Converting ASP.Net to Windows Application - VB.Net

Well this is kind of a general technical issue, in fact I have developed an application in ASP.Net - VB and now I have a requirement to convert part or all of it into a Windows based Application - VB itself. My concern is mostly with how much code reuse can be achieved and have anybody tried this before? That is converting ASP forms into windows forms. I assume their is a minimun rework to be done but ideally I believe there should be at least some easy way for this. Assuming that a tool exist for this could be a bit too far asking but not completely impossible is it? Anyway I have tried to search a bit on the net but have not yet found any resources commenting on this. Any ideas?

thanx for sharing you ideas.

I wouldn't have thought it should be TOO much of a problem to convert your functionality/Code but as far as the forms are concerned there is surely a world of difference between an aspx page and windows form. So i think it would be easier to redesign the forms but port the old code across (where possible).

1) I'm surprised you're being asked to go from web (thin-client) to windows form application.

2) There is no tool available that I am aware of, since the two environments are really different.

3) The conversion process really depends on how well you abstracted the code behind from the aspx. That said, it will still be quite a bit of work.

4) You would probably be better off re-writing the forms app from scratch, reusing functions that do not depend on UI interface ( like a MultiplyThisByThat() )

Yeah I know but there are some things that you cannot do in a very straight forward manner on web based application like datacapture for Order processing which requires using keyboard exclusively though I have been able through JavaScript to capture lots of keyboard events. There are also some other features that you may have in Windows are not that easily and efficiently implemented under Web. One example can be detecting the closing of forms by clients. Also response time can be a problem in application that use lots of reference data, when you have to populate controls depending on user selection, this implies a postback to server side and interpretation of code on the web server then posting back the result to client.

Well actually as I said I was expecting to have some rework, an estimated of around 20-25% I think since lots of coding has been done independantly with UI. But there are a few web controls that I have developed to simulate some of the functionalities of Windows applications so I guess I wont be using these anymore.

Well I think this can be an open discussion and I would post any issues regarding this conversion here and anyone who has already tried this could help out.

If you followed good application design, then the only real changes should appear in your UI. I would recommend looking into the MVC design pattern. Microsoft has put out a best practices application block (UI Process Block) for free use, which is used mostly when an application needs to support multiple presentation tiers or the UI process flow is complex.