to build for, and the runtime identifier specifies what platforms to build for. In my case I also added a UseWpf property to tell the default targets to compile xaml properly.

Lastly, old style projects also required a referenced to the Microsoft.Common.props file in every project. Now the correct properties are imported based on the project Sdk removing the need for the extra boilerplate.

References

Old:

  <ItemGroup>
  <Reference Include="Caliburn.Micro, Version=3.2.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=8e5891231f2ed21f, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
    <HintPath>..\packages\Caliburn.Micro.Core.3.2.0\lib\net45\Caliburn.Micro.dll</HintPath>
  </Reference>
  <Reference Include="Caliburn.Micro.Platform, Version=3.2.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=8e5891231f2ed21f, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
    <HintPath>..\packages\Caliburn.Micro.3.2.0\lib\net45\Caliburn.Micro.Platform.dll</HintPath>
  </Reference>
  <Reference Include="Caliburn.Micro.Platform.Core, Version=3.2.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=8e5891231f2ed21f, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
    <HintPath>..\packages\Caliburn.Micro.3.2.0\lib\net45\Caliburn.Micro.Platform.Core.dll</HintPath>
  </Reference>
  <Reference Include="DeltaCompressionDotNet, Version=1.1.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=1d14d6e5194e7f4a, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
    <HintPath>..\packages\DeltaCompressionDotNet.1.1.0\lib\net20\DeltaCompressionDotNet.dll</HintPath>
  </Reference>
  <Reference Include="DeltaCompressionDotNet.MsDelta, Version=1.1.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=46b2138a390abf55, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
    <HintPath>..\packages\DeltaCompressionDotNet.1.1.0\lib\net20\DeltaCompressionDotNet.MsDelta.dll</HintPath>
  </Reference>
  <Reference Include="DeltaCompressionDotNet.PatchApi, Version=1.1.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=3e8888ee913ed789, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
    <HintPath>..\packages\DeltaCompressionDotNet.1.1.0\lib\net20\DeltaCompressionDotNet.PatchApi.dll</HintPath>
  </Reference>
  <Reference Include="Mono.Cecil, Version=0.9.6.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=0738eb9f132ed756, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
    <HintPath>..\packages\Mono.Cecil.0.9.6.1\lib\net45\Mono.Cecil.dll</HintPath>
  </Reference>
  <Reference Include="Mono.Cecil.Mdb, Version=0.9.6.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=0738eb9f132ed756, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
    <HintPath>..\packages\Mono.Cecil.0.9.6.1\lib\net45\Mono.Cecil.Mdb.dll</HintPath>
  </Reference>
  <Reference Include="Mono.Cecil.Pdb, Version=0.9.6.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=0738eb9f132ed756, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
    <HintPath>..\packages\Mono.Cecil.0.9.6.1\lib\net45\Mono.Cecil.Pdb.dll</HintPath>
  </Reference>
  <Reference Include="Mono.Cecil.Rocks, Version=0.9.6.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=0738eb9f132ed756, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
    <HintPath>..\packages\Mono.Cecil.0.9.6.1\lib\net45\Mono.Cecil.Rocks.dll</HintPath>
  </Reference>
  <Reference Include="NHotkey, Version=1.2.1.0, Culture=neutral, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
    <HintPath>..\packages\NHotkey.1.2.1\lib\net20\NHotkey.dll</HintPath>
  </Reference>
  <Reference Include="NHotkey.Wpf, Version=1.2.1.0, Culture=neutral, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
    <HintPath>..\packages\NHotkey.Wpf.1.2.1\lib\net35\NHotkey.Wpf.dll</HintPath>
  </Reference>
  <Reference Include="NuGet.Squirrel, Version=3.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
    <HintPath>..\packages\squirrel.windows.1.9.0\lib\Net45\NuGet.Squirrel.dll</HintPath>
  </Reference>
  <Reference Include="PropertyChanged, Version=2.5.11.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=ee3ee20bcf148ddd, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
    <HintPath>..\packages\PropertyChanged.Fody.2.5.11\lib\net452\PropertyChanged.dll</HintPath>
  </Reference>
  <Reference Include="SharpCompress, Version=0.17.1.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=afb0a02973931d96, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
    <HintPath>..\packages\SharpCompress.0.17.1\lib\net45\SharpCompress.dll</HintPath>
  </Reference>
  <Reference Include="Splat, Version=1.6.2.0, Culture=neutral, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
    <HintPath>..\packages\Splat.1.6.2\lib\Net45\Splat.dll</HintPath>
  </Reference>
  <Reference Include="Squirrel, Version=1.9.0.0, Culture=neutral, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
    <HintPath>..\packages\squirrel.windows.1.9.0\lib\Net45\Squirrel.dll</HintPath>
  </Reference>
  <Reference Include="System" />
  <Reference Include="System.Data" />
  <Reference Include="System.Drawing" />
  <Reference Include="System.Windows.Forms" />
  <Reference Include="System.Windows.Interactivity, Version=4.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
    <HintPath>..\packages\Caliburn.Micro.3.2.0\lib\net45\System.Windows.Interactivity.dll</HintPath>
  </Reference>
  <Reference Include="System.Xml" />
  <Reference Include="Microsoft.CSharp" />
  <Reference Include="System.Core" />
  <Reference Include="System.Xml.Linq" />
  <Reference Include="System.Data.DataSetExtensions" />
  <Reference Include="System.Net.Http" />
  <Reference Include="System.Xaml">
    <RequiredTargetFramework>4.0</RequiredTargetFramework>
  </Reference>
  <Reference Include="WindowsBase" />
  <Reference Include="PresentationCore" />
  <Reference Include="PresentationFramework" />
</ItemGroup>

