GOA FAQ

July 6th, 2007

GOA Toolkit FAQ

Why is GOA Toolkit subdivided into two libraries?

Our goal is that our components are as flexible as possible.
Base components requiring care in their development and maintenance are grouped in GOA Essentials. These components are at the heart of GOA Toolkit and they should not be modified without watching out.
GOA Open is built on top of GOA Essentials. It is made of height levels components such as Menu or Toolbars. They are all built the same way. If you learn how a GOA Open control is built, you may apply your knowledge on the other controls. Most of the time, GOA open Control are made of one or several GOA Essentials components on which styles have been applied.
You are free and encouraged to modify GOA Open in order its suits your needs:

  • Change the colors,
  • Remove the code and the styles of the controls you do not use,
  • Add new styles and controls.

I do not see high level controls like DataGrid, Outlook Navigation Bar or Calendar among your controls. Why?

As we have already mentioned, our goal is that our components are as flexible as possible. It is very difficult to make a very high level control -like a DataGrid- that is at the same time small, fast, flexible and with all the features that all the customers want.
Therefore, we favor the “do-it-yourself” way and we will provide the tutorials you need.
We provide all the components needed to build very high level controls but we let you build them yourself. This way, you will be able to implement at the same time all the features you need and only the feature you need.
Consequently, you will use high level controls that you will have built yourself and, therefore, you will exactly know how they work and you will be able to extend them the way you want.
Do not miss our “Controls Cooking” section (coming soon)! It will explain how to build very high level controls in a few steps. It will be the most valuable part of GOA Toolkit.

Do I have to pay royalties when distributing an application built with GOA Toolkit?

You do not need to pay any royalty to deploy the product you have built with GOA Toolkit.
Nevertheless, we ask you to buy a license for each developer using GOA Toolkit.

GOA WinForms FAQ

What is a “WinForms” or a “Windows Forms Application”?

We call a “Windows Forms Application” or a “WinForms” application an application that is written using the controls and classes provided by the System.Windows.Forms namespace of the .NET Framework. WinForms applications usually use other namespaces that are closely related to the System.Windows.Form namespace; for instance the System.ComponentModel namespace.

WinForms applications are desktop applications and are usually written using Visual Studio 2003, 2005 or 2008.

ASP.NET applications or WPF applications are not WinForms applications.

How is GOA WinForms related to “WinForms”?

GOA WinForms allows you to write web applications using controls and classes that are extremely close to the classes and controls you use when you write a WinForms desktop application. You will find in GOA WinForms the same namespaces that you use when writing WinFoms desktop application.

A developer how is used to write WinFoms desktop applications will be quickly accustomed to GOA WinForms.

How is GOA WinForms related to “ASP.NET”?

Although GOA WinForms allows you to write web applications, it is not directly related to ASP.NET. According to the GOA WinForms product you use, it is directly related to Silverlight or Flash.

Does GOA WinForms support Visual Basic?

The targeted language is C#. You should be able to use GOA WinForms for Silverlight assemblies with any language supported by Silverlight but this has not been tested yet.

What is the difference between GOA WinForms for Silverlight and GOA WinForms for Flash?

Both GOA WinForms for Silverlight and GOA WinForms for Flash allow you to create RIA (Rich Internet Application) by programming in C# using the classical Windows Forms application model.

Both products offer almost the same features. Nevertheless, one product allows you to target Microsoft Silverlight player whereas the other allows you to target the Adobe Flash player.

All the sample I have seen have a Windows XP look and feel. I would like to customize the look of my application.

By default, the controls provided by GOA WinForms have a Windows XP look and feel. Nevertheless, you can customize the look of the controls.
The look of most of the controls provided in the GOA.Windows.Forms assembly (or library) can be customized programmatically using their skinning features.
The look of the controls provided in the GOAToolkit assembly (or library) can be customized using their LayoutSettings properties.

What is the difference between GOA WinForms and GOA WinForms Professional?

Both products are available for Silverlight and Flash.

GOA WinForms offers the basic features allowing creating RIA (Rich Internet Application) by programming in C# using the classical Windows Forms application model. GOA WinForms is free.

GOA WinForms Professional offers more advanced features and controls (grid, navigation bar, advanced editing controls …). GOA WinForms Professional is not free.

I have created an application using GOA WinForms for Silverlight or GOA WinForms for Flash. May I distribute it freely?

Yes. GOA WinForms for Silverlight and GOA WinForms for Flash are free. Nevertheless, other tools that you have used to build your application may not be free or may not offer a Go-Live license at this time. If you have used Visual Studio or/and Silverlight, check the licenses of your products.

I have created an application using GOA WinForms Professional for Silverlight or GOA WinForms Professional for Flash. May I distribute it freely?

No. GOA WinForms Professional for Silverlight and GOA WinForms Professional for Flash are not free. Each developer using GOA WinForms Professional must purchase a license. Furthermore, other tools that you have used to build your application may not be free or may not offer a Go-Live license at this time. If you have used Visual Studio or/and Silverlight, check the licenses of your products.

