Majorsilence.Forms 26.11.1

Majorsilence.Forms

Take your WinForms apps cross-platform — without rewriting them.

A WinForms-style UI framework for .NET. You keep the programming model you already know — Forms, controls, event handlers, even your *.Designer.cs files — and gain Windows, macOS, and Linux, with mobile and web reachable through the backends below.

⚠️ Beta. The API is stabilizing and not every WinForms corner is covered yet. Great for new cross-platform LOB apps and for migrating real apps today — just pin your version.

Target frameworks

Majorsilence.Forms targets net8.0, net10.0, and netstandard2.0. The netstandard2.0 target lets classic .NET Framework 4.7.2+ (and Mono / older Unity) projects reference the controls, value types, layout, and ComponentResourceManager — useful during a staged migration. Note the shipping backends (Avalonia, Uno, WinForms, Headless) target net8.0+ only, so running a windowed app still needs a modern runtime; the netstandard2.0 surface is for consuming and gradually porting code. VbInteraction (the Microsoft.VisualBasic MsgBox/InputBox shim) is not included in the netstandard2.0 build.

This package needs a backend

Majorsilence.Forms contains the controls and does all its own drawing with SkiaSharp. It deliberately references no windowing toolkit, so on its own it cannot open a window. Add one backend package alongside it:

dotnet add package Majorsilence.Forms
dotnet add package Majorsilence.Forms.Avalonia   # desktop default

Minimal app

<PropertyGroup>
  <OutputType>WinExe</OutputType>
  <TargetFramework>net10.0</TargetFramework>
</PropertyGroup>

using Majorsilence.Forms;

public class MainForm : Form
{
    public MainForm ()
    {
        Text = "Hello";
        Controls.Add (new Label { Text = "Hello, Majorsilence.Forms!", Left = 20, Top = 20 });
    }
}

internal static class Program
{
    [STAThread]
    private static void Main () => Application.Run (new MainForm ());
}

Referencing Majorsilence.Forms.Avalonia is all the configuration a desktop app needs — the backend is discovered automatically. To use a different one, set it before the first window is created:

Majorsilence.Forms.Backends.Platform.Backend = new Majorsilence.Forms.Headless.HeadlessPlatformBackend ();

Or scaffold the whole thing:

dotnet new install Majorsilence.Forms.Templates
dotnet new majorsilenceforms
dotnet run

The package family

Migrating an existing WinForms app

The repo ships a majorsilence-migrate CLI that rewrites a whole solution — project files, namespaces, and System.Drawing usage — onto Majorsilence.Forms, and reports what needs a human. It can also convert incrementally with --dual-build, leaving the app buildable against real WinForms until you're ready to switch.

• Migration guide
• Compatibility matrix — what's implemented, approximated, or out of scope

Links

• Documentation — getting started, training guide, FAQ
• Live browser demo — the full control gallery, running in your browser
• Repository
• Getting started
• Platform backends
• Samples — control gallery, an Explorer clone, an Outlook clone

Licensed under the MIT License.