Currently I have two projects that are separate from one another. The first is a VB.NET desktop application that is already pretty large and a probably a bit bloated. The other is an older ASP.NET project. I’ve been tasked with integrating the functionality of the ASP.NET project into the desktop application. I don’t have a specification yet for how it should be done. We’re still planning it/talking about it. But one of the biggest concerns that the team has is if the desktop application will take a performance hit by adding a significantly large new feature. I’m inclined to think that the .exe is just going to get a little bit bigger. But load times and such shouldn’t get longer?
The way I think it will be implemented is as a separate window that’s functionally similar to the web application. This window would be accessed by pressing a button on the main menu bar.
I know there’s not much detail here, but should I expect the rest of the application to take a hit on performance by adding a large new feature?
EXE and DLL files are compiled when you use the methods inside them, not when they are loaded into memory. So if you put the new stuff to a DLL, you are going to experience a small time delay needed to load and compile your new DLL, but you won’t get any penalties if you won’t use those methods in a particular case of use. (A DLL is not loaded into memory at all if it is not used in a particular case of use.)
I expect you won’t actually see any difference. (If the design will be good.) It shouldn’t hurt you at all.