Making a Application (.NET/C#) truely platform independant

[Champika Nirosh]

Hi All,

We have a windows from application written in C#, there we have used Browser
COM and other basic libraries present in standard .NET/C# SDK. So the next
part is to make this appliaction available to Unix and Mac platform. I have
couple of questions here

1. What are the possibilities we have of doing some thing like this?
2. What are the technical chalenges we will face of doing this?
3. What are the direct indirect solution we have to achive our goal?
4. What short of support we can get from MONO, ROTOR, and WINE?

Please shade some light on these ........ I really appreciate it..
Add what ever comment you have becos we deadly need lots of ideas.

Thanks,
Regards,
Nirosh.

[Arthur Mnev]

1.Possibilities are very very high - Ximian is working on Mono project,
which is .NET framework for linux; I do cross windows / linux programming
and thus far it works and in some cases better then microsofts:)
2. Mac -... not sure about that, but considering that mac is running BSD
underneath, would not be surprised if Mono compiles there as well.
3. I have fears that .NET soon will be the only cross platform solution as
it looks like Sun might take Java down with it (would be a shame but hey -
that is another camp)
4. With Novell getting involved into Linux (and their recent purchase of
SuSe) they got to move somewhere (surely all of their products will move to
linux) but I would not be surprised if they start working on something that
will differentiate them from the rest of distributions (i.e. .NET? - this is
as wild guess as it gets.)
5. If you do develop cross platform get ready for the pain (no pivoke CLR
compliant code only)

"Champika Nirosh" <cn*****@textce ntric.lk> wrote in message
news:%2******** ********@TK2MSF TNGP11.phx.gbl. ..

Hi All,

We have a windows from application written in C#, there we have used Browser COM and other basic libraries present in standard .NET/C# SDK. So the next
part is to make this appliaction available to Unix and Mac platform. I have couple of questions here

1. What are the possibilities we have of doing some thing like this?
2. What are the technical chalenges we will face of doing this?
3. What are the direct indirect solution we have to achive our goal?
4. What short of support we can get from MONO, ROTOR, and WINE?

Please shade some light on these ........ I really appreciate it..
Add what ever comment you have becos we deadly need lots of ideas.

Thanks,
Regards,
Nirosh.

[Champika Nirosh]

Thanks Arthur for your detailful comment

"Arthur Mnev" <ar********@opt online-no-spam.net> wrote in message
news:u9******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP10.phx.gbl...

1.Possibilities are very very high - Ximian is working on Mono project,
which is .NET framework for linux; I do cross windows / linux programming
and thus far it works and in some cases better then microsofts:)
2. Mac -... not sure about that, but considering that mac is running BSD
underneath, would not be surprised if Mono compiles there as well.
3. I have fears that .NET soon will be the only cross platform solution as
it looks like Sun might take Java down with it (would be a shame but hey -
that is another camp)
4. With Novell getting involved into Linux (and their recent purchase of
SuSe) they got to move somewhere (surely all of their products will move to linux) but I would not be surprised if they start working on something that will differentiate them from the rest of distributions (i.e. .NET? - this is as wild guess as it gets.)
5. If you do develop cross platform get ready for the pain (no pivoke CLR
compliant code only)

"Champika Nirosh" <cn*****@textce ntric.lk> wrote in message
news:%2******** ********@TK2MSF TNGP11.phx.gbl. ..

Hi All,

We have a windows from application written in C#, there we have used

Browser

COM and other basic libraries present in standard .NET/C# SDK. So the next part is to make this appliaction available to Unix and Mac platform. I

have

couple of questions here

1. What are the possibilities we have of doing some thing like this?
2. What are the technical chalenges we will face of doing this?
3. What are the direct indirect solution we have to achive our goal?
4. What short of support we can get from MONO, ROTOR, and WINE?

Please shade some light on these ........ I really appreciate it..
Add what ever comment you have becos we deadly need lots of ideas.

Thanks,
Regards,
Nirosh.

[Ivar]

Hi,

If you want get things running, just use java works pretty nice and is very
similar to c#.

