WinUI 3 Overview

Welcome to the official documentation for Windows UI Library 3 (WinUI 3). WinUI is the modern native UI platform for building Windows applications. It provides a rich set of controls, styling, and features designed for beautiful, performant, and accessible user experiences.

What is WinUI 3?

WinUI 3 is the latest iteration of the Windows UI development framework. It's a distinct project from WinUI 2.x which was limited to UWP apps. WinUI 3 can be used with desktop applications built with Win32 (using the WinUI 3 in Desktop project template) or with UWP applications. This unified approach allows developers to leverage the latest UI advancements across different application types on Windows.

Key Features and Benefits:

Modern Controls: Access to a comprehensive library of up-to-date UI controls that adhere to Fluent Design principles.
Performance: Optimized for speed and efficiency, ensuring smooth and responsive user interfaces.
Accessibility: Built with accessibility at its core, making your applications usable by everyone.
Styling and Theming: Powerful tools for customizing the look and feel of your application, including light and dark modes, accent colors, and custom styles.
XAML-based: Leverages XAML (Extensible Application Markup Language) for declarative UI definition, enabling rapid development and clear separation of concerns.
C# and C++ Support: Develop using your preferred language.

Getting Started with WinUI 3

The quickest way to start is by creating a new project in Visual Studio. WinUI 3 includes project templates that simplify the setup process.

For new projects, we recommend using the "WinUI 3 in Desktop" template. This template sets up a Win32 application that uses WinUI 3 for its UI.

Tip: Ensure you have the latest version of Visual Studio installed with the "Universal Windows Platform development" and ".NET desktop development" workloads. You'll also need the Windows App SDK extension.

Core Concepts

Understanding these core concepts will help you build robust WinUI 3 applications:

XAML: The declarative language used to define the UI structure and layout.
Controls: The building blocks of your UI, such as Button, TextBox, ListView, and more.
Layout Panels: Used to arrange controls on the screen, including Grid, StackPanel, and RelativePanel.
Data Binding: A powerful mechanism to synchronize data between your UI elements and your application's data model.
Styles and Resources: Mechanisms for defining reusable visual properties and templates.

Example: A Simple Button in XAML

                
                    <Button Content="Click Me" HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Center">
                        <!-- Button content goes here, e.g. an Icon -->
                    </Button>

Learn More

Dive deeper into specific areas of WinUI 3:

This overview provides a starting point. The rest of this documentation will guide you through the intricacies of building modern Windows applications with WinUI 3.