.NET Windows Forms in a Nutshell

Preface

This book is a desktop reference and tutorial for Windows Forms, the new API for writing GUI applications for Windows. Windows Forms is a part of the .NET Framework, the first version of which shipped in February 2002.

.NET Windows Forms in a Nutshell is divided into two parts. The first half is a tutorial, which introduces the most important concepts and classes in Windows Forms and describes how to use these to build interactive applications. It also describes GDI+, the drawing API that most Windows Forms applications will use.

The second half is a quick reference to the Windows Forms and GDI+ namespaces. It provides namespace maps, type descriptions, member signatures, and useful cross-references and annotations.

Who This Book Is For

This book is intended for C# and Visual Basic .NET developers who are writing Windows Forms applications. If you are moving from previous Windows GUI technologies such as Visual Basic 6.0 or MFC, or from those of other platforms such as Swing, or even if you are new to writing Windows applications, the tutorial section provides a complete introduction to the most important aspects of the Windows Forms API.

Part I of this book, which offers a Windows Forms tutorial, presents code examples in both C# and VB.NET. Part II, which documents the namespaces used in Windows Forms development, uses C# syntax. However, for VB programmers, a chapter is devoted to converting C# syntax to that of Visual Basic.

Regardless of your level of experience with Windows Forms, the reference section provides a great deal of useful information and insights into the namespaces that make up the Windows Forms and GDI+ APIs.