Beginner-Friendly App Tutorial: Building a Postman Clone

Welcome to a beginner-friendly series where we build a complete application together. This is the type of application you should build to put in your portfolio. We are going to use Windows Forms to build a Postman clone. Postman is a tool for testing APIs by calling them from a user interface and reviewing the returned data.
We will be using WinForms, a Class Library, Git, GitHub, HttpClient, and JSON to build this project.
Full Training Courses: IAmTimCorey.com

[@pawel89pawel]

Wow, great idea this tutorial app. You got me hyped. I haven't done anything in WinForms for years, but that was where I started, way before I even begin to think about career in programming. I am sure I'm gonna learn a tonne of stuff. About the practicing part you mentioned something interesting, every time I watch your videos I am doing along with you. I wonder how many people does something similar. Probably the reason why it takes me such a long time to watch one :-).

[@IAmTimCorey]

Great to hear!

[@MikevanKuik]

I totally agree!!! I also follow along all the video's and have learned a lot doing so.

[@stewtech]

KZbin Blazor course needed 🎉🎉🎉 Thank you for this Winforms tutorial!!

[@IAmTimCorey]

You are welcome.

[@andergarcia1115]

Master, So grateful for this content! Can't wait to see the rest of the series.

[@IAmTimCorey]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@sadhappy8860]

Really looking forward to this! You've reminded me, I have an old project somewhere on my PC that did this sort of thing, looking forward to revisiting it and seeing how far I've come / what mistakes I made! Haha

[@IAmTimCorey]

Great!

[@majedalshaikhi]

Wow, This is so great. I started learning Windows Forms months aga and have not managed to do more than 2 or 3 smal projects. Can't want to practice along with you and sharpen my skills. By the way, I love the fact that you are one of the very few people that still think Windows Form is a powerful tool through whitch learners can improve thier proplems solving skills. I can't say thank you enough.

[@IAmTimCorey]

You're very welcome!

[@thapelomashile5114]

thank you for doing this.This will go a long way and will surely help us solidify our knowledge.Thank you once again for sir!

[@IAmTimCorey]

You are welcome.

[@joaogabrielv.m328]

Dang, a fresh new WinForms video!? God bless ya, Tim :)

[@IAmTimCorey]

Thanks!

[@mthunzigcwensa]

cant wait, thank you❤‍🔥

[@IAmTimCorey]

You are welcome.

[@gahshunker]

anything Tim posts, is relevant. thank you sir

[@IAmTimCorey]

You are welcome.

[@ademineshat]

Very good Idea. Can't wait 😄

[@IAmTimCorey]

Great!

[@simonmcguirk]

Looking forward to getting stuck into this series

[@IAmTimCorey]

Great!

[@cemkaya4448]

I know it will be a great series.

[@IAmTimCorey]

Thanks!

[@Sixthflyer]

So great. I started with C# and winforms in 2001 and am still using it for my private projects. Never dealed with xaml, did not like it. So i will follow this video series with pleasure ❤

[@IAmTimCorey]

Thanks!

[@majedalshaikhi]

Great video. Thanks.

[@IAmTimCorey]

You are welcome.

[@alimustafa-rz8vk]

I am sure that it is going to be rich of valuable knowledge to someone who is just starting out ❤

[@IAmTimCorey]

Thanks!

[@transtechmuthu]

Waiting..❤

[@IAmTimCorey]

Great!

[@karlotrupkovic3771]

I'm looking forward to this. I am curious if you will use any design pattern like mvp or mvc for this, or is it gonna be simple code behind.

[@IAmTimCorey]

We are going to keep things somewhat simple, although the logic is not going in the code behind.

[@Artemius79]

I would like to know if you are going to use an architecture with a modern or more traditional approach? Currently I find courses that have a lot of logic in the components. Can’t wait to start. Thank you very much Tim!

[@IAmTimCorey]

I'm curious what you mean by a modern approach. However, what I will do is build the application well for the size and scope of the application. That means we will not use dependency injection right away because the app doesn't need it and it will just make things more complex. Later on we will add it as we grow our application. The one key, though, is that we will be separating our logic out away from our user interface. The only logic in the UI components should be the UI logic.

[@hydarhydar2338]

Great 👍 thank you very much ..

[@IAmTimCorey]

You are welcome.

