Chapter 44: Windows Vista

Overview

Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Windows Workflow Foundation (WF), and Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) are the new parts of .NET Framework 3.0 that are available both for Windows Vista and Windows XP. Windows Vista offers some more features that are not available with Windows XP. Many of the new features are not directly covered with the .NET Framework 3.0.

This chapter gives you information you need to know about developing applications for Windows Vista, and how you can use new Windows Vista features from .NET applications. This chapter does not cover features useful for a Windows Vista user, but features important for developers.

If your applications are not targeting Windows Vista alone, you should be aware that while WPF, WCF, and WF are also available for Windows XP, this is not the case with the topics covered here. If you’re still targeting Windows XP, you still should be aware of issues running your applications on Windows Vista and what you should pay attention to. In that case, you should have a special focus on user account control and directory changes.

The topics for this chapter are:

• Vista Bridge

• User account control

• Directory structure

• New dialogs

• Searching

Tip 

WPF, WCF, and WF are not covered in this chapter, as these technologies are discussed in Chapters 31, 40, and 41.