Windows Forms 2.0 Programming

by Sells, Chris; Weinhardt, Michael

• ISBN13: 9780321267962
• ISBN10: 0321267966
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-05-16
• Publisher: Addison-Wesley Professional

Summary

Striking a balance between theory and practice, Microsoft guru Chris Sells has revised the definitive book on WinForms for WinForms 2.0

Author Biography

Chris Sells is a program manager for the Connected Systems Division. He’s written several books, including Programming Windows Presentation Foundation (O’Reilly), Windows Forms Programming in C# (Addison-Wesley), and ATL Internals (Addison-Wesley). In his free time, Chris hosts various conferences and makes a pest of himself on Microsoft internal product team discussion lists. More information about Chris–and his various projects–is available at www.sellsbrothers.com.

 

Michael Weinhardt is a programmer/writer at Microsoft, working on the Windows Client SDK. Michael has coauthored a variety of articles with Chris, contributed to the “Wonders of Windows Forms” column at MSDN Online, reviewed several Windows technology books, and generally loves communicating the whys and wherefores of technology to his peers. Michael is sure that his parents attribute his fascination in technology to their purchase of an Amiga 1000 in the mid-80s. They would be right.

 

Table of Contents

About the Authors	xxv
Foreword	xxvii
Preface	xxxi
Hello, Windows Forms	1	(40)
Windows Forms from Scratch	1	(6)
Windows Forms in Visual Studio .NET	7	(6)
Arranging Controls	13	(3)
Controls	16	(3)
Application Settings	19	(4)
Resources	23	(4)
Dialogs	27	(3)
Drawing	30	(2)
Printing	32	(1)
Data Binding	33	(3)
Multithreaded User Interfaces	36	(2)
Deployment	38	(1)
Where Are We?	39	(2)
Forms	41	(58)
Showing Forms	41	(4)
Owner and Owned Forms	42	(3)
Form Lifetime	45	(6)
Form Opening	46	(2)
Form Deactivation and Reactivation	48	(1)
Form Closing	49	(2)
Form Notification	51	(6)
Flashing Notification	51	(1)
System Tray Notification	52	(2)
System Tray-Only Applications	54	(3)
Form Size and Location	57	(7)
Restricting Form Size	62	(1)
Form Z-Order	63	(1)
Form Adornments	64	(1)
Form Transparency	65	(5)
Nonrectangular Forms	67	(3)
Form and Context Menus	70	(8)
Context Menus	76	(2)
Tool Strips	78	(2)
Status Strips	80	(3)
Multiple Document Interface Applications	83	(12)
Visual Inheritance	95	(3)
Where Are We?	98	(1)
Dialogs	99	(38)
Standard Dialogs	100	(1)
Form Styles	101	(2)
Deciding on Modal Versus Modeless at Run-Time	103	(1)
Data Exchange	103	(7)
Handling OK and Cancel	104	(5)
Modeless Form Data	109	(1)
Data Validation	110	(10)
Regular Expressions and Validation	111	(2)
Masked Text Entry and Validation	113	(1)
Data Format Notification	114	(1)
Combined Validation	115	(1)
Thorough Validation	116	(4)
Implementing Help	120	(13)
Tool Tips	121	(1)
Using ErrorProvider for General Information	121	(3)
Handling the Help Button and F1	124	(2)
Using HTML Help	126	(2)
Compiled HTML Help	128	(4)
Using the HelpProvider Component	132	(1)
Showing Help Contents, Index, and Search	133	(1)
Where Are We?	133	(4)
Layout	137	(42)
Fixed Layout	137	(8)
Position and Size	137	(5)
Control Z-Order	142	(2)
Control Tab Order	144	(1)
Dynamic Layout	145	(21)
Anchoring	145	(4)
Docking	149	(1)
