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WinAurex

WPF Dashboard Architecture — PowerShell GUI Framework

WPF Dashboard Architecture Guide

Section titled “WPF Dashboard Architecture Guide”

As of version 5.0.0, WinAurex utilizes a native WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) dashboard powered by a compiled C# .NET architecture, removing the limitations of raw PowerShell GUI parsing while maintaining a highly modular structure.

This document serves as a developer blueprint for the dashboard internals.

Core Components

Section titled “Core Components”

The dashboard is built as a strictly layered C# .NET application located in the src/ directory:

  1. src/WinAurex.App/ (WPF UI Layer & ViewModels) This layer contains the XAML views and MVVM ViewModels. It handles all visual logic, bindings, and user interactions.
  2. src/WinAurex.Services/ (Business Logic & Orchestration) This layer orchestrates the application logic, bridging the UI and the underlying system modifications.
  3. src/WinAurex.Infrastructure/ (Capability Providers) This layer contains the execution engines for Registry modifications, Services, and PowerShell scripts (calling into the Tweaks/ and Core/ directories).

The Event Binding Flow

Section titled “The Event Binding Flow”

If you are a developer looking to add a new button or tab to the dashboard, follow this flow:

1. Add the UI Element in XAML

Section titled “1. Add the UI Element in XAML”

Open the appropriate view in src/WinAurex.App/Views/. Locate the appropriate Tab or Panel, and add your element. Critical Rule: Bind your controls using standard MVVM data bindings.

<Button Command="{Binding ApplyMyNewTweakCommand}" Content="Apply My Tweak" Style="{StaticResource ActionButton}"/>

2. Create the Command in ViewModel

Section titled “2. Create the Command in ViewModel”

Open the corresponding ViewModel in src/WinAurex.App/ViewModels/ and define an ICommand or RelayCommand.

public ICommand ApplyMyNewTweakCommand { get; }

3. Bind the Logic via Infrastructure

Section titled “3. Bind the Logic via Infrastructure”

Wire your command to execute a script via the WinAurex.Infrastructure capability providers.

ApplyMyNewTweakCommand = new RelayCommand(async () => {
    await _powerShellService.ExecuteScriptAsync(@"Tweaks\YourCategory\YourScript.ps1");
});

Performance & Telemetry (Observability)

Section titled “Performance & Telemetry (Observability)”

The dashboard features an “Observability” tab that streams live system telemetry. We achieve this without freezing the UI thread by using efficient .NET classes rather than slow WMI calls:

  • CPU: [System.Diagnostics.PerformanceCounter]
  • RAM: GlobalMemoryStatusEx via inline C# P/Invoke.
  • Uptime: [Environment]::TickCount64

These metrics are updated via a System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherTimer set to a 1000ms tick interval.

Why XAML over WinForms?

Section titled “Why XAML over WinForms?”

WinForms is legacy, blocking, and difficult to style dynamically. WPF allows us to use sophisticated layout grids (Grid.RowDefinitions, Grid.ColumnDefinitions) and hardware-accelerated rendering effects (like DropShadows and Border radiuses) that look native to Windows 11 without requiring any extra dependencies.

Extending the Dashboard

Section titled “Extending the Dashboard”

The .NET architecture is inherently extensible. If you need to build entirely new views, add new UserControls to WinAurex.App/Views/ and wire them up using Dependency Injection in App.xaml.cs. Use standard MVVM patterns, leveraging the interfaces defined in WinAurex.Contracts to maintain loose coupling across the architecture.