Developing New Experiences

VST12 Blazor on Desktop: PWA, Electron or .NET MAUI

11/14/2023

2:45pm - 4:00pm

Level: Intermediate

Sam Basu

Developer Advocate

Progress

The desire to see web technologies power experiences on mobile/desktop is nothing new – the tools & techniques developers have at their disposal have gotten smart. With Blazor, developers get to build modern web apps with C#/.NET, running on server or fully client-side through WebAssembly - .NET developers are understandably excited about Blazor.

Blazor is very suitable for writing Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) that makes web apps wonderful citizens on mobile form factors. Blazor can also be used to build truly native or hybrid cross-platform apps, thus inviting .NET web developers to share code better. Electron is the battle-tested way of bringing web apps, including Blazor, to desktop land, complete with deep OS integrations.

.NET MAUI, the next generation of .NET cross-platform strategy, changes the game for Blazor. With a modern abstracted cross-platform WebView, Blazor UI can be rendered across mobile/desktop apps with lighter footprint, while sharing components, routes & styles from web world. Armed with full platform API access from .NET MAUI, Blazor can also pull off some very native features on mobile & desktop. JavaScript is welcome too - JS Interop helps.

Blazor is very welcome on desktop apps – the how depends on app needs. The familiarity of Blazor component model, Razor rendering engine, CSS styling & UI extensibility can now be applied towards building desktop apps, all the while sharing code with web. You game?

You will learn:

  • Various ways of reaching Desktop
  • Nuances of Blazor on native apps
  • Explore code sharing techniques