Does GOA WinForms for Flash support Visual Studio 2008?

No. Currently, only GOA WinForms for Silverlight and GOA WinForms Professional for Silverlight support Visual Studio 2008.

Does GOA WinForms for Silverlight supports Visual Studio 2005?

No. Currently, only GOA WinForms for Flash and GOA WinForms Professional for Flash support Visual Studio 2005.

I have a Windows Form Desktop application written with Visual Studio 2005. Can I migrate it to GOA WinForms for Flash or GOA WinForms for Silverlight?

Yes, you can. However you will have to rewrite some part of your code because Web applications do not work exactly the same way desktop applications do.

The problems you will face can be categorized in four groups:

  • Web applications mainly work in asynchronous mode. When writing desktop applications you often make the assumption that the code will automatically “stops” at some points of your program. For instance, when showing a dialog box or retrieving some data from the server, you often implicitly expect that your program will wait until the process has completed before continuing. Most of the time, this is not the way Web based application are working.
  • Even if the classes provided by GOA WinForms are extremely close to their .NET counterparts, there are small differences that may imply that you will have to slightly change your code.
  • If you use Third Party libraries, they may not be available for GOA WinForms yet.
  • The way you will retrieve data will likely not be the same in your desktop application and in your web application.

I have written a WPF Desktop Application. Can I migrate it to GOA WinForms?

GOA WinForms currently does not offer any support for WPF.

Where can I find a Designer for GOA WinForms?

Currently no designer is provided with GOA WinForms.

Alternatively, you can use the designer provided with Visual Studio:

  • Create a new Windows Forms C# project in Visual Studio.
  • Use the designer to design a form.
  • Copy the code generated by the designer into your GOA WinForms form.

Note that there are some limitations:

  • You can only use controls that both exist in .NET and GOA WinForms
  • Sometimes, the code copied into GOA WinForms will not compile or work exactly as expected unless you make some (small) manual adjustment.

I often use a library of controls provided by a Third Party company in my Windows Forms Applications. Can I also use that library within GOA WinForms?

No. You cannot use that library unless the Third Party Company providing it has migrated that library to GOA WinForms.

Does GOA WinForms use its own compiler?

It depends on the product.

GOA WinForms for Silverlight is mainly a set of assemblies. You will use these assemblies in your program and compile it using the compiler provided with .NET.

GOA WinForms for Flash is a set of libraries and a C# compiler. The swf file (“executable” Flash file) will be built from your C# code using the GOA WinForms compiler.

Does the compiler provided with GOA WinForms for Flash supports C# 3.5?

No. The compiler provided with GOA WinForms for Flash is closely related to C# 1.0.

Do you plan to provide C# 2.0 or C# 3.0 features in the next release of GOA WinForms for Flash?

No. The compiler is regularly improved but we do not plan to add support for C# 2.0 or C# 3.0 soon.

In the properties of my GOA WinForms for Flash project, I have seen that I can target Flash 7 or Flash 9. What is the best target?

If you target Flash 9, the swf generated will run a lot faster but it will not be compatible with the earlier version of the Flash Player.

GOA WinForms is Beta. Why is GOA WinForms Professional Alpha?

We do not expect to modify the API of the libraries provided with GOA WinForms until the final release.
The API of the libraries provided with GOA WinForms Professional may still slightly change before the final release.

What is the best way to debug a GOA WinForms for Flash application?

There is no debugger provided with GOA WinForms for Flash. You can use the tool classes provided in System.Diagnostics.
Another way is to run your code with GOA WinForms for Silverlight. In this case, you can use the debugger provided by Visual Studio 2008.

Two years ago, I have written a control that inherits from System.Windows.Forms.Control. I use it in most of my desktop application. Can I migrate that control to GOA WinForms?

Yes, you can migrate it. Nevertheless, the way to paint on the screen is not the same if you target Windows or if you target a player (Flash or Silverlight). Consequently, the classes in the System.Drawing namespace are not the same in GOA WinForms and in .NET. Therefore, you will need to rewrite the painting process of your control.

How is GOA WinForms for Flash related to Flex?

Both products target Adobe Flash Player. Flex developers use ActionScript, Eclipse, and the Flex Framework and compiler. GOA WinForms developers use C#, Visual Studio, a set of libraries which provide a large subset of the Microsoft .NET Framework and the compiler provided by GOA WinForms.

Does the GOA WinForms for Flash compiler generate ActionScript code?

No. The GOA WinForms compiler natively generates swf file (Flash “executable” file) from C# code. It does not generate ActionScript code.

Where can I find technical documentation?

The NETiKA TECH community site is dedicated to offer technical support.
QuickStarts documentation are also available for Silverlight and Flash. You can access GOA WinForms librairies References at http://community.netikatech.com/doc/.

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