This print for content only-size & color not accurate 7" X 9-1/4" / casebound / malloy

960

Figure 27-3.

A simple window, with a 

simple menu system

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This type is, however, very useful in the overall scheme of .NET event handling, in that it is the

parent to many (very useful) derived types. For example, the MouseEventArgs type extends EventArgs

to provide details regarding the current state of the mouse. KeyEventArgs also extends EventArgs to

provide details of the state of the keyboard (such as which key was pressed), PaintEventArgs

extends EventArgs to yield graphically relevant data, and so forth. You will see numerous EventArgs

descendents (and the delegates that make use of them) not when working with Windows Forms, but

with the WPF and ASP.NET APIs as well.

In any case, while we could most certainly continue to build more and more functionality into

our MainWindow (status bars, dialog boxes, etc.) using a simple text editor, we will eventually end up

with hand cramps, as we have to manually author all the grungy control configuration logic. Thank-

fully, Visual Studio 2008 provides numerous integrated designers that take care of these details on

our behalf. As we use these tools during the remainder of this chapter, always remember that they

are authoring everyday C# code. There is nothing “magical” about them whatsoever.