New:

  <ItemGroup>
  <PackageReference Include="Caliburn.Micro" Version="3.2.0.0" />
  <PackageReference Include="NHotkey.Wpf" Version="1.2.1.0" />
  <PackageReference Include="PropertyChanged.Fody" Version="2.5.11.0" />
</ItemGroup>
<ItemGroup>
  <Reference Include="System" />
  <Reference Include="System.Data" />
  <Reference Include="System.Windows.Interactivity, Version=4.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35, processorArchitecture=MSIL">
    <HintPath>..\packages\Caliburn.Micro.3.2.0\lib\net45\System.Windows.Interactivity.dll</HintPath>
  </Reference>
  <Reference Include="System.Xml" />
  <Reference Include="Microsoft.CSharp" />
  <Reference Include="System.Core" />
  <Reference Include="System.Xml.Linq" />
  <Reference Include="System.Data.DataSetExtensions" />
  <Reference Include="System.Net.Http" />
  <Reference Include="System.Xaml">
    <RequiredTargetFramework>4.0</RequiredTargetFramework>
  </Reference>
  <Reference Include="WindowsBase" />
  <Reference Include="PresentationCore" />
  <Reference Include="PresentationFramework" />
</ItemGroup>

The next biggest change is the way Nuget packages are referenced. In old style projects, the Nuget package is referenced with a standard assembly Reference. This required hinting the location of the reference, and adding a bunch of verification information to make sure the correct assembly is selected.

Further installing of packages required a package.config file which specified how and where to download which packages. The process was fragile and would frequently get confused if the packages every got out of sync.

New style projects use a new tag called PackageReference which specifies the assembly reference and which package to pull down all at once. It simplifies the process and makes it human editable instead of having to look up obscure properties of the installed package.

CSharp File List

Old:

  <ItemGroup>
  <Compile Include="BrowserManager.cs" />
  <Compile Include="CompletionUtils.cs" />
  <Compile Include="Events.cs" />
  <Compile Include="InputManager.cs" />
  <Compile Include="PipManager.cs" />
  <Compile Include="UpdateFlagUtils.cs" />
  <Compile Include="WindowsUtils.cs" />
  <Compile Include="TrafficControl.cs" />
  <Compile Include="ViewModels\BrowserViewModel.cs" />
  <Compile Include="ViewModels\HelpViewModel.cs" />
  <Compile Include="ViewModels\PipViewModel.cs" />
  <Page Include="Views\HelpView.xaml">
    <Generator>MSBuild:Compile</Generator>
    <SubType>Designer</SubType>
  </Page>
  <Page Include="Views\CompletionResultView.xaml">
    <SubType>Designer</SubType>
    <Generator>MSBuild:Compile</Generator>
  </Page>
  <Page Include="Views\InputBoxView.xaml">
    <SubType>Designer</SubType>
    <Generator>MSBuild:Compile</Generator>
  </Page>
  <Content Include="FodyWeavers.xml">
    <SubType>Designer</SubType>
  </Content>
  <Compile Include="Bootstrapper.cs" />
  <Compile Include="Input\KeySequence.cs" />
  <Compile Include="Input\KeyTrigger.cs" />
  <Compile Include="Input\MultiKeyGesture.cs" />
  <Compile Include="Input\MultiKeyGestureConverter.cs" />
  <Compile Include="ViewModels\CompletionResultViewModel.cs" />
  <Compile Include="ViewModels\InputBoxViewModel.cs" />
  <Page Include="Views\BrowserView.xaml">
    <Generator>MSBuild:Compile</Generator>
    <SubType>Designer</SubType>
  </Page>
  <Page Include="Views\PipView.xaml">
    <SubType>Designer</SubType>
    <Generator>MSBuild:Compile</Generator>
  </Page>
</ItemGroup>
<ItemGroup>
  <Compile Include="Properties\AssemblyInfo.cs">
    <SubType>Code</SubType>
  </Compile>
  <Compile Include="Properties\Resources.Designer.cs">
    <AutoGen>True</AutoGen>
    <DesignTime>True</DesignTime>
    <DependentUpon>Resources.resx</DependentUpon>
  </Compile>
  <Compile Include="Properties\Settings.Designer.cs">
    <AutoGen>True</AutoGen>
    <DependentUpon>Settings.settings</DependentUpon>
    <DesignTimeSharedInput>True</DesignTimeSharedInput>
  </Compile>
  <EmbeddedResource Include="Properties\Resources.resx">
    <Generator>ResXFileCodeGenerator</Generator>
    <LastGenOutput>Resources.Designer.cs</LastGenOutput>
  </EmbeddedResource>
  <None Include="packages.config" />
  <None Include="Properties\Settings.settings">
    <Generator>SettingsSingleFileGenerator</Generator>
    <LastGenOutput>Settings.Designer.cs</LastGenOutput>
  </None>
</ItemGroup>

New:

Nothing

Old style projects required listing every file added to the old style project along with what the compiler should do for each one. In contrast, new style projects will automatically populate the list of files to compile by adding the appropriate action for every file in the directory containing the csproj file automatically. The result is that all of the boilerplate goes away and you only need to list files that should have non default handling. This is a HUGE win.

Targets

Old: 

  <Import Project="$(MSBuildToolsPath)\Microsoft.CSharp.targets" />
  <Import Project="..\packages\Fody.3.2.4\build\Fody.targets" Condition="Exists('..\packages\Fody.3.2.4\build\Fody.targets')" />
  <Target Name="EnsureNuGetPackageBuildImports" BeforeTargets="PrepareForBuild">
    <PropertyGroup>
      <ErrorText>This project references NuGet package(s) that are missing on this computer. Use NuGet Package Restore to download them.  For more information, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=322105. The missing file is {0}.</ErrorText>
    </PropertyGroup>
    <Error Condition="!Exists('..\packages\Fody.3.2.4\build\Fody.targets')" Text="$([System.String]::Format('$(ErrorText)', '..\packages\Fody.3.2.4\build\Fody.targets'))" />
    <Error Condition="!Exists('..\packages\cef.redist.x64.3.3396.1786\build\cef.redist.x64.props')" Text="$([System.String]::Format('$(ErrorText)', '..\packages\cef.redist.x64.3.3396.1786\build\cef.redist.x64.props'))" />
    <Error Condition="!Exists('..\packages\cef.redist.x86.3.3396.1786\build\cef.redist.x86.props')" Text="$([System.String]::Format('$(ErrorText)', '..\packages\cef.redist.x86.3.3396.1786\build\cef.redist.x86.props'))" />
    <Error Condition="!Exists('..\packages\CefSharp.Common.67.0.0\build\CefSharp.Common.props')" Text="$([System.String]::Format('$(ErrorText)', '..\packages\CefSharp.Common.67.0.0\build\CefSharp.Common.props'))" />
    <Error Condition="!Exists('..\packages\CefSharp.Common.67.0.0\build\CefSharp.Common.targets')" Text="$([System.String]::Format('$(ErrorText)', '..\packages\CefSharp.Common.67.0.0\build\CefSharp.Common.targets'))" />
    <Error Condition="!Exists('..\packages\CefSharp.Wpf.67.0.0\build\CefSharp.Wpf.props')" Text="$([System.String]::Format('$(ErrorText)', '..\packages\CefSharp.Wpf.67.0.0\build\CefSharp.Wpf.props'))" />
    <Error Condition="!Exists('..\packages\CefSharp.Wpf.67.0.0\build\CefSharp.Wpf.targets')" Text="$([System.String]::Format('$(ErrorText)', '..\packages\CefSharp.Wpf.67.0.0\build\CefSharp.Wpf.targets'))" />
  </Target>
  <Import Project="..\packages\CefSharp.Common.67.0.0\build\CefSharp.Common.targets" Condition="Exists('..\packages\CefSharp.Common.67.0.0\build\CefSharp.Common.targets')" />
  <Import Project="..\packages\CefSharp.Wpf.67.0.0\build\CefSharp.Wpf.targets" Condition="Exists('..\packages\CefSharp.Wpf.67.0.0\build\CefSharp.Wpf.targets')" />
</Project>

New:

Nothing

Similarly to the file list, new style projects do not require any imports as they are imported automatically. Old style projects required importing a standard CSharp target and any targets that a nuget package might provide. New style projects do this automatically and provide a mechanism for nuget packages to specify imports as well which will get automatically included. Another big win for readability.

Summary

Thats it! The entire process cut down a 204 line csproj file to just 40 succinct and understandable lines. Along with the easier readability, new style files are also editable while the project is open and allow targeting old framework and new simultaneously.

As for the actual Traffic Control project, I had to tear out a number of pieces to get things working on netcore. The browser control I had been using: CefSharp does not support netcore, so I had to remove my picture in picture utility. Similarly the installer I had does not support netcore integration beyond the integration of any non dotnet app, so I also went ahead and teared it out. This removes a number of useful features, but I get back the ability to publish a standalone application directory, so installation is simpler. Further I am planning on pulling out the commands from the traffic control application anyways in favor of having tools register themselves in a central listing.

Thats it for today. I ported Traffic Control to netcore, and paved the way for the plugin api next time.

Till tomorrow
Kaylee