Welcome to .NET Desktop Development

This section of the documentation provides comprehensive guides, tutorials, and API references for developing desktop applications using the .NET platform. .NET offers powerful and flexible frameworks for building rich, native user experiences on Windows.

Whether you're creating business applications, engaging games, or productivity tools, .NET provides the tools and technologies to bring your ideas to life.

Key Desktop Technologies

Explore the primary technologies available for .NET desktop development:

  • Windows Forms (WinForms): A mature and widely-used framework for building Windows desktop applications with a visual designer and event-driven programming model. Learn More about WinForms
  • Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF): A more modern framework for building visually stunning and data-driven Windows desktop applications using XAML for UI definition and a powerful data binding system. Learn More about WPF
  • .NET MAUI (Multi-platform App UI): The evolution of Xamarin.Forms, .NET MAUI allows you to build native applications for Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android from a single codebase. Learn More about .NET MAUI
  • Native Interoperability: For advanced scenarios, .NET provides mechanisms to interact with native Windows APIs and libraries. Explore Native Interop

Getting Started

To start developing .NET desktop applications, you'll need:

  • The latest .NET SDK installed.
  • A capable Integrated Development Environment (IDE) such as Visual Studio.

Check out our quickstart guides to build your first application:

View Quickstarts

Core Concepts

Understand the fundamental concepts that underpin .NET desktop development:

  • UI Design (XAML, Designer)
  • Event Handling
  • Data Binding
  • Layout and Controls
  • Application Architecture
  • Deployment and Packaging

Resources

Discover helpful resources to aid your development journey: