To ensure you have the correct amount of space for all form objects needed and even room for adding features down the road, design of your new program becomes the key to a successful build. In keeping with that tradition of design we will need to first layout how we would like our form to look at the end of our project. For this example we will be creating a mock MP3 Player. I have decided to make the form appear in the shape of a banner with the display information and buttons in the center.

Here is how I would like my form to look when it is complete:

As you can tell I am not an artist but for the purpose of this article let’s pretend it is the greatest design ever. You can do this step with nothing but a scratch piece of paper and pen just so you have a visual goal to work towards. Next we want to conceptualize a layout on the form to see if it meets your needs.

Once again, despite the artistry it appears to be in line with my concept.

The next step is where we turn idea into reality. From here going forward we will need to use an image creation program. I will use the basic MS PAINT program to create the form mask that we need. In your program of choice re-create the form that you want to see. It is best to put it in the middle of a slightly larger image. Remember to outline where your form items will be located.

Next we want to fill the surrounding area with a solid color. This color should usually be something obnoxious as it will be easier to locate later down the line. In this example I choose lime green. The white area where your objects will be placed should also be colored to your liking at this point.

This final mask image will show our form in the middle area and the surrounding green area as the mask. Save the image to your desktop or an equally accessible location.

Now we will move to the Visual Studio / C# portion of this process. Create a new Windows Application in Visual Studio and add a PictureBox to the form. Next you will want to select the image mask you just created.
Expand the image and form until it fits correctly. At the end your form should look similar to this example:

In the properties box we will be setting the FormBorderStyle property to “None” to eliminate the top blue title bar. This is where our first bit of code comes into play. Because of a lack of the title bar we need to move the form directly. To achieve this effect you will need to add the following:

[At the top]

using System.Runtime.InteropServices;

[Above public Form1()]

public static extern bool ReleaseCapture();
public const int WM_NCLBUTTONDOWN = 0xA1;
public const int HT_CAPTION = 0x2;

[DllImportAttribute("user32.dll")]
public static extern int SendMessage(IntPtr hWnd,
                 int Msg, int wParam, int lParam);
[DllImportAttribute("user32.dll")]

[In pictureBox1_MouseDown event]

private void Form1_MouseDown(object sender,
        System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs e)
{
    if (e.Button == MouseButtons.Left)
    {
        ReleaseCapture();
        SendMessage(Handle, WM_NCLBUTTONDOWN, HT_CAPTION, 0);
    }

Source: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/cs/csharpmovewindow.aspx

You should now be able to move your form without a title bar.

The final step is setting the transparency key. Please note that you need to select Form1 for this and not the picturebox. From the properties box scroll down to TransparencyKey and set it to the same obnoxious color at your pictures background.

Add and code your objects, run the program and there you have it, a sweet looking form ready to impress your end users.

If you are unhappy with the layout just re-draw another form and try again. The possibilities are endless.

Introduction

One big framework's handicap is the low number ofvisual controls.Luckly the most usefull are yet present ,but often we find some problem with the less common control.Some days ago I make a program that translate the colors in thehtml code.In the first I used simply three trackbar to change the red,green and blue.In a second moment I need to put a more quick andintuitive solution,so I build this ColorPicker.This contol allow toselect a color faster than the previos way.Because I haven't seena similar control in this section ,I decide to post it.
In the last update I add a consistent number of controls.AllControls are listed below:

<center>

ColorPickers (namespace Fuliggine.ColorPickers)
StableColorPicker	Is a circolar color picker it allow to select a single color.
SquareColorPicker	Is a control that ,given a base color show and allow to select it's tones.
ColorBar	Is a control that show and allow to select all base color derived from rgb except white and black.
FullColorBar	Is a control that show and allow to select all base color derived from rgb (also white and black).
ColorViewers (namespace Fuliggine.ColorPickers)
MonoFrameColor	Is a control with frame that show the selected color.
DoubleFrameColor	Is a control with two frame that show the two selected colors.
ColorGradient	Is a control that show all tones of a given color;
Special Pointers (namespace Fuliggine.ColorPickers)
HolePointer	Is the pointer that select the color in the controls.

</center>

The ColorPickers Controls

The most part of thoose controls dont need any word,almost i think.For CodeBar and full code bar I divide the width in some section to allowsall the possibles combination of R,G,B.After that I find the step of color donein every pixel an draw the control line by line…

protected override void OnPaint(PaintEventArgs e)
{ int R=255;
int G=0;
int B=0;
//orizzontal…

int colorstep=255/ ( this.Width/6 );
int i=0;
//the color step x pixel

for(B=0;B<256;B+=colorstep ,i++)
{
e.Graphics.DrawLine(new Pen(new SolidBrush(Color.FromArgb(R,G,B)),1),i,0,i,this.Height);

}
B=255;
for(R=255;R>0;R-=colorstep,i++)
{

e.Graphics.DrawLine(new Pen(new SolidBrush(Color.FromArgb(R,G,B)),1),i,0,i,this.Height);

