Welcome to WinUI
WinUI is the modern, native UI platform for all Windows apps. It provides a comprehensive suite of powerful, flexible, and accessible UI components and patterns, enabling developers to build beautiful, high-performance applications for Windows 10 and Windows 11.
What is WinUI?
WinUI is the latest evolution of Windows UI development, designed to empower developers to create engaging and intuitive user experiences. It's a unified platform that brings together the best of Fluent Design principles with modern development practices.
- Native Performance: Built on top of DirectX and XAML, WinUI offers exceptional performance and responsiveness.
- Fluent Design System: Embrace the modern look and feel of Windows with rich typography, motion, depth, and materials.
- Rich Controls: Access a vast library of pre-built, customizable UI controls, from basic elements like buttons and text boxes to complex layouts and data grids.
- Accessibility: Designed with inclusivity in mind, ensuring your apps are usable by everyone.
- Cross-Platform Capabilities: While primarily for Windows, WinUI technologies are evolving to support broader Windows development scenarios.
Key Features and Concepts
WinUI leverages XAML for declarative UI layout, allowing you to describe your application's user interface in a structured and readable way. C# or C++ can be used for the application logic.
XAML: The Language of UI
XAML (Extensible Application Markup Language) is an XML-based markup language used to define user interfaces. It's what makes WinUI development so intuitive and visual.
<Grid>
<TextBlock Text="Hello, WinUI!" FontSize="24" HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center"/>
</Grid>
Core Controls and Components
WinUI provides a rich set of controls designed for modern applications:
- Layout Panels:
Grid
,StackPanel
,RelativePanel
for organizing your UI elements. - Content Controls:
Button
,TextBlock
,Image
,Border
for displaying various types of content. - Items Controls:
ListView
,GridView
,ComboBox
for displaying collections of data. - Input Controls:
TextBox
,CheckBox
,RadioButton
,Slider
for user input. - Navigation Controls:
NavigationView
,Pivot
,Frame
for managing application navigation.
Styling and Templating
Customize the appearance of your controls extensively using Styles and Control Templates. This allows you to create a unique brand identity for your applications.
Data Binding
WinUI's powerful data binding system allows you to connect your UI elements to your data sources efficiently, simplifying data management and UI updates.
Getting Started with WinUI
To begin building WinUI applications, you'll need Visual Studio with the Windows App SDK development workload installed. You can then create a new project and select a WinUI template.
For detailed instructions, please refer to the Getting Started guide.