Windows Forms Tutorial

Introduction to Windows Forms

Windows Forms, sometimes abbreviated as WinForms, is a graphical (GUI) class library included as a part of Microsoft .NET framework. It provides a platform for rich desktop applications. In this tutorial, you will learn how to create and manage Windows Forms applications using C#.

Setting Up the Environment

To start developing Windows Forms applications, you need to install Visual Studio. Follow these steps:

1. Download and install Visual Studio from the official Visual Studio website.
2. During installation, ensure you select the ".NET desktop development" workload.

Creating Your First Windows Forms Application

Let's create a simple Windows Forms application:

1. Open Visual Studio.
2. Select "Create a new project".
3. Search for "Windows Forms App (.NET Framework)" and select it.
4. Click "Next", name your project, and click "Create".

Understanding the Form Designer

The Form Designer in Visual Studio allows you to visually design your form. You can drag and drop controls like buttons, labels, and text boxes from the Toolbox onto your form.

Try adding a Button to your form and set its properties using the Properties window. Change its Text property to "Click Me".

Writing Event Handlers

To make the button do something when clicked, you need to write an event handler:

1. Double-click the button in the Form Designer. This will create a Click event handler in the code-behind file.
2. Write the following code inside the event handler:

private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    MessageBox.Show("Button Clicked!");
}
                

Running Your Application

Press F5 or click the Start button in Visual Studio to run your application. You should see a window with your button. Clicking the button will show a message box saying "Button Clicked!".

Adding More Controls

You can add various controls to your form to build more complex applications. Some common controls include:

• Label: Used to display text.
• TextBox: Used to accept user input.
• CheckBox: Used for binary choices.
• RadioButton: Used for selecting one option from a set.

Try adding these controls to your form and experimenting with their properties and events.

Creating Multiple Forms

Sometimes, you may need multiple forms in your application. To add a new form:

1. Right-click your project in the Solution Explorer.
2. Select "Add" > "Windows Form".
3. Name your form and click "Add".

You can now design and code this new form just like the main form. Use the following code to show the new form from the main form:

Form2 newForm = new Form2();
newForm.Show();
                

Handling Form Navigation

Sometimes you may want to hide the current form when opening a new one. Use the following code to achieve this:

this.Hide();
Form2 newForm = new Form2();
newForm.ShowDialog();
this.Show();
                

This will hide the main form and show it again once the new form is closed.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, we've covered the basics of creating Windows Forms applications using C#. We've learned how to set up the environment, design forms, handle events, and navigate between multiple forms. With these basics, you can start building your own rich desktop applications.