[@I_OptimusPrime]

Just curious, is winforms still relevant? Don't get me wrong as I created an internal app last year for simplicity, but just wanted to see industry standards around winforms .

[@StianHanger]

I would say it's relevant in a way. It's built upon the native win32 API in Windows, so as long as those stay, WinForms will work. And as you point out, simplicity. Getting a WinForms app up and running just takes a minute or two. Granted it's missing some modern tech, but for quick apps, it's perfect. And I suspect there's a lot of WinForms solutions running in various companies in the world which won't be switched out because of cost and win32 still exists.

[@IAmTimCorey]

Yep, it is definitely still relevant. First, it is a great solution for getting a small desktop app up and running. Second, there are a LOT of companies that use WinForms for their main app.

[@I_OptimusPrime]

Oh wow

[@IAmTimCorey]

👍

[@mrt7948]

Waiting

[@IAmTimCorey]

👍

[@konstantinoskinnas789]

May I ask why you chose winforms over wpf or MAUI?

[@IAmTimCorey]

WinForms is actually a very popular option for desktop apps (LOTS of legacy apps out there). Plus, I've already done multiple WPF apps on KZbin already. As for MAUI, it isn't ready for production, especially not for desktop apps (in my opinion).

[@konstantinoskinnas789]

@@IAmTimCorey thanks for the response. Yea I see your point, I just wish that Microsoft would produce something better than winforms and wpf, since I think that the first is very old and lacks crucial features and the latter is very complicated(xaml sucks 😔). That being said I am very happy with Microsoft web projects, so I can not compain.

[@IAmTimCorey]

Check out Uno or Avalonia. Both use XAML, but both work fully cross platform (everywhere).

[@konstantinoskinnas789]

@@IAmTimCorey I have kinda heard of Avalonia before. As for Uno this is the first time I hear of it. Thanks for the suggestion I will keep that in mind if I ever wish to check out a desktop framework. As it stands this is not really that much of a priority for me right now, since I think the general priority order should be: web -> mobile -> desktop, that being said it does not hurt to know how to do desktop :).

[@IAmTimCorey]

Sounds good. As for your order, I agree that's a good order. When you get to mobile, though, look at Uno/Avalonia. They will get you to native iOS/Android while also giving you desktop and web. Right now, MAUI works on mobile (iOS and Android) but the desktop story isn't great and using it in a production app for desktop probably isn't a great idea. So, if it is just for mobile, you are better off learning the mobile framework that covers more. I hope to have an Intro to Uno video on this channel this summer.

[@andywalter7426]

I would have hoped you would have used blazor. I found that blazor is always a better ui than windows forms. There are cases where console is the best. I cannot think of a single case where windows forms is better than blazor. A person can use blazor with wpf and even windows forms.

[@IAmTimCorey]

One of the most dominant desktop app types in C# is WinForms because of how many companies have used it over the years. Learning software development isn't about just learning what you think the "best" option is - it is about learning how to apply the right option for the right situation.

[@-martintheengineer-7465]

👍

[@IAmTimCorey]

Thanks!

[@islamahmed-iq6il]

Where is the rest of the series ❤❤

[@IAmTimCorey]

It is coming. Next video comes out Monday.

[@gower1973]

How often is this gonna get posted, if its along time between posts, Im just going to forget the knowledge learned, hopefully its not going to be in dribs and drabs

[@IAmTimCorey]

At least once a week, maybe more. As for forgetting what you learned, it sounds like you are expecting to only learn when you watch my videos. That's not the way to really learn something. I would HIGHLY recommend you practice what you learn. Otherwise, you think you know more than you actually do. (Mistake #5 in the major mistakes developers make: kzbin.info/www/bejne/a3XUoZSmiMpgrbssi=mBUxD1q6t84Qk4Hf&t=952 although #3 is not practicing).

[@harrisonwell1719]

Why winforms? It’s not as common and as used nowadays

[@IAmTimCorey]

It actually is. It might even be the most used desktop app type in C#. Don't forget that there are a LOT of companies that have existing applications built in the last 20 years.

[@tejp33]

Sir winforms is easy compared to wpf so I want more lectures on wpf

[@allergiecheck]

Switch to WinUI 3, it has far better data binding and also looks nicer

[@IAmTimCorey]

I’ve done multiple applications on KZbin using WPF.

