C# 0 The Complete Reference

Two Ways to Write a Form-Based Windows Application

Before we begin, an important point needs to be made. Visual Studio includes a sophisticated 

set of design tools that automate much of the process of creating a Windows application. 

Using these tools, you can visually construct and position the various controls and menus 

used by your application. Visual Studio will also “rough in” the classes and methods that 

are needed for each feature. Frankly, using the Visual Studio design tools are a good choice 

for creating most real-world Windows applications. However, there is no requirement that 

you use those tools. You can also create a Windows program by using a text editor and then 

compiling it, just like you can do for console-based applications.

Because this book is about C#, not Visual Studio, and because the Windows programs 

contained in this chapter are quite short, all programs will be shown in a form in which they 

can be entered using a text editor. However, the general structure, design, and organization 

of the programs is the same as that created by the design tools. Thus, the material in this 

chapter applies to either approach.

How Windows Interacts with the User

The first thing that you must learn about Windows programming is how the user and 

Windows interact because this defines the architecture that all Windows programs share. 

This interaction is fundamentally different from the console-based programs shown in the 

other parts of this book. When you write a console program, it is your program that initiates 

interaction with the operating system. For example, it is the program that requests such 

www.freepdf-books.com

---