Windows Forms

As forms are the base unit of your application, it is essential that you give some thought to their function and design. A form is ultimately a blank slate that you, as a developer, enhance with controls to create a user interface and with code to manipulate data. To that end, Visual Studio provides you with an integrated development environment (IDE) to aid in writing code, as well as a rich control set written with the .NET Framework. By complementing the functionality of these controls with your code, you can easily and quickly develop the solutions you need.

In This Section

• Windows Forms Community Support
  Contains links to community resources for Windows Forms development.

• What's New in Windows Forms and Windows Forms Controls
  Describes new features and additions to a number of classes that already existed.

• Getting Started with Windows Forms
  Provides links to Windows Forms general concepts and procedures.

• Enhancing Windows Forms Applications
  Describe features and enhancements offered by Windows Forms and explains their use.

• Windows Forms Reference
  Provides links namespaces and to code samples for common Windows Forms programming tasks, and topics that describe the Windows Forms Designer user interface (UI).

Related Sections

• Windows Forms Controls
  Links to the main topics about working with controls.

• Graphics Overview (Windows Forms)
  Discusses how to create graphics, draw text, and manipulate graphical images as objects using the advanced implementation of the Windows graphics design interface.

• ClickOnce Deployment
  Discusses the principles of ClickOnce deployment.

• Forms Tasks for Visual Basic 6.0 Users
  Describes how forms have changed in the new version.

• Windows Forms/MFC Programming Differences
  Discusses the differences between MFC applications and Windows Forms.

• Deciding Which Technologies and Tools To Use
  Provides an interactive guide to help you choose which approach or technology to use, as well as links to more information.

• Accessing Data (Visual Studio)
  Discusses incorporating data access functionality into your applications.

• Debugging Preparation: Windows Forms Applications
  Discusses the process of debugging applications created with the Windows Application project template, as well as how to change the Debug and Release configurations.

• Deploying Applications and Components
  Describes the process by which you distribute a finished application or component to be installed on other computers.

• Walkthrough: Deploying a Windows-based Application
  Demonstrates the process of creating an installer for a Windows-based application, including optional steps to customize the installation.

• Building Console Applications
  Describes the basics of creating a console application using the Console class.