Windows Forms Overview

Windows Forms Overview



Windows Forms is a set of classes in the .NET Framework that enables developers to quickly create Windows client applications, using powerful libraries for user-interface controls and displaying information. In Windows Forms, a form is a visual interface where information and controls are displayed to an end user. Controls are buttons, labels, graphs and other user interface (UI) elements where the end user can interact with the form. When a user interacts with controls on a form, say clicking a button, the action generates an event which is then handled by code in your application to perform tasks, for example performing a sum, or opening a folder on the operating system, or interacting with other Windows forms. The standard control set found in Visual Studio for Windows Forms is also extensible with the Usercontrol class, enabling developers to create their own unique controls inheriting properties and functions from the existing control set. There are also a number of third-party companies offering control sets to add to the already extensive library available in Visual Studio.


Getting Started With Windows Forms

There are many resources available to help anyone wanting to get started with Windows forms development. The Desktop Platform beginners guide on MSDN is a good place to start. There are also some excellent training videos and guides on the Windows Client website, which also incorporates Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). There's also a great guide and videos to getting started developing for Windows 7 on MSDN here.


Community Resources

Forums

Blogs

Wiki Articles

Other Resources

Software Downloads


Other Languages

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Wiki - Revision Comment List(Revision Comment)
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  • Richard Mueller edited Revision 16. Comment: Changed tag "VS 2010" to 'Visual Studio 2010"

  • PeterMortensen edited Revision 14. Comment: Used a name closer to the real name of a resource (ref. www.dotnetcurry.com/About.aspx) - the other possibility is "DotNetCurry.com".

  • PeterMortensen edited Revision 13. Comment: Copy edited.

  • Ed Price - MSFT edited Revision 8. Comment: We're not going to add "(en-US)" to the titles because of various difficulties. Please continue to add the tag though!

  • Horizon_Net edited Revision 5. Comment: updated formatting

  • Horizon_Net edited Revision 4. Comment: added link to german version and added language tags

  • Pantelis44999 edited Revision 3. Comment: Added link for Globalization.  

  • Horizon_Net edited Revision 1. Comment: Updated formatting.

  • Horizon_Net edited Original. Comment: Added title and toc.

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Comments
  • Horizon_Net edited Original. Comment: Added title and toc.

  • Horizon_Net edited Revision 1. Comment: Updated formatting.

  • Pantelis44999 edited Revision 3. Comment: Added link for Globalization.  

  • Wonder if Globalization and Localization should have a separate section or is the link in the Wiki Articles section enough?

  • Horizon_Net edited Revision 4. Comment: added link to german version and added language tags

  • Horizon_Net edited Revision 5. Comment: updated formatting

  • Good stuff..Thanks

  • Good Article.

  • Ed Price - MSFT edited Revision 8. Comment: We're not going to add "(en-US)" to the titles because of various difficulties. Please continue to add the tag though!

  • Nice Article

  • Excellent  !!!

  • PeterMortensen edited Revision 13. Comment: Copy edited.

  • PeterMortensen edited Revision 14. Comment: Used a name closer to the real name of a resource (ref. www.dotnetcurry.com/About.aspx) - the other possibility is "DotNetCurry.com".

  • Richard Mueller edited Revision 16. Comment: Changed tag "VS 2010" to 'Visual Studio 2010"

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