Docking and Z-Order	150	(3)
Docking with Tool Strip Controls	153	(8)
Automatic Resizing	161	(2)
Automatic Scaling	163	(3)
Layout Controls	166	(10)
Splitting	167	(1)
Grouping	168	(2)
Flow Layout	170	(3)
TableLayoutPanel	173	(3)
Layout Optimization	176	(1)
Custom Layout	176	(1)
Where Are We?	177	(2)
Drawing Basics	179	(52)
Drawing to the Screen	180	(4)
Handling the Paint Event	181	(1)
Triggering the Paint Event	182	(2)
Colors	184	(4)
Known Colors	185	(3)
Color Translation	188	(1)
Brushes	188	(8)
Solid Brushes	189	(1)
Texture Brushes	189	(1)
Hatch Brushes	190	(1)
Linear Gradient Brushes	191	(2)
Path Gradient Brushes	193	(3)
Pens	196	(7)
Line Caps	197	(2)
Dashes	199	(1)
Pen Alignment	200	(1)
Joins	200	(2)
Creating Pens from Brushes	202	(1)
Shapes	203	(4)
Curves	203	(2)
Smoothing Modes	205	(1)
Saving and Restoring Graphics Settings	205	(2)
Paths	207	(3)
Fill Modes	209	(1)
Images	210	(19)
Loading and Drawing Images	211	(1)
Scaling, Clipping, Panning, and Skewing	212	(2)
Rotating and Flipping	214	(1)
Recoloring	215	(1)
Transparency	216	(1)
Animation	217	(3)
Drawing to Images	220	(2)
Screen Copying	222	(1)
Icons	223	(2)
Cursors	225	(4)
Where Are We?	229	(2)
Drawing Text	231	(34)
Fonts	231	(11)
Creating Fonts	233	(1)
Font Families	234	(2)
System Fonts	236	(2)
Font Characteristics	238	(2)
Font Height	240	(2)
Strings	242	(9)
Formatting	242	(8)
Strings and Paths	250	(1)
The TextRenderer	251	(4)
Formatting with TextRenderer	253	(2)
A Tale of Two Technologies	255	(9)
Shell Consistency	256	(1)
Internationalization	257	(1)
Device-Independent Drawing	258	(2)
Font Edge Smoothing Support	260	(1)
Performance	261	(1)
Integration with GDI+ Graphical Rendering	261	(1)
Text-Formatting Comparison	261	(2)
Integration	263	(1)
Where Are We?	264	(1)
Advanced Drawing	265	(26)
Page Units	265	(4)
Converting Pixels to Page Units	268	(1)
Transforms	269	(11)
Scaling	270	(1)
Scaling Fonts	271	(1)
Rotation	272	(2)
Translation	274	(1)
Shearing	275	(1)
Combining Transforms	276	(1)
Transformation Helpers	277	(1)
Path Transformations	278	(2)
Regions	280	(3)
Constructing and Filling a Region	280	(1)
Clipping to a Region	281	(1)
Region Combination Operations	282	(1)
Optimized Drawing	283	(7)
Double Buffering	284	(2)
Manual Double Buffering	286	(3)
Double Buffering Performance Considerations	289	(1)
Other Drawing Options	289	(1)
Where Are We?	290	(1)
Printing	291	(36)
Print Documents	291	(2)
Print Controllers	293	(5)
Print Preview	294	(3)
PrintPreviewDialog Control Box Icon	297	(1)
Basic Print Events	298	(3)
Margins	301	(4)
Page Settings	305	(3)
Printer Settings	308	(7)
Print Range	310	(4)
Targeting the Printer	314	(1)
Useful Printing Techniques	315	(10)
Word Wrapping and Pagination	316	(4)
Per-Page Page Setting Configuration	320	(2)
Dynamic Page Counting	322	(3)
Where Are We?	325	(2)
Components	327	(26)
Components Defined	327	(1)
Using Components	328	(4)
Creating Custom Components	332	(19)
Deriving Directly from System ComponentModel.Component	332	(2)
Component Resource Management	334	(3)
Implementing IComponent	337	(6)
Adding a Custom Component to the Toolbox	343	(1)
Custom Functionality	344	(5)
Extending Existing Components	349	(2)
Where Are We?	351	(2)
Controls	353	(46)
Controls Defined	353	(1)
Using Controls	354	(2)
Themed Controls	356	(6)
