Windows Forms 2.0 Programming, Addison-Wesley
Microsoft .NET Framework, ASP.NET, Visual C# (CSharp, C Sharp, C-Sharp) Developer Training, Visual Studio
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C# Online.NET Book Review
I came late to the world of WinTel PCs. The first user interface I wrote on a PC used the Curses package. Curses allowed me to easily create simple menus. They looked quite nice on my amber monochrome CRT. But, I was used to the Macintosh graphical user interface (GUI); and, Curses could not compete with a real GUI. Next, I used the Java Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT) followed by Java Swing. Whereas AWT was "heavyweight"—relying on natively-coded components, Swing was "lightweight" and written entirely in the Java language. Because of my Macintosh experience, AWT and Swing seemed like old friends.
Then, along came Windows Forms (WinForms). WinForms is the .NET version of Swing. There are many new features in Windows Forms 2.0 including ClickOnce deployment, the BindingSource model, the DataGridView, FlowLayoutPanel, MaskedTextBox, TableLayoutPanel, and ToolStrip controls, the SoundPlayer class, and the BackgroundWorker component. Now, Windows Forms is competitive with Swing. For a complete list of new features, read Appendix A: What's New in Windows Forms 2.0—it, alone, is worth the price of the book.
Despite the fact that you can easily retrieve such information online, most Windows Forms (and Swing) books are merely endless lists of controls and how to use them. This is fine for reference by an experienced developer; but, it is a formidable obstacle to Forms beginners. And, it does not really explain how the framework is intended to function within the .NET environment.
This book is the successor to the well received Windows Forms Programming in C#. The book deals with a dauntingly broad and profound technology by dividing it into assimilable chunks. But, it never loses sight of the big picture. This book does an incredible job of covering a massive API while simultaneously inculcating the Forms developer into .NET culture. Thus, beginners can learn the fundamentals and return to the book again and again as their experience grows. Meanwhile, the experienced developer will benefit from the detailed coverage of new and advanced features including designer integration and multithreading. And, the special coverage in the appendices will benefit rookie and old pro alike.
The book features color inserts for certain figures—somewhat of a novely in technical books these days.
All of the source code examples are in the C# language.
Bottom line
Windows Forms 2.0 Programming is the authoritative WinForms guide and reference for beginning and advanced developers—indispensable.
Books in this series
Microsoft .NET Development Series (Addison-Wesley):
- .NET Developer's Guide to Directory Services Programming, Addison-Wesley
- .NET Developer's Guide to Windows Security, Addison-Wesley
- .NET Framework Standard Library Annotated Reference, v.1, Addison-Wesley
- .NET Framework Standard Library Annotated Reference, v.2, Addison-Wesley
- .NET Internationalization, Addison-Wesley
- .NET Web Services, Addison-Wesley
- ASP.NET 2.0 Illustrated, Addison-Wesley
- C# Programming Language, The, 2nd Ed., Addison-Wesley
- Common Language Infrastructure Annotated Standard, Addison-Wesley
- Data Binding with Windows Forms 2.0, Addison-Wesley
- Enterprise Services with the .NET Framework, Addison-Wesley
- eXtreme .NET, Addison-Wesley
- Framework Design Guidelines, Addison-Wesley
- Visual Studio Tools for Office, Addison-Wesley
- Windows Forms 2.0 Programming, Addison-Wesley
From the back cover
Windows Forms 2.0 Programming is the successor to the highly praised Windows Forms Programming in C#. This edition has been significantly updated to amalgamate the sheer mass of new and improved support that is encompassed by Windows Forms 2.0, the .NET Framework 2.0, and Visual Studio 2005. This is the one book developers need in order to learn how to build and deploy leading-edge Windows Forms 2.0 applications.
Readers will gain a deep understanding from Sells and Weinhardt’s practical, well-balanced approach to the subject and clear code samples.
- Windows Forms 2.0 fundamentals, including forms, dialogs, data validation, help, controls, components, and rendering
- Static and dynamic layout, snap lines, HTML-style flow and table layout, automatic resizing, and automatic cross-DPI scaling
- Office 2003-style tool strip control coverage, including dynamic layout and custom rendering
- Design-time integration with the Visual Studio 2005 Properties Window and Smart Tags
- Resource management, strongly typed resources, and internationalization considerations
- Strongly typed application and user settings
- SDI, MDI, Single Instancing, Multiple-Instance SDI, Single-Instance MDI, database-centric, and document-centric applications
- Databinding data-source management, drag-and-drop databinding, the BindingSource, the BindingNavigator, and applied databinding
- Events, delegates, multithreaded UIs, long-running operations, simplified multithreading with the BackgroundWorker, and asynchronous web service calls
- ClickOnce application development publishing, shell integration, and partial trust security
- Best practices for developers transitioning from Windows Forms 1.0 and MFC
About the author(s)
Chris Sells is a Program Manager for the Connected Systems Division. He's written several books, including Programming Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Forms Programming in C# and ATL Internals. In his free time, Chris hosts various conferences and makes a pest of himself on Microsoft internal product team discussion lists.
Michael Weinhardt is a programmer/writer for the Windows Client SDK team at Microsoft. Michael has written for MSDN magazine, often with Chris, and contributed to the Wonders of Windows Forms column on MSDN Online.
Table of Contents (abbreviated)
Chapter 1 Hello, Windows Forms
Chapter 2 Forms
Chapter 3 Dialogs
Chapter 4 Layout
Chapter 5 Drawing Basics
Chapter 6 Drawing Text
Chapter 7 Advanced Drawing
Chapter 8 Printing
Chapter 9 Components
Chapter 10 Controls
Chapter 11 Design-Time Integration: The Properties Window
Chapter 12 Design-Time Integration: Designers and Smart Tags
Chapter 13 Resources
Chapter 14 Applications
Chapter 15 Settings
Chapter 16 Data Binding Basics
Chapter 17 Applied Data Binding
Chapter 18 Multithreaded User Interfaces
Chapter 19 ClickOnce Deployment
Appendix A What’s New in Windows Forms 2.0
Appendix B Moving from MFC
Appendix C Delegates and Events
Appendix D Component and Control Survey 881 Appendix E Drag and Drop
Appendix F Document Management
