Amazon Web Services (AWS) has converted the graphical user interface (UI) of the porting assistant for .NET into open source. The tool itself was already open source, but not its UI: From now on, your source code is also available under the Apache 2.0 license. .NET developers can now view, change and edit the source code of the tool and its UI.

The porting tool is intended for .NET developers to use the Support migration of your applications to .NET Core. It scans applications created with the .NET Framework and advises developers on necessary adjustments for .NET Core. .NET Core is the open source variant of .NET, which was previously restricted to Windows and which also runs on Linux.

Foundation stone from React components The AWS development team announces in the blog post that the release of AWS UI is the foundation stone for the construction of a new open source design system. Alongside the opening of the source code for the Porting Assistant, AWS has published a collection of React components that are used in the AWS graphical user interface (AWS UI).

The UI is based on the JavaScript framework React (originally initiated by Facebook) and the cross-platform project Electron, which is used to create applications with JavaScript, HTML and CSS. The cross-platform ability to exchange libraries between web and desktop should have made the difference.

Cross-platform design According to AWS, the wizard for the graphic user interface of .NET is created with React and the Electron framework. Individual components such as the Porting Assistant for the .NET data storage and analysis engine with information on the compatibility of packages are already open source accessible. Regarding the future development of the more comprehensive “new open source design system”, the AWS team is still keeping a low profile apart from the current blog announcement, apparently the project is still in its early stages.

Further information is in on the AWS blog announcement. The source code can be found in the GitHub repository, and documentation is available for the porting tool.

(sih)