Tool Strip Render Modes	358	(4)
Owner-Drawn Controls	362	(7)
ControlPaint	365	(3)
Themed Control Rendering	368	(1)
Extending Existing Controls	369	(2)
Custom Controls	371	(22)
Deriving Directly from System.Windows.Forms.Control	371	(2)
Control Rendering	373	(1)
Custom Implementation	374	(3)
EventChanged	377	(2)
Ambient Properties	379	(4)
Control Input	383	(6)
Scrolling	389	(3)
Windows Message Handling	392	(1)
User Controls	393	(4)
Testing User Controls	395	(2)
Hosting COM Controls	397	(1)
Where Are We?	398	(1)
Design-Time Integration: The Properties Window	399	(54)
Design-Time Components	399	(1)
Hosts, Containers, and Sites	400	(3)
Debugging Design-Time Functionality	403	(2)
The DesignMode Property	405	(1)
Attributes	405	(8)
Changing the Toolbox Icon	406	(1)
Properties Window Integration	407	(6)
Code Serialization	413	(2)
Batch Initialization	415	(6)
ISupportInitializeNotification	419	(2)
Extender Property Providers	421	(7)
Type Converters	428	(14)
Custom Type Converters	431	(5)
Expandable Object Converter	436	(3)
Custom Type Code Serialization with TypeConverters	439	(3)
UI Type Editors	442	(9)
Drop-Down UI Type Editors	445	(3)
Modal UI Type Editors	448	(3)
Where Are We?	451	(2)
Design-Time Integration: Designers and Smart Tags	453	(52)
Designers	453	(12)
ComponentDesigner	455	(4)
ControlDesigner	459	(3)
Design-Time-Only Properties	462	(3)
Smart Tags	465	(38)
Designer Actions	466	(1)
Designer Action Lists	467	(11)
Smart Tag Properties	478	(1)
Smart Tag Method Items	478	(3)
Poor Man's Smart Tag Panel Appearance	481	(3)
Custom Smart Tag Panel Appearance	484	(9)
Adding a Smart Tag Method Item to the Context Menu	493	(1)
Toggling the Label Text of a Smart Tag Item	494	(4)
Designer Action Lists	498	(1)
Dynamic Designer Actions	499	(4)
Where Are We?	503	(2)
Resources	505	(44)
Resource Basics	505	(6)
Manifest Resources	506	(5)
Strongly Typed Resources	511	(19)
Application Resources (.resx) Files	511	(2)
Managing Resources	513	(3)
Resource Persistence	516	(2)
Using Typed Resources	518	(2)
The Resource Manager	520	(2)
Strongly Typed Resource Classes	522	(4)
Designer Resources	526	(4)
Embedding Native Resources	530	(1)
Application Internationalization	530	(17)
Culture Information	532	(1)
Resource Localization	533	(4)
Resource Localization for Nondevelopers	537	(3)
Resource Probing	540	(2)
Resource Resolution	542	(1)
Input Language	543	(2)
Reading Direction	545	(2)
Where Are We?	547	(2)
Applications	549	(30)
Applications	549	(11)
Application Lifetime	551	(1)
Application Context	552	(3)
Application Events	555	(1)
UI Thread Exceptions	555	(4)
Passing Command Line Arguments	559	(1)
Single-Instance Applications	560	(17)
Single-Instance Detection and Management	560	(3)
Multiple-SDI Applications	563	(9)
Single-MDI Applications	572	(5)
Where Are We?	577	(2)
Settings	579	(50)
The Application Environment	579	(10)
Compile-Time Settings	579	(3)
Run-Time Settings	582	(7)
Application, User, and Roaming-User Settings	589	(15)
What Is a Setting?	590	(1)
Settings Files	590	(1)
Managing Settings	591	(1)
Editing Settings	592	(3)
Application Configuration Files	595	(3)
The Configuration Manager	598	(3)
User Configuration Files	601	(3)
Strongly Typed Settings	604	(2)
Using Strongly Typed Settings	606	(11)
Using the Settings Class	606	(1)