MONO, ROTOR, and WINE Takes years to get this stuff running, currently you can't do pretty much
nothing with them, you can run hello world.

See c# controls converted to java, looks exactly same as in .NET.
http://www.lumisoft.ee/lsWWW/Downloa...UI/testUI.html
"Champika Nirosh" <cn*****@textce ntric.lk> wrote in message
news:%2******** ********@TK2MSF TNGP11.phx.gbl. .. Hi All,

We have a windows from application written in C#, there we have used Browser COM and other basic libraries present in standard .NET/C# SDK. So the next
part is to make this appliaction available to Unix and Mac platform. I have couple of questions here

1. What are the possibilities we have of doing some thing like this?
2. What are the technical chalenges we will face of doing this?
3. What are the direct indirect solution we have to achive our goal?
4. What short of support we can get from MONO, ROTOR, and WINE?

Please shade some light on these ........ I really appreciate it..
Add what ever comment you have becos we deadly need lots of ideas.

Thanks,
Regards,
Nirosh.

[Champika Nirosh]

Thanks for your thought but don't be too pessimistic about Mono and Wine as
well as ROTOR ..

WINE can run not only hello world but it can run Ms Office, Media player and
even some games..

MONO and ROTOR also not tiny as you described.

Thanks for the link but I think it has a problem, it didn't work for me

Yes as you said Java is a good option but I found that for XML processing
the power of C# is far better than Java (in general even c# seems to be much
faster than Java) and second is UI but you are saying it is not .. any way
once again thanks fo rthe comment

Nirosh.

"Ivar" <iv**@lumisoft. ee> wrote in message
news:Of******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP12.phx.gbl...

Hi,

If you want get things running, just use java works pretty nice and is very similar to c#.

MONO, ROTOR, and WINE

Takes years to get this stuff running, currently you can't do pretty much
nothing with them, you can run hello world.

See c# controls converted to java, looks exactly same as in .NET.
http://www.lumisoft.ee/lsWWW/Downloa...UI/testUI.html
"Champika Nirosh" <cn*****@textce ntric.lk> wrote in message
news:%2******** ********@TK2MSF TNGP11.phx.gbl. ..

Hi All,

We have a windows from application written in C#, there we have used

Browser

COM and other basic libraries present in standard .NET/C# SDK. So the next part is to make this appliaction available to Unix and Mac platform. I

have

couple of questions here

1. What are the possibilities we have of doing some thing like this?
2. What are the technical chalenges we will face of doing this?
3. What are the direct indirect solution we have to achive our goal?
4. What short of support we can get from MONO, ROTOR, and WINE?

Please shade some light on these ........ I really appreciate it..
Add what ever comment you have becos we deadly need lots of ideas.

Thanks,
Regards,
Nirosh.

[Ivar]

WINE can run not only hello world but it can run Ms Office, Media player and even some games.. Have tried it by yourself ? (very problematic to get things to work, avg
user can't handle it)
MONO and ROTOR also not tiny as you described. Agian have you tried it. Just see source their code, most part full of
todo:, because it even some simple apps won't work.
Thanks for the link but I think it has a problem, it didn't work for me it requires java 1.4.
the power of C# is far better than Java Is it power when it only runs on windows ?

I made big project in c#, now I feel "power" when converting it to java.
For multiplatform UI , java is best choiche.
second is UI but you are saying it is not .. any way Yes UI is slower, but usable.


"Champika Nirosh" <cn*****@textce ntric.lk> wrote in message
news:uU******** ******@tk2msftn gp13.phx.gbl... Thanks for your thought but don't be too pessimistic about Mono and Wine as well as ROTOR ..

WINE can run not only hello world but it can run Ms Office, Media player and even some games..

MONO and ROTOR also not tiny as you described.

Thanks for the link but I think it has a problem, it didn't work for me

Yes as you said Java is a good option but I found that for XML processing
the power of C# is far better than Java (in general even c# seems to be much faster than Java) and second is UI but you are saying it is not .. any way
once again thanks fo rthe comment

Nirosh.

