Chapter 20: Windows Forms

Basic Windows Forms

It's easy to create a Windows form in C#. All you need to do is use the Windows Application Wizard, and you have a form. Then you just add controls by dragging them onto the form and manipulating their properties and events. After you place the controls on the form, you can modify the controls using their properties and events at runtime.

The following example shows a form created with the wizard. It contains a simple label, text box, and command button.

Code Example: Creating a Form with the Wizard

using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Collections;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.Data;

namespace SimpleWinForm
{
      public class Form1 : System.Windows.Forms.Form
      {
            private System.Windows.Forms.Label label1;
            private System.Windows.Forms.TextBox textBox1;
            private System.Windows.Forms.Button button1;
            private System.ComponentModel.Container components = null;
            public Form1()
            {
                  //
                  //Required for Windows Form Designer support
                  //
                  InitializeComponent();
                  //
                  //TODO: Add any constructor code after
                  //InitializeComponent call
                  //
            }
            protected override void Dispose( bool disposing )
            {
                  if( disposing )
                  {
                        if (components != null)
                        {
                              components.Dispose();
                        }
                  }
                  base.Dispose( disposing );
            }
            #region Windows Form Designer generated code
            private void InitializeComponent()
            {
                   this.label1 = new System.Windows.Forms.Label();
                   this.textBox1 = new System.Windows.Forms.TextBox();
                   this.button1 = new System.Windows.Forms.Button();
                   this.SuspendLayout();
                  //
                  //label1
                  //
                  this.label1.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(120, 40);
                      this.label1.Name = "label1";
                      this.label1.TabIndex = 0;
                      this.label1.Text = "label1";
                  //
                  //textBox1
                  //
                  this.textBox1.Location =
                     new System.Drawing.Point(96, 88);
                  this.textBox1.Name = "textBox1";
                  this.textBox1.TabIndex = 1;
                  this.textBox1.Text = "textBox1";
                  //
                  //button1
                  //
                  this.button1.Location =
                     new System.Drawing.Point(136, 160);
                  this.button1.Name = "button1";
                  this.button1.TabIndex = 2;
                  this.button1.Text = "button1";
                  //
                  //Form1
                  //
                  this.AutoScaleBaseSize =
                     new System.Drawing.Size(5, 13);
                  this.ClientSize = new System.Drawing.Size(292, 266);
                  this.Controls.AddRange(
                     new System.Windows.Forms.Control[] {
                  this.button1,
                  this.textBox1,
                  this.label1});
                  this.Name = "Form1";
                  this.Text = "Form1";
                  this.ResumeLayout(false);
            }
            #endregion

            [STAThread]
            static void Main()
            {
                  Application.Run(new Form1());
            }
      }
}