Loading and Inspecting Settings	607	(2)
Updating Settings	609	(2)
Saving Settings	611	(1)
Rolling Back Settings	611	(2)
Migrating Settings	613	(4)
Designer Settings	617	(8)
Properties Window Configuration	617	(1)
Property Binding	618	(4)
Persisting Form State, Size, and Position	622	(1)
Support for Automatic Tool Strip Layout	623	(2)
Alternative Storage for Settings	625	(3)
The Registry	625	(2)
Special Folders	627	(1)
Where Are We?	628	(1)
Data Binding Basics	629	(52)
The Land before Data Binding	629	(5)
Simple Data Binding and Item Data Sources	634	(2)
Simple Binding and List Data Sources	636	(6)
Complex Binding and List Data Sources	642	(3)
IBindingList	645	(2)
BindingList<T>	647	(4)
Two-Way List Change Synchronization	648	(2)
Two-Way Item Change Synchronization	650	(1)
The BindingSource Component	651	(3)
Turning an Item Type into a List Data Source	651	(2)
Using BindingSource at Design Time	653	(1)
Design-Time Data Sources	654	(14)
Databases	655	(4)
Web Services	659	(2)
Objects	661	(3)
Configuring the BindingSource	664	(3)
Data Source Persistence	667	(1)
Binding UI Elements in the Designer	668	(12)
BindingSource as a Bindable List Data Source	668	(12)
Where Are We?	680	(1)
Applied Data Binding	681	(56)
Drag-and-Drop Data Binding	681	(4)
DataGridView Bound Uls	682	(2)
Details Bound Uls	684	(1)
Fundamentals of Data-Bound Uls	685	(26)
Item Uls	685	(15)
List Uls	700	(11)
Data Views	711	(5)
Real-World Data-Bound Uls	716	(20)
Master-Details Uls	717	(5)
List-Item UIs	722	(6)
Hierarchical Uls	728	(2)
Multiple Data Contexts	730	(2)
TypeConverters	732	(4)
Where Are We?	736	(1)
Multithreaded User Interfaces	737	(38)
Long-Running Operations	737	(29)
Progress Indication	737	(3)
Asynchronous Operations	740	(3)
Safety and Multithreading	743	(7)
Simplified Multithreading	750	(2)
Reporting Progress	752	(11)
Shared Data	763	(3)
Asynchronous Web Services	766	(8)
Web Service Components	771	(3)
Where Are We?	774	(1)
ClickOnce Deployment	775	(54)
A Day in the Life of ClickOnce Deployment	776	(9)
Publishing an Application	777	(5)
Launching an Application	782	(3)
ClickOnce Configuration	785	(13)
Bootstrapping	786	(3)
Application Files	789	(1)
Publisher Details	790	(3)
Install Mode	793	(1)
Versioning	794	(4)
ClickOnce Security	798	(16)
Code Signing	798	(10)
Code Access Security	808	(6)
Managing Permissions	814	(3)
Determining Required Permissions	814	(2)
Ascertaining Required Permissions	816	(1)
Considerations for Partially Trusted Assemblies	817	(8)
Gathering Assembly Information	817	(2)
Handling Keystrokes	819	(1)
Communicating via Web Services	819	(4)
Reading and Writing Files	823	(1)
Handling Multiple Partial Trust Deployment Zones	823	(2)
Debugging Partially Trusted Applications	825	(1)
Processing Command Line Arguments	825	(3)
Where Are We?	828	(1)
Appendix A What's New in Windows Forms 2.0	829	(16)
A Few Words About Windows Forms	829	(1)
Windows Forms 2.0 Enhancements	830	(2)
Windows Forms 2.0: The Improvements	832	(13)
Forms	832	(2)
Drawing	834	(1)
Printing	835	(1)
Components and Controls	835	(2)
Design-Time Integration	837	(1)
Resources	838	(1)
Applications	839	(1)
Settings	839	(1)
Data Binding	840	(2)
Multithreaded User Interfaces	842	(1)
ClickOnce Deployment	843	(2)
Appendix B Moving from MFC	845	(22)