"Ivar" <iv**@lumisoft. ee> wrote in message
news:Of******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP12.phx.gbl...

Hi,

If you want get things running, just use java works pretty nice and is

very

similar to c#.

MONO, ROTOR, and WINE

Takes years to get this stuff running, currently you can't do pretty much

nothing with them, you can run hello world.

See c# controls converted to java, looks exactly same as in .NET.
http://www.lumisoft.ee/lsWWW/Downloa...UI/testUI.html

"Champika Nirosh" <cn*****@textce ntric.lk> wrote in message
news:%2******** ********@TK2MSF TNGP11.phx.gbl. ..

Hi All,

We have a windows from application written in C#, there we have used

Browser

COM and other basic libraries present in standard .NET/C# SDK. So the

next part is to make this appliaction available to Unix and Mac platform. I

have

couple of questions here

1. What are the possibilities we have of doing some thing like this?
2. What are the technical chalenges we will face of doing this?
3. What are the direct indirect solution we have to achive our goal?
4. What short of support we can get from MONO, ROTOR, and WINE?

Please shade some light on these ........ I really appreciate it..
Add what ever comment you have becos we deadly need lots of ideas.

Thanks,
Regards,
Nirosh.

[Champika Nirosh]

Hi Ivar,

Yes I have tried it myself and I feel they are building nicely .. I mean you
cannot expect wonders over night and I still can remeber what we had with
Java 1.0.2. (but c# started with a lot), it has built into a strong stage
now and I have no argument with you on Java but my point is if C# can shift
it's power to other platforms as well it will definitely be better than Java
and c# xml manupulation is far far better than Java and we use lots of xml
since we basically in the e-learning sector. Java is not a choice for us.
You also agree on the average speed. So why not expect a change than holding
to the traditional end.

Nirosh.

"Ivar" <iv**@lumisoft. ee> wrote in message
news:#I******** ******@tk2msftn gp13.phx.gbl...

WINE can run not only hello world but it can run Ms Office, Media player

and

even some games..

Have tried it by yourself ? (very problematic to get things to work, avg
user can't handle it)

MONO and ROTOR also not tiny as you described.

Agian have you tried it. Just see source their code, most part full of
todo:, because it even some simple apps won't work.

Thanks for the link but I think it has a problem, it didn't work for me

it requires java 1.4.

the power of C# is far better than Java

Is it power when it only runs on windows ?

I made big project in c#, now I feel "power" when converting it to java.
For multiplatform UI , java is best choiche.

second is UI but you are saying it is not .. any way

Yes UI is slower, but usable.


"Champika Nirosh" <cn*****@textce ntric.lk> wrote in message
news:uU******** ******@tk2msftn gp13.phx.gbl...

Thanks for your thought but don't be too pessimistic about Mono and Wine

as

well as ROTOR ..

WINE can run not only hello world but it can run Ms Office, Media player

and

even some games..

MONO and ROTOR also not tiny as you described.

Thanks for the link but I think it has a problem, it didn't work for me

Yes as you said Java is a good option but I found that for XML processing

the power of C# is far better than Java (in general even c# seems to be

much

faster than Java) and second is UI but you are saying it is not .. any way once again thanks fo rthe comment

Nirosh.

"Ivar" <iv**@lumisoft. ee> wrote in message
news:Of******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP12.phx.gbl...

Hi,

If you want get things running, just use java works pretty nice and is

very

similar to c#.

>MONO, ROTOR, and WINE
Takes years to get this stuff running, currently you can't do pretty much nothing with them, you can run hello world.

See c# controls converted to java, looks exactly same as in .NET.
http://www.lumisoft.ee/lsWWW/Downloa...UI/testUI.html

"Champika Nirosh" <cn*****@textce ntric.lk> wrote in message
news:%2******** ********@TK2MSF TNGP11.phx.gbl. ..
> Hi All,
>
> We have a windows from application written in C#, there we have used
Browser
> COM and other basic libraries present in standard .NET/C# SDK. So the next

> part is to make this appliaction available to Unix and Mac platform.

