How can I share the same WebView2 code, between WPF and WinForms projects?

Question

I have developed utility source code to work with WebView2 component, and I want to use it in 2 different projects, one is WPF, the other WinForms.

The problem is that WebView2 asks for different "using", one for each project.

In the WPF class, I have to set the "using" this way:

using Microsoft.Web.WebView2.Wpf;   // NOTE!!!

namespace Utility
{
    public static class WebView2_Helper
    {
    ...
    (code here, using the WebView2 component)
    ...
    }
}

And for the WinForms, I have to create another file and duplicate all the code, just to change the "using"...:

using Microsoft.Web.WebView2.WinForms;   // NOTE!!!

namespace Utility
{
    public static class WebView2_Helper
    {
    ...
    (code here... same as above!)
    ...
    }
}

The code after the "using" is the same, in both cases.

In C/C++, a solution could be saving the common code to a file, and then include it inside both classes.

What should be the solution in C#?

Answer 1

If your utility is its own library you can define two different outputs, one for usage with WinForms and one for WPF.

<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk.WindowsDesktop">

  <PropertyGroup>
    <OutputType>Library</OutputType>
    <TargetFramework>net8.0-windows</TargetFramework>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)'=='WPF'">
    <DefineConstants>WPF</DefineConstants>
    <UseWPF>true</UseWPF>
  </PropertyGroup>

  <PropertyGroup Condition="'$(Configuration)'=='WINFORMS'">
    <DefineConstants>WINFORMS</DefineConstants>
    <UseWindowsForms>true</UseWindowsForms>
  </PropertyGroup>

</Project>

Then in your code:

namespace Utility
{
    public static class WebView2_Helper
    {
#if WPF
        using Microsoft.Web.WebView2.Wpf;
#elif WINFORMS
        using Microsoft.Web.WebView2.WinForms;
#endif

    }
}