A Few Words About MFC	845	(2)
MFC Versus Windows Forms	847	(9)
The Differences	849	(6)
Strategy	855	(1)
MFC and Windows Forms Interop	856	(7)
Hosting MFC COM Controls in Windows Forms	856	(3)
Hosting Windows Forms Controls in MFC	859	(4)
Windows Forms as a Better MFC	863	(4)
Appendix C Delegates and Events	867	(14)
Delegates	867	(5)
Interfaces	868	(1)
Delegates	869	(2)
Static Listeners	871	(1)
Events	872	(4)
Harvesting All Results	873	(1)
Asynchronous Notification: Fire and Forget	873	(1)
Asynchronous Notification: Polling	874	(1)
Asynchronous Notification: Delegates	875	(1)
Anonymous Delegates	876	(1)
Happiness in the Universe	877	(4)
Appendix D Component and Control Survey	881	(20)
Components	881	(3)
BackgroundWorker	881	(1)
BindingNavigator	881	(1)
BindingSource	881	(1)
ColorDialog	881	(1)
ErrorProvider	882	(1)
FolderBrowserDialog	882	(1)
FontDialog	882	(1)
HelpProvider	882	(1)
ImageList	882	(1)
NotifyIcon	883	(1)
OpenFileDialog	883	(1)
PageSetupDialog	883	(1)
PrintDialog	883	(1)
PrintDocument	883	(1)
PrintPreviewDialog	884	(1)
SaveFileDialog	884	(1)
SoundPlayer	884	(1)
Timer	884	(1)
Tool Tip	884	(1)
Controls	884	(17)
Button	885	(1)
CheckBox	886
CheckedListBox	885	(1)
ComboBox	886	(1)
ContextMenuStrip	887	(1)
DataGridView	887	(1)
DateTimePicker	887	(1)
DomainUpDown	888	(1)
FlowLayoutPanel	888	(1)
GroupBox	888	(1)
HScrollBar	888	(1)
Label	889	(1)
LinkLabel	889	(1)
ListBox	890	(1)
ListView	891	(1)
MaskedTextBox	892	(1)
MenuStrip	893	(1)
MonthCalendar	893	(1)
NumericUpDown	893	(1)
Panel	894	(1)
PictureBox	894	(1)
PrintPreviewControl	894	(1)
ProgressBar	894	(1)
RadioButton	895	(1)
RichTextBox	896	(1)
SplitContainer	896	(1)
StatusStrip	896	(1)
TabControl	896	(1)
TableLayoutPanel	896	(1)
TextBox	896	(1)
ToolStrip	897	(1)
ToolStripContainer	897	(1)
TrackBar	897	(1)
TreeView	897	(1)
VScrollBar	898	(1)
WebBrowser	899	(2)
Appendix E Drag and Drop	901	(26)
Enabling Drag and Drop	901	(7)
The Drag Source	901	(1)
The Drop Target	902	(3)
Drop Targets and COM	905	(1)
Drag and Drop in Operation	906	(2)
Adding Support for Multiple Drag-and-Drop Effects	908	(3)
Adding Multiple Drag-and-Drop Effects to the Drag Source	908	(1)
Adding Multiple Drag-and-Drop Effects to the Drop Target	908	(3)
Customizing Drag and Drop	911	(3)
Using Custom Cursors	911	(2)
Controlling Drag-and-Drop Completion	913	(1)
Drag and Drop of Multiple Data Items	914	(11)
Dragging Multiple ListView Items	914	(1)
Pieces of an Explorer-Style UI	915	(4)
Initiating a Drag Operation	919	(1)
Drag in Action	920	(3)
Completing a Drag Operation	923	(2)
File Drag and Drop	925	(2)
Appendix F Document Management	927	(30)
The FileDocument Component	931	(9)
Dirty Bit Management	932	(1)
File Management	933	(2)
Handling the File Menu Items	935	(2)
MDI and the FileDocument Component	937	(3)
Shell Integration	940	(5)
Integrating with the Shell	940	(2)
Document Icons	942	(2)
Start I Documents	944	(1)
The MruMenuManager Component	945	(9)
Getting an MRU Menu	946	(1)
Configuring the MRU Menu Appearance	947	(2)
Adding a File to the MRU Menu	949	(1)
Opening an MRU File	950	(1)
Persisting the MRU Menu across Application Sessions	951	(1)
MruMenuManager and MDI Applications	952	(2)
Opening Files Dragged and Dropped from the Shell	954	(3)
Bibliography	957	(4)
Index	961

