Getting started with WinForms for .NET Core

This document describes the experience of using WinForms on .NET Core. The Developer Guide describes how to develop features and fixes for Windows Forms.

Installation

Choose one of these options:

1. .NET Core 3.0 SDK Preview 1 (recommended)

2. .NET Core 3.0 daily build (latest changes, but less stable)

Creating new applications

You can create a new WinForms application with dotnet new command, using the following commands:

dotnet new winforms -o MyWinFormsApp
cd MyWinFormsApp
dotnet run

Designing Forms

WinForms Core does not yet have a dedicated Designer tool. For the time being, you can use this workaround.

Samples

Check out the .NET Core 3.0 WinForms samples for both basic and advanced scenarios. Additionally, there is a collection of WinForms sample applications on MSDN.

Porting existing applications

To port your existing WinForms application from .NET Framework to .NET Core 3.0, refer to our porting guidelines.