Can (should) Docker be used for winforms applications?

Question

I have heard that docker solves the "works on my machine" issue for application deployment and that SQL Server can be run inside a docker container, running in Docker for Windows.

I have a C# Windforms application that I would like to deploy without Dll Hell.

Is it possible to use Docker for this?

Answer 1

sort of, but i wouldn't.

docker isn't meant for interactive / gui based applications at this point. there are some workarounds for this, but all of them are difficult from what I've read.

it's better to think of Docker as a server. you don't have a person sitting at a server all day long, clicking things to respond to requests that come into the server. you have code that runs, listening for requests and doing things in response.

Docker apps should be this type of app where it runs on it's own, exposes an API and can respond to requests.

... i would bet that this becomes possible in the not-so-distant future. but right now, i don't think it's something Docker officially supports.