New project - should I consider MAUI Blazor Hybrid + Web?

[Neal]

The choice of tools these days is daunting. I'm starting a rewrite of a legacy VB6 application and as a small team these days, having to deal with Windows, Web, Mobile, and probably Mac is almost to the point of wanting to give up. My dream has been a feature rich Desktop app such as in WPF with DevExpress's suite of controls. But I think most these days want mobile first and regardless, mobile is almost a requirement in this day and age. I thought of just going web and that would cover cross platform but it's not really the standalone mobile experience or really handling offline scenarios. So I'm dabbling in the new project template that just came out in Visual Studio 2022 17.12 which is the MAUI Blazor Hybrid + Web which pretty much covers all platforms.

I enjoy ASP.NET Core and Razor pages so this architecture all based on Razor is exciting. I certainly have a lot to learn with it as it's a bit different from ASP.NET Core Razor (MVC) that I'm used to but it appears exciting. However, it's a very different mindset and you have to re-imagine your app's UI unfortunately, or fortunately, I don't know. My dream of an amazing WPF Desktop experience with rich grids, dock panels, etc. is probably a "yesterday" thing and I don't have the manpower to do a separate WPF app. However, maybe using the blazor hybrid to incorporate Razor into a WPF app could be an option but unlikely due to just more stuff to keep up with. I think if a great mobile app is created, that's 90% of it, a web experience is great, desktop on Mac and Windows will be a little different due to the Blazor Hybrid I believe.

My concern is how an app will be accepted in this containerized web view experience. I guess time will tell.

I'm curious what other devs think about creating apps going forward that are containerized in Blazor WebViews? What is your opinion on a new project replacing a legacy desktop app with MAUI Blazor Hybrid?

Gone are the days of just creating Desktop or Web apps!

 

[Skydiver]

If these were back in the "imbedded HTML" days in the early 2000's I would have quoted the Knights in Monty Python: "Run away! Runs away!"

But with what can be achieved with newer frameworks, the illusion of a rich desktop app can be extended a bit more. But the illusion is still limited. Consider how new Outlook just doesn't "feel right".

 

[Skydiver]

This was an interesting comment regarding Blazor Hybrid. (The primary thread is about WinUI 3 being dead, undead, mostly dead, on life support, etc.)

https://github.com/microsoft/microsoft-ui-xaml/discussions/9417#discussioncomment-11354468

 

[Neal]

Thank you for pointing me to the specific comment, wow, what a discussion. What I gather from that message is what usually happens with somewhat new technology, resistance. I was late to .NET, I didn't want to leave VB and ActiveX. I to this day have never used XAML, always intimidated by the learning curve, and of course now I want to use it although I wonder if WPF is as dead as WinUI per that discussion? What is really the future for Windows development? I'm a bit baffled in where we are these days. Winforms seems to continue to be strong, I loved my work in Winforms, but I don't think it's the right answer today other than using what you know, which should probably always rank pretty high.

Back to MAUI Blazor Hybrid + Web. I've continued to dabble in my project and feel it is the right direction. To be able to create an app architecture out of the box that runs on Windows, Web, Mac, iOS, and Android seems like a really nice opportunity. Having recently completed a website using ASP.NET Core / Razor I'm quite familiar with razor pages but have to learn the Blazor twist. But I enjoy the razor syntax. My fear is someone like Apple does something that blocks a Blazor app and then what? Both iOS and macOS could be affected.

As a one man business with some small contract help, there is no way I can do Win, Mac, Web, iOS, and Android in a seeming lifetime. My dream would be an amazing Windows desktop app, that's what my success has been since the 90's. But the stats show a significant majority of app use is mobile, not desktop or even web from what I've seen. Correct me if wrong. I have two native apps in the app stores (iOS and Android) now and neither can I do great with, I keep them stable and updated at best. It's hard to grasp the annual changes from both Apple and Google. Maybe MAUI Blazor is the answer? As of this scribbling, this is the direction I'm going with my new app. We'll see how it goes.

 

[Neal]

Consider how new Outlook just doesn't "feel right".

I use the classic Outlook as many do I'm sure because it's a monster that has so much to offer as we've all come to know for many years. From your comment I decided to look at the Outlook (new) and it's actually a very nice app. While I prefer all the bloated heavy nonsense in the classic, if this is in fact Blazor I'd say it is promising. So far I've enjoyed the dabbling I've done in MAUI Blazor Hybrid and feel good that it's the right direction for me on this new endeavor.

 

[Skydiver]

I don't think New Outlook is Blazor, but at the same time, it also doesn't feel like Electron, either. I think it's something that is Blazor-like, but I've long since lost touch with various Outlook devs.

 

[cjard]

I really like plain Blazor dev at the mo, found a nice lib (MudBlazor) with effective and pretty controls and I appreciate the simplicity of being able to write for multiple targets just by using a couple of UI variations based on the screen size, all made simple by bootstrap's "if the screen size e is small, make this textbox 12 columns wide, else make it 6 columns" type logic

What do you need your app to do that limits it to a local run context? Some connected hardware device the browser couldn't be coerced into talking to?

 

[Skydiver]

or really handling offline scenarios

I think this is one of the limitations of a "local run context".

I recently got on 4 hours plane flight without WiFi. I found VS and VS Code mostly crippled while trying to start a new project. At least I could still edit an existing project.

 

[Neal]

What do you need your app to do that limits it to a local run context? Some connected hardware device the browser couldn't be coerced into talking to?

My customers are pilots, many of which are airline pilots and Internet is not always an option and most airports it horrendously sucks as for some reason like hospitals they don't put cell towers in or near it seems. Continually improving as we all know...just have to plan for the worst.

 

[Skydiver]

Is Ryan Farran (aka "Missionary Bush Pilot" of YouTube fame) one of your customers?

 

[Neal]

Is Ryan Farran (aka "Missionary Bush Pilot" of YouTube fame) one of your customers?

I've watched his videos, no clue on whether or not he's my customer, nor could I probably say so

 

[Skydiver]

No problem at all.

I just wanted highlight how some places have very little Internet connectivity, as well as, how he uses his iPad for planning his trips.

 

[Neal]

Absolutely, if I wrote an app that required an Internet connection to use it would not succeed.