Excerpts

PrefaceWindows 1.0 programmers had a straightforward life. They had almost no choices about how to do things; either there was an application programming interface (API), or there wasnrs"t, and most of the time there wasnrs"t. This meant that developers had to build almost everything by hand. At the time, this wasnrs"t a problem. All Windows programmers had the same limitations, so everyoners"s apps more or less operated with the same limited set of functionality.A modern Windows developer, on the other hand, is inundated with choices. The invention of the web alone gives us static Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), server-based user interface (UI) interaction via ASP.NET, and client-side UI interaction via ActiveX controls or AJAX (to name a few). 1 On the client side, we have native frameworks like Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC), Active Template Library (ATL), and the next-generation managed framework known as the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF is part of WinFX, the follow-on to the .NET Framework). How does a developer choose? Where does Windows Forms 2.0, the topic of this book, fit into this pantheon?1 AJAX stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML, as defined by Jesse James Garrett, "Ajax: A New Approach to Web Applications," http://www.adaptivepath.com/publications/essays/archives/000385.php ( http://tinysells.com/38 ).Client technologies on Windows provide a range of reach and richness in inverse proportion to each other. Reach is the ability of a user interface (UI) to work across operating systems, whereas richness is the ability for a UI to take advantage of the operating system on which it runs. So even though static HTML works almost everywhere, to the extent that your HTML uses client-side JScript, reach is diminished for browsers that donrs"t support the scripting constructs being used. Even further down the reach scale are ActiveX controls, which work only on Windows but allow full access to its richness. 22 At one point, the Component Object Model (COM) and ActiveX were made to work across platforms, but they have long since been relegated to Windows only.At the other extreme we have WPF, a completely new managed framework built on top of DirectX. WPF encompasses documents, layout, animation, 2-D, 3-D, text, and graphics primitives in a single, cohesive whole. This framework provides the richest client technology that Microsoft has ever built, and it takes maximum advantage of the platform on which it runs, including any hardware 3-D graphics acceleration that may be available. However, at the time of this writing, WPF has not yet shipped and works only under Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows Vista. 33 WinFX (which inclues WPF) and Windows Vista are scheduled to ship in 2006.Where does that leave Windows Forms 2.0? It doesnrs"t quite offer the richness of WPF, but itrs"s far richer than the HTML-based technologies. Windows Forms 2.0 also is much richer than Windows Forms 1.0, with greatly enhanced support for flexible layout, modern menu strip and tool strip controls, data binding, multithreading, typed resources and settings, and, most importantly, ClickOnce deployment.With ClickOnce, for the first time, users can deploy Windows applications as easily as web applications. Even better, ClickOnce allows Windows applications to be installed locally, integrated with the Start menu, and accessed even if no network connection is available. These options are not available for users of Web applications.So Windows Forms 2.0 is high on the richness scale, but what about the reach scale? Unlike web applications, Wind