[@tejp33]

Ok Sir I will see it.​@@IAmTimCorey

[@bennymountain1]

"That is a name i haven't heard in a long time" Obi-wan.jpg

[@IAmTimCorey]

😂

[@I_OptimusPrime]

Btw thanks for not releasing code.

[@IAmTimCorey]

You are welcome.

[@TheDa6781]

Winforms ? Old and irrelevant. Whats next, a cobol primer ?

[@IAmTimCorey]

I'm curious how much experience you have in the industry. Not just how many jobs you have had but how many different places you have worked. I can tell you that when I get together with my fellow MVPs (most of whom are consultants), the primary desktop application type they work on for clients is WinForms. Yes, it is old in some ways. However, that also means that companies have had a LONG time to work with it, get good at it, and use it to build their enterprise applications. Those enterprise applications don't get rewritten every time a new, shiny UI comes around. That means there are still LOTS of jobs out there that will require you to know how to work with WinForms. As for it being old, that's only true in the sense that it has been around for over 20 years. WinForms is currently based upon .NET 8 and is getting new features with every .NET release. You can also use components from Blazor in your WinForms app. Finally, WinForms allows for rapid application development. That's an important thing to learn when starting out in C#. Trying to jump from "I'm just learning C#" to "I need to know HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Razor syntax, APIs, and more to build a simple UI" is a bit much.

[@TheDa6781]

@@IAmTimCorey @IAmTimCorey that rapid application development comes with a cost. Same with asp webforms. Someone cobbles up an application in winforms because it is easy, then years later it is an unholy mess. WPF is a very mature technology, that has been around for many years. Winforms tutorials in 2024 ? Again, you might as well create tutorials for cobol, clipper, foxpro and other ancients because they are still being used in the enterprise.

[@IAmTimCorey]

So you are trying to tell me that there is no reason why someone might want to learn WinForms in 2024? They can't want to work for any enterprise that uses it? They can't want to build small applications for their business, where they don't have a full-time developer on staff? WPF has a lot of positive qualities, but you make it sound like writing code in WinForms will be bad, but if you write that same code in WPF it will be somehow good. That's just not the case. Plus, learning XAML is a whole other level of challenge for people. There is a LARGE group of people who hate XAML and don't want to use it. While I don't agree, I can understand that. At the end of the day, if you are looking for your UI to make or break your application, your application is already not starting out well. The work we do in this course will be easily transferrable to WPF or Uno or Blazor or the even API. Most of the work, including all of the logic and data access, will be reusable in those other projects. Only the UI-specific code will be for WinForms.

[@TheDa6781]

@@IAmTimCorey you can find a reason to do anything. Doesnt mean you should. Wpf replaced winforms and while it is more of a challenge it will force the coder to think more about what he is doing which will be a benefit in the longrun.

[@IAmTimCorey]

The reason to do it is to round out your skills and better prepare yourself for the job market. You don't get to dictate to a prospective employer what they need to change their technology over to. You don't get to say "I like WPF better so switch". Like I said, WinForms is more popular than WPF is when it comes to desktop applications in enterprise development. WPF has not replaced WinForms. Microsoft wanted it to, but they also wanted UWP to replace WPF. Then they wanted WinUI to replace both of them (all three, actually). Now, the most active development actually goes towards WinForms. Microsoft actually shipped off WPF development to India, which caused a lot of people to question if WPF was the next to be deprecated. Microsoft denies that it will be deprecated, but work has slowed on WPF. That means if you are looking at where Microsoft is putting the most effort in desktop technology, WinForms is probably getting the most attention. MAUI is focusing mostly on mobile. UWP is deprecated. WPF has been reduced. Xamarin is end of life next month. WinUI 3 is practically forgotten. By the way, all of this info comes directly from the Microsoft employees that work on these products. As for the idea that WPF will "force the coder to think more about what he is doing", that's just not true. Your UI will have little to no bearing on how well you architect an application. If you are dependent on a UI to do things right, you've already lost. The vast majority of your work will not be directly connected to the UI no matter which UI you choose unless you are making poor decisions when it comes to code separation.

[@VictorFarkas-fp2gl]

WinForms in 2024? What about WPF?

[@IAmTimCorey]

WinForms is still extremely useful since there are a LOT of companies still using it. As for WPF, I've done a number of videos on it including a course here on KZbin building a full app with it.

[@jtech8959]

thanks for the vid series will you cover a few tests in nunit using moq for this app?