Windows Forms in Action

Windows Forms in Action

Windows Forms

in Action

Second Edition of

Windows Forms Programming with C#

ERIK BROWN

MANNING

Greenwich

(74° w. long.)

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ISBN 1932394-65-6

Printed in the United States of America

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 – VHG – 10 09 08 07 06

In memory of Thelma Rose Wilson,

and for her beautiful daughter, whom I still love

vii

brief contents

Part 1 Hello Windows Forms 1

1 Getting started with Windows Forms 3

2 Getting started with Visual Studio 33

Part 2 Basic Windows Forms 63

3 Menus 67

4 Context menu and status strips 92

5 Reusable libraries 116

6 Files and common dialog boxes 148

7 Dialog boxes 180

8 Text boxes 212

9 Buttons 240

10 Handling user input and encryption 268

11 List boxes 299

12 Combo boxes 327

13 Tab controls and pages 356

14 Dates, calendars, and progress bars 383

15 Bells and whistles 415

16 Tool strips 443

viii

Part 3 Advanced Windows Forms 475

17 Custom controls 477

18 Explorer interfaces and tree views 507

19 List views 541

20 Multiple document interfaces 575

21 Data binding 608

22 Two-way binding and binding sources 637

23 Odds and ends .NET 665

appendix A C# primer 701

appendix B .NET namespaces 735

appendix C Visual index 741

appendix D For more information 758

ix

contents

preface xix

preface to the first edition xxi

acknowledgments xxiii

about this book xxv

what’s new in 2.0 xxxiii

about the cover illustration xxxv

Part 1 Hello Windows Forms 1

1 Getting started with Windows Forms 3

1.1 Programming in C# 4

Namespaces and classes 6 ✦ Constructors and methods 8

C# types 8 ✦ The Main method 11 ✦ The Application

class 12 ✦ Program execution 13

1.2 Windows Forms controls 14

The using directive 15 ✦ The Control class 17

The Controls property 18

1.3 Loading files 19

Events 21 ✦ The OpenFileDialog class 23 ✦ Bitmap

images 26

1.4 Resizing forms 26

The Anchor property 29 ✦ The Dock property 30

1.5 Recap 32

2 Getting started with Visual Studio 33

2.1 Programming with Visual Studio 34

Creating a project 35 ✦ Executing a program 37

Viewing the source code 38

x

2.2 Windows Forms controls 43

The AssemblyInfo file 43 ✦ Renaming a form 46

The Toolbox window 46

2.3 Loading files 52

Handling events in Visual Studio 52 ✦ Handling exceptions 56

2.4 Resizing forms 58

Assigning the Anchor property 58 ✦ Assigning the Dock

property 60

2.5 Recap 61

Part 2 Basic Windows Forms 63

3 Menus 67

3.1 Controls and containers 68

Control classes 68 ✦ Container classes 70

3.2 The nature of menus 72

Menu terminology 72 ✦ Menus in .NET 73

3.3 Menu bars 75

Adding a menu strip 75 ✦ Adding a menu item 78

Adding drop-down menu items 81

3.4 Menu handling 87

Adding handlers via the designer window 87

Adding handlers via the properties window 88

3.5 Recap 90

4 Context menu and status strips 92

4.1 Context menu strips 93

Creating a context menu 94 ✦ Adding items to a context

menu 95 ✦ Sharing a context menu 97

4.2 Drop-down events and event arguments 99

Handling a submenu item click 100 ✦ Altering a submenu before

it appears 105

4.3 Status strips 108

Creating a status strip 108 ✦ Adding status strip labels 109

4.4 Recap 115

xi

5 Reusable libraries 116

5.1 Class libraries 117

Creating a class library 118 ✦ Using the command-line

tools 121 ✦ Creating the Photograph class 122

Defining class properties 125

5.2 The object class 128

Comparing object and Object 128 ✦ Overriding object

methods 128

5.3 Interfaces 131

Interfaces and collections 132 ✦ Appreciating collection

classes 133

5.4 Generics 138

Generic classes 138 ✦ Appreciating generic collections 140

Disposing of resources 144

5.5 Recap 146

6 Files and common dialog boxes 148

6.1 Standard menus 149

Changing the menu bar 149 ✦ Managing an album 152

6.2 Common file dialog boxes 159

Creating a new album 159 ✦ Opening an album 161

Saving an album 163 ✦ Printing and exiting 166

6.3 Streams and writers 167

Stream classes 167 ✦ Writing an album to disk 169

Reading an album from disk 173

6.4 Album management 174

Adding and removing images 174 ✦ Navigating an album 176

Displaying album status 178

6.5 Recap 178

7 Dialog boxes 180

7.1 Message boxes 181

Creating an OK message box 183 ✦ Creating a YesNo message

