Majorsilence.Forms.WinForms 26.0.52

Majorsilence.Forms.WinForms

The System.Windows.Forms platform backend for Majorsilence.Forms — and the piece that lets a WinForms application (or a WinForms control library's consumers) adopt Majorsilence.Forms one control at a time.

Majorsilence.Forms draws all of its own controls with SkiaSharp; this package is the host underneath — real System.Windows.Forms windows, the classic Win32 message pump, native WinForms file dialogs and clipboard — with the Skia surface presented through a GDI-backed control. It is the WinForms counterpart of Majorsilence.Forms.Avalonia and Majorsilence.Forms.Uno, including their embedding direction (MajorsilenceFormsPresenter, ToWinFormsControl(), ToWinFormsForm()).

Windows-only by definition — System.Windows.Forms does not exist on macOS or Linux. Off Windows the modern-.NET targets build as an empty placeholder assembly so a cross-platform solution still compiles everywhere.

Target frameworks: net48 (classic .NET Framework 4.8 — pairs with the netstandard2.0 build of Majorsilence.Forms), plus net8.0-windows and net10.0-windows for modern .NET.

Why: migration in steps, in both directions

• A WinForms app can keep its shell, menus and forms on real WinForms while individual screens or controls move to Majorsilence.Forms — each ported piece drops back in as a standard System.Windows.Forms.Control.
• A WinForms control library can port its internals to Majorsilence.Forms while still shipping WinForms controls to its consumers, so the library migrates without forcing its consumers to.
• When everything is ported, swap this package for Majorsilence.Forms.Avalonia or Majorsilence.Forms.Uno and the same code goes cross-platform. Nothing above the backend seam changes.

Install

dotnet add package Majorsilence.Forms
dotnet add package Majorsilence.Forms.WinForms

Embed Majorsilence.Forms controls in an existing WinForms app

Drop a presenter into any WinForms form or container — the backend installs itself automatically, and the app's existing Application.Run services everything:

using Majorsilence.Forms.WinForms;

// namespace-qualified: your app has both System.Windows.Forms and Majorsilence.Forms in scope
var scene = new Majorsilence.Forms.Panel ();
scene.Controls.Add (new Majorsilence.Forms.Button { Text = "Ported button", Left = 12, Top = 12 });

System.Windows.Forms.Control host = scene.ToWinFormsControl ();   // or: new MajorsilenceFormsPresenter { Content = scene }
myWinFormsForm.Controls.Add (host);

Popups opened by the embedded content (combo dropdowns, menus, tooltips) are real borderless OS windows, and NativeControlHost works in the other direction — a real WinForms control hosted inside the Majorsilence.Forms scene.

Use a Majorsilence.Forms Form as a WinForms form

A Form's backend window under this backend is a System.Windows.Forms.Form; take it and own it:

Majorsilence.Forms.Backends.Platform.Backend = new Majorsilence.Forms.WinForms.WinFormsPlatformBackend ();

var form = new Majorsilence.Forms.Form { Text = "Ported dialog" };
System.Windows.Forms.Form native = form.ToWinFormsForm ();
native.ShowDialog (ownerWinFormsForm);   // real native-modal relationship

Run a whole Majorsilence.Forms app on WinForms

internal static class Program
{
    [STAThread]
    private static void Main ()
    {
        Majorsilence.Forms.Backends.Platform.Backend = new Majorsilence.Forms.WinForms.WinFormsPlatformBackend ();
        Majorsilence.Forms.Application.Run (new MainForm ());
    }
}

Relationship to Majorsilence.Forms.WindowsFormsInterop

Both exist for incremental migration; they solve different layers of it:

They can coexist; the presenter leaves an already-configured backend alone.

Links

• Migration guide
• Platform backends
• Documentation · Repository
• Sample: samples/EmbeddingWinForms

Licensed under the MIT License.