I have
> couple of questions here
>
> 1. What are the possibilities we have of doing some thing like this?
> 2. What are the technical chalenges we will face of doing this?
> 3. What are the direct indirect solution we have to achive our goal?
> 4. What short of support we can get from MONO, ROTOR, and WINE?
>
> Please shade some light on these ........ I really appreciate it..
> Add what ever comment you have becos we deadly need lots of ideas.
>
> Thanks,
> Regards,
> Nirosh.
>
>

COM is not platform independant, COM is a Microsoft technology.

Anything under System.* namespaces SHOULD be platform neutral .

"Champika Nirosh" <cn*****@textce ntric.lk> wrote in message
news:#5******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP11.phx.gbl...

Hi All,

We have a windows from application written in C#, there we have used Browser COM and other basic libraries present in standard .NET/C# SDK. So the next
part is to make this appliaction available to Unix and Mac platform. I have couple of questions here

1. What are the possibilities we have of doing some thing like this?
2. What are the technical chalenges we will face of doing this?
3. What are the direct indirect solution we have to achive our goal?
4. What short of support we can get from MONO, ROTOR, and WINE?

Please shade some light on these ........ I really appreciate it..
Add what ever comment you have becos we deadly need lots of ideas.

Thanks,
Regards,
Nirosh.

[Champika Nirosh]

Thanks for the reply any thought on how we can get the Browser COM work in
MAC?

<.> wrote in message news:#J******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP10.phx.gbl...

COM is not platform independant, COM is a Microsoft technology.

Anything under System.* namespaces SHOULD be platform neutral .

"Champika Nirosh" <cn*****@textce ntric.lk> wrote in message
news:#5******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP11.phx.gbl...

Hi All,

We have a windows from application written in C#, there we have used

Browser

COM and other basic libraries present in standard .NET/C# SDK. So the next part is to make this appliaction available to Unix and Mac platform. I

have

couple of questions here

1. What are the possibilities we have of doing some thing like this?
2. What are the technical chalenges we will face of doing this?
3. What are the direct indirect solution we have to achive our goal?
4. What short of support we can get from MONO, ROTOR, and WINE?

Please shade some light on these ........ I really appreciate it..
Add what ever comment you have becos we deadly need lots of ideas.

Thanks,
Regards,
Nirosh.

[Daniel O'Connell [C# MVP]]

You won't. Browsers and other interop are often the biggest platform
compatibility issues you'll have. While COM is not soley tied to windows,
most, if not all other systems do not run COM normally(there are COM
implementations for unix, probably macs as well). As a result you will have
alot of work to get things going.
What are you attempting to do? If you just want to host the browser locally,
you could look into embedding mozilla or another OSS browser(assumin g
licensing will suit you). If you need automation you will hav eto invest in
platform specific modules(which can be tricky, mono annoyingly claims to be
windows XP) which performs the work for you. How are you interfacing with
say Mozilla now? Or are you totally dependent on IE?
"Champika Nirosh" <cn*****@textce ntric.lk> wrote in message
news:eA******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP11.phx.gbl...

Thanks for the reply any thought on how we can get the Browser COM work in
MAC?

<.> wrote in message news:#J******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP10.phx.gbl...

COM is not platform independant, COM is a Microsoft technology.

Anything under System.* namespaces SHOULD be platform neutral .

"Champika Nirosh" <cn*****@textce ntric.lk> wrote in message
news:#5******** ******@TK2MSFTN GP11.phx.gbl...

Hi All,

We have a windows from application written in C#, there we have used

Browser

COM and other basic libraries present in standard .NET/C# SDK. So the next part is to make this appliaction available to Unix and Mac platform. I

have

couple of questions here

1. What are the possibilities we have of doing some thing like this?
2. What are the technical chalenges we will face of doing this?
3. What are the direct indirect solution we have to achive our goal?
4. What short of support we can get from MONO, ROTOR, and WINE?

Please shade some light on these ........ I really appreciate it..
Add what ever comment you have becos we deadly need lots of ideas.

Thanks,
Regards,
Nirosh.