box 184 ✦ Creating a YesNoCancel message box 185

7.2 The Form.Close method 188

Comparing Close and Dispose 188

Intercepting the Form.Close method 190

xii

7.3 Forms and panels 192

The Form class 193 ✦ Creating a dialog box 195

7.4 Modeless dialog boxes 196

Creating a modeless dialog box 197 ✦ Adding panels and labels to

a form 199 ✦ Updating the PixelDialog controls 203

Displaying a modeless dialog box 206 ✦ Updating the PixelDialog

form 208 ✦ Tracking mouse movement 209

7.5 Recap 211

8 Text boxes 212

8.1 Form inheritance 213

Creating a base form 214 ✦ Creating a derived form 217

8.2 Standard text boxes 219

Adding text boxes 220 ✦ Adding a multiline text box 225

Hooking up a dialog box 229

8.3 Masked text boxes 231

Handling key presses 231 ✦ Masking text 233

8.4 Recap 239

9 Buttons 240

9.1 Push buttons 241

The Button class 241 ✦ Expanding the PhotoAlbum class 243

Storing album data 245

9.2 Radio buttons 246

The RadioButton class 247 ✦ Creating an album dialog

box 248

9.3 Check box buttons 250

The CheckBox class 250 ✦ Using check box buttons 251

Completing the AlbumEditDialog form 253 ✦ Hooking up a

dialog box (again) 255

9.4 Tooltips and error providers 256

The ToolTip class 256 ✦ Displaying tooltips 258

Building extender providers 261 ✦ The ErrorProvider class 263

9.5 Recap 266

10 Handling user input and encryption 268

10.1 Keyboard events 269

The three events 269 ✦ Handling the KeyPress event 269

Handling the KeyDown and KeyUp events 271

Preprocessing command keys 272

xiii

10.2 Mouse events 274

The MouseEventArgs class 274 ✦ Implementing

FlybyTextProvider using mouse events 277 ✦ Using the

FlybyTextProvider class 280

10.3 Encryption 282

The Cryptography namespace 282 ✦ Encrypting data 284

Writing encrypted data 286 ✦ Reading encrypted data 287

Storing encrypted albums 288

10.4 Link labels 291

The LinkLabel class 292 ✦ Saving encrypted albums 293

Opening encrypted albums 294

10.5 Recap 297

11 List boxes 299

11.1 List controls 300

The ListControl classes 300 ✦ Creating a new solution 302

Refactoring application code 303

11.2 Simple list boxes 308

The ListBox class 310 ✦ Displaying a data source 311

Selecting list items 315

11.3 Multiselection list boxes 317

Enabling multiple selection 318 ✦ Reordering list items 321

Removing list items 324

11.4 Recap 325

12 Combo boxes 327

12.1 Standard combo boxes 328

The ComboBox class 328 ✦ Creating a combo box 330

Selecting combo box items 332 ✦ Modifying the data

source 333

12.2 Editable combo boxes 335

Creating a combo box (again) 336 ✦ Updating a combo box

dynamically 339

12.3 Automatic completion 341

Understanding automatic completion 341

Using auto-completion in a combo box 344

12.4 Item formatting 345

The formatting interfaces 345 ✦ Implementing an IFormattable

interface 346 ✦ Using formatting in list controls 350

Implementing custom formatters 352

12.5 Recap 355

xiv

13 Tab controls and pages 356

13.1 Tab control fundamentals 357

The TabControl class 357 ✦ Creating tab controls 358

13.2 Tab page fundamentals 362

The TabPage class 362 ✦ Creating tab pages 363

Enclosing existing controls in a tab page 366

13.3 Owner-drawn tabs 369

The DrawItem event 370 ✦ Drawing page tabs 371

Using a custom tab control 375

13.4 Owner-drawn list boxes 376

Custom list items 377 ✦ Assigning item size 378 ✦ Drawing

list items 380

13.5 Recap 381

14 Dates, calendars, and progress bars 383

14.1 Date and time display 384

The DateTimePicker class 384 ✦ Creating a DateTimePicker

control 387

14.2 Date and time formats 389

Formatting date and time values 390 ✦ Customizing a

DateTimePicker control 393

14.3 Calendars 394

The MonthCalendar class 395 ✦ The UserControl class 396

Creating a calendar control 397 ✦ Initializing a calendar 399

Handling mouse clicks in a calendar control 401

14.4 Progress bars 405

Creating an images user control 405 ✦ The ProgressBar

class 408 ✦ Performing a background task 410

14.5 Recap 413

15 Bells and whistles 415

15.1 Images and cursors 416

Bitmaps 416 ✦ Icons 420 ✦ Cursors 425

15.2 Embedded resources and sounds 426

Embedding a resource 427 ✦ Using the project resource file 428

Playing a sound 431

15.3 Track bars 433

The TrackBar class 434 ✦ Using track bars 435