winforms Getting started with winforms

Remarks

Creating a Simple WinForms Application using Visual Studio

This example will show you how to create a Windows Forms Application project in Visual Studio.

Create Windows Forms Project

1. Start Visual Studio.

2. On the File menu, point to New, and then select Project. The New Project dialog box appears.

3. In the Installed Templates pane, select "Visual C#" or "Visual Basic".

4. Above the middle pane, you can select the target framework from the drop-down list.

5. In the middle pane, select the Windows Forms Application template.

6. In the Name text box, type a name for the project.

7. In the Location text box, choose a folder to save the project.

8. Click OK.

9. The Windows Forms Designer opens and displays Form1 of the project.

Add Controls to the Form

1. From the Toolbox palette, drag a Button control onto the form.

2. Click the button to select it. In the Properties window, set the Text property to Say Hello.

   

Write Code

1. Double-click the button to add an event handler for the Click event. The Code Editor will open with the insertion point placed within the event handler function.

2. Type the following code:

   C#

   MessageBox.Show("Hello, World!");
    

   VB.NET

   MessageBox.Show("Hello, World!")
    

Run and Test

1. Press F5 to run the application.

   

2. When your application is running, click the button to see the "Hello, World!" message.

   

3. Close the form to return to Visual Studio.

Creating a Simple C# WinForms Application using a Text Editor

1. Open a text editor (like Notepad), and type the code below:

    using System;
    using System.ComponentModel;
    using System.Drawing;
    using System.Windows.Forms;
   
    namespace SampleApp
    {
        public class MainForm : Form
        {
            private Button btnHello;
   
            // The form's constructor: this initializes the form and its controls.
            public MainForm()
            {
                // Set the form's caption, which will appear in the title bar.
                this.Text = "MainForm";
   
                // Create a button control and set its properties.
                btnHello = new Button();
                btnHello.Location = new Point(89, 12);
                btnHello.Name = "btnHello";
                btnHello.Size = new Size(105, 30);
                btnHello.Text = "Say Hello";
   
                // Wire up an event handler to the button's "Click" event
                // (see the code in the btnHello_Click function below).
                btnHello.Click += new EventHandler(btnHello_Click);
   
                // Add the button to the form's control collection,
                // so that it will appear on the form.
                this.Controls.Add(btnHello);
            }
   
            // When the button is clicked, display a message.
            private void btnHello_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
            {
                MessageBox.Show("Hello, World!");
            }
   
            // This is the main entry point for the application.
            // All C# applications have one and only one of these methods.
            [STAThread]
            static void Main()
            {
                Application.EnableVisualStyles();
                Application.Run(new MainForm());
            }
        }
    }
    

2. Save the file to a path you have read/write access to. It is conventional to name the file after the class that it contains—for example, X:\MainForm.cs .

3. Run the C# compiler from the command line, passing the path to the code file as an argument:

    %WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\csc.exe /target:winexe "X:\MainForm.cs"
    

   Note: To use a version of the C# compiler for other .NET framework versions, take a look in the path, %WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET and modify the example above accordingly. For more information on compiling C# applications, see Compile and run your first C# program.

4. After compilation has completed, an application called MainForm.exe will be created in the same directory as your code file. You can run this application either from the command line or by double-clicking on it in Explorer.

Creating a Simple VB.NET WinForms Application using a Text Editor

1. Open a text editor (like Notepad), and type the code below:

    Imports System.ComponentModel
    Imports System.Drawing
    Imports System.Windows.Forms
   
    Namespace SampleApp
        Public Class MainForm : Inherits Form
            Private btnHello As Button
    
            ' The form's constructor: this initializes the form and its controls.
            Public Sub New()
                ' Set the form's caption, which will appear in the title bar.
                Me.Text = "MainForm"
    
                ' Create a button control and set its properties.
                btnHello = New Button()
                btnHello.Location = New Point(89, 12)
                btnHello.Name = "btnHello"
                btnHello.Size = New Size(105, 30)
                btnHello.Text = "Say Hello"
    
                ' Wire up an event handler to the button's "Click" event
                ' (see the code in the btnHello_Click function below).
                AddHandler btnHello.Click, New EventHandler(AddressOf btnHello_Click)
    
                ' Add the button to the form's control collection,
                ' so that it will appear on the form.
                Me.Controls.Add(btnHello)
            End Sub
    
            ' When the button is clicked, display a message.
            Private Sub btnHello_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
                MessageBox.Show("Hello, World!")
            End Sub
    
            ' This is the main entry point for the application.
            ' All VB.NET applications have one and only one of these methods.
            <STAThread> _
            Public Shared Sub Main()
                Application.EnableVisualStyles()
                Application.Run(New MainForm())
            End Sub
        End Class
    End Namespace
    

2. Save the file to a path you have read/write access to. It is conventional to name the file after the class that it contains—for example, X:\MainForm.vb .

3. Run the VB.NET compiler from the command line, passing the path to the code file as an argument:

    %WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET\Framework64\v4.0.30319\vbc.exe /target:winexe "X:\MainForm.vb"
    

   Note: To use a version of the VB.NET compiler for other .NET framework versions, take a look in the path %WINDIR%\Microsoft.NET and modify the example above accordingly. For more information on compiling VB.NET applications, see Hello World.

4. After compilation has completed, an application called MainForm.exe will be created in the same directory as your code file. You can run this application either from the command line or by double-clicking on it in Explorer.