1. Introduction to Windows
Programming

2. Chapter Objectives
Differentiate between the functions of Windows
applications and console applications
Learn about graphical user interfaces
Become aware of some elements of good design
Use C# and Visual Studio to create Windows-based
applications

3. Chapter Objectives (continued)
Create Windows forms and be able to change form
properties
Add control objects such as buttons, labels, and text
boxes to a form
Work through a programming example that illustrates
the chapter’s concepts

4. Windows Application Basics
 Windows Forms is the event base smart-client component of the
.NET Framework.
 Application run locally on users' computers.Once launched
 Set of managed libraries that enable common application tasks such
as reading and writing to the file system.
 A form is a visual surface on which you display information to the
user. You commonly build Windows Forms applications by placing
controls on forms and developing responses to user actions, such as
mouse clicks or key presses. A control is a discrete user interface
(UI) element that displays data or accepts data input.

5. Graphical User Interfaces
Interface: front end of a program
 Visual image you see when you run a program
Graphical user interface (GUI) includes:
 Menus
 Text in many different colors and sizes
 Other controls (pictures, buttons, etc.)

6. Windows Applications
Reference and import System.Windows.Forms
namespace
Class heading definition
 Includes not only the class name, but a colon
followed by another class name
 Derived class (first class)
 Base class (second class)
 public class Form1 : Form
Derived classes inherit from base class

7. Windows Applications (continued)
Text
 A property for setting/getting title bar caption
Name
 Unique name for all controls
Windows forms/controls offer many properties
including Text, Color, Font, and Location,Size
Execution begins in Main( ) method
 Main( ) is located in Program.cs file for the application
 Call to Run( ) method places application in process loop

8. using System.Windows.Forms; // Line 1
namespace Windows0
{
public class Form1 : Form // Line 2
{
public Form1( ) // Line 3
{
InitializeComponent();
Text = "Simple Windows Application"; // Line 4
}
}
}
New
namespace
referenced
Constructor
Base class
Sets
title bar
caption
Starts
process
loop

9. Windows Application (continued)
Figure 8-1 Windows-based form
Output
generated
from sample
from
application

10. Elements of Good Design
Appearance matters
 Human-computer interaction (HCI) research
Design considerations
 Consistency
 Alignment
 Avoid Clutter
 Color
 Target Audience

11. Use Visual Studio to Create Windows-
based Applications
Windows
Application
template
Browse
to
location
to store
your
work
Select
File
New
Project
Name
Figure 8-2 Visual Studio New Windows application

12. Windows-based Applications
Properties
Window
Design View
Toolbox
Switch
between
Design and
Code view
using View
menu
Figure 8-3 Initial design screen

13. Windows-based Applications (continued)
Figure 8-4 Dockable windows
Properties
Auto-hide
Solution
Explorer
pushpin

14. Windows Forms
Extensive collection of Control classes
Top-level window for an application is called a Form
Each control has large collection of properties
and methods , Events
 Select property from an alphabetized list (Properties
window)
 Change property by clicking in the box and selecting
or typing the new entry

15. Windows Form Properties
Properties
Property value
Figure 8-5 Properties window
Categorized
Alphabetical
Events

16. Windows Form Properties (continued)

17. Windows Form Events
Add code to respond to events, like button clicks
From the Properties window, select the lightening bolt
(Events)
 Double-click on the event name to generate code
 Registers the event as being of interest
 Adds a heading for event-handler method

18. Windows Form Properties (continued)
Events
button
selected
Figure 8-6 Form1 events

19. Windows Form – Closing Event
Code automatically added to register event
this.Closing += new System.ComponentModel.CancelEventHandler
(this.Form1_Closing);
Code automatically added for method heading
private void Form1_Closing(object sender,
System.ComponentModel.CancelEventArgs e)
{
}
You can add statement to event-handler method
body
MessageBox.Show("Hope you are having fun!");

20. Simple Windows Application
New with Visual Studio 2010, the IDE separates the
source code into three separate files
 Form1.cs: Normally this is the only one you edit
 Form1.Designer.cs: Holds the auto-generated code
 Program.cs: Contains the Main( ) method, where
execution always begins
Form1.cs and Form1.Designer.cs both include
partial class definitions for the Form1 class

21. Windows Form Events (continued)
Figure 8-7 Solution Explorer window
Expand Form1.cs
node to reveal the
Form1.Designer.cs
file

22. Controls
Controls are all classes
 Button, Label, TextBox, ComboBox, MainMenu,
ListBox, CheckBox, RadioButton, and
DateTimePicker …
Each comes with its own predefined properties and
methods
Each fires events
Each is derived from the
System.Windows.Forms.Control class

23. Controls (continued)
Dots
indicate
other
classes
are
derived
from the
class
Figure 8-9 Control class hierarchy

24. Standard Controls
Figure 8-10 Windows Forms controls

25. Creating a form
Properties set for the Form
container

26. Sample Form with Controls
Figure 8-11 GUI controls

27. Controls (continued)
Two procedures to place controls
 From Toolbox, double-click on control or drag and drop
Move, resize, and delete controls
Format controls
 Align controls
 Make same size
 Horizontal and vertical spacing

28. Properties of the Control Class

29. Methods of the Control Class

30. Label Objects
Provides descriptive text or labels for other controls
Instantiate object
Label labelName = new Label( );
Add control to Form
this.Controls.Add(labelName);
Set property values (some from Control class)
 Text; TextAlign; Font; Location

31. Adding Labels to Form
Add Label objects, then set their
properties using the Properties
window
(View Properties window)

32. TextBox Objects
Used to enter data or display text during run time
 Used for both input and output
Instantiate object
TextBox textBoxName = new TextBox( );
Add control to Form
this.Controls.Add(TextBoxName);
Interesting properties
 MultiLine, ScollBars, MaxLength, PasswordChar,
CharacterCasing

33. TextBox Objects (continued)

34. Adding TextBox Objects to Form…
Add TextBox objects,
then set their property
values

35. Button
Enables user to click button to perform task
 If button has event-handler method and is registered as
an event to which your program is planning to respond,
event-handler method is called automatically when
button clicked
Button object’s properties, methods, and events
 Inherits from Control
 Text, Enabled, Focused, TabIndex

36. Adding Button Objects to Form
Add Button objects,
then set their property
values

37. Adding Button Objects to Form (continued)
Figure 8-14 Events
Click to see
list of events
Double-click
to create an
event-handler
method

38. Add other controls to form
Combo box
Menu strip (Call Sample Salary Form)
List box
Date Time picker
Check box
Radio button
Check box list
Error provider

39. Sample Salary Calculator

40. Timer Control
A Timer control raises an event at a given interval.
 If you need to execute some code after certain interval of
time continuously, you can use a timer control.
Windows Forms have a Timer control that can be used at
design time as well as at run-time

41. Properties
Enabled
 Gets or sets whether the timer is running.
Interval
 Gets or sets the time, in milliseconds, before the Tick event is raised
relative to the last occurrence of the Tick event.

42. Methods and Event
Method
 Protected method OnTick Raises the Tick event.
 Public method Start Starts the timer.
 Public method Stop Stops the timer.
Event
 Tick
 Occurs when the specified timer interval has elapsed and the timer is
enabled.

43. Question ??