}
R=0;
for(G=0;G<256;G+=colorstep,i++)
{
e.Graphics.DrawLine(new Pen(new SolidBrush(Color.FromArgb(R,G,B)),1),i,0,i,this.Height);

}
G=255;

for(B=255;B>0;B-=colorstep,i++)
{
e.Graphics.DrawLine(new Pen(new SolidBrush(Color.FromArgb(R,G,B)),1),i,0,i,this.Height);

}

B=0;

for(R=0;R<256;R+=colorstep,i++)
{
e.Graphics.DrawLine(new Pen(new SolidBrush(Color.FromArgb(R,G,B)),1),i,0,i,this.Height);

}
R=255;
B=0;
for(G=255;G>0;G-=colorstep,i++)
{
e.Graphics.DrawLine(new Pen(new SolidBrush(Color.FromArgb(R,G,B)),1),i,0,i,this.Height);

}

}

A similar way is used also in the Color Gradient and SquareColorPicker,but there only the tones of the color are shown.

protected override void OnPaint(PaintEventArgs e)
{int ScaleY=255/this.Height;

for ( int y = 0 ; y<this.Height;y++)
{
int r=pColor.R-(y*ScaleY);
if(r<0)
{
r=0;
}

int g=pColor.G-(y*ScaleY);
if

(g< pan class="cpp-literal">0)
{
g=0;
}

int b=pColor.B-(y*ScaleY);
if(b<0)
{
b=0;
}
e.Graphics.DrawLine(new Pen(new SolidBrush(Color.FromArgb(r,g,b)),1),0,y,this.Width,y);
}
}

The Mono and Double Fame Color are realized by simple panels .The Hole pointer is a simple control that bring itself in the aprent bounds when them mouse brag it.Basing on its position controls decide what's the selected color.

The Color Picker Application

The demo is that I find a nice application,tin and simple but usefull forwho always use the HTML language.That application show a way to use the StableColorPicker.

How to Know the RGB color

I have decided to do a round rainbow.The main problem isthat in a RGB sistem we have 3 variables and in the plainthere are only two.So I decide to take the x value as Red,Y value as Green and the distance from center as Blue.The circle is inscripted in a square of 255 pixel for each side.The distance from the center are calculated with the Pitagora's Theorema and resized to fit in the range 0-255.So at every point are associed one tern of value beethwin 0 and 255.

How to paint the circle

To paint the circle,I have two Ways:the first one is to paint all the pointon the ray ,for each angle;the second one is to paint every point in a circle each circle .This two different way can be selected by the user .This piece of code isshown here:

protected override void OnPaint(PaintEventArgs e)
{
//set some usefull var

int offsett= 1;
int width=this.ClientRectangle.Width-2;
int height=this.ClientRectangle.Height-2;
int rx= width/2;
int x=10;
int y=10;
int cx=offsett+rx;
double teta=0 ;
//refresh the background

e .Graphics.FillRectangle(new SolidBrush(this.BackColor),this.ClientRectangle);

//The core of painting
if ( AnimationRadial==true)
{
for ( teta = 0 ; teta <2*Math.PI; teta=teta + 0.003)
{for ( double ray = 0 ; ray<rx ;ray= ray+1)
{

x= cx+ Convert.ToInt32(ray* Math.Cos(teta));
y= cx – Convert.ToInt32(ray* Math.Sin(teta));
Rectangle rect= new Rectangle(x,y,1,1);

e.Graphics.FillRectangle(new SolidBrush(Color.FromArgb(x,y,(int)(ray/rx*255))),rect);

}}}
else

{
for ( double ray = 0 ; ray<rx ;ray= ray+1)
{
for ( teta = 0 ; teta <2*Math.PI; teta=teta + 0.003)
{
x= cx+ Convert.ToInt32(ray* Math.Cos(teta));
y= cx – Convert.ToInt32(ray* Math.Sin(teta));
Rectangle rect= new Rectangle(x,y,1,1);
e.Graphics.FillRectangle(new SolidBrush(Color.FromArgb(x,y,(int)(ray/rx*255))),rect);
}}}}protected override void OnPaint(PaintEventArgs e)
{
//set some usefull var

int offsett= 1;
int width=this.ClientRectangle.Width-2;
int height=this.ClientRectangle.Height-2;
int rx= width/2;
int x=10;
int y=10;
int cx=offsett+rx;
double teta=0 ;
//refresh the background

e .Graphics.FillRectangle(new SolidBrush(this.BackColor),this.ClientRectangle);

//The core of painting
if ( AnimationRadial==true)
{
for ( teta = 0 ; teta <2*Math.PI; teta=teta + 0.003)
{for ( double ray = 0 ; ray<rx ;ray= ray+1)
{

x= cx+ Convert.ToInt32(ray* Math.Cos(teta));
y= cx – Convert.ToInt32(ray* Math.Sin(teta));
Rectangle rect= new Rectangle(x,y,1,1);

e.Graphics.FillRectangle(new SolidBrush(Color.FromArgb(x,y,(int)(ray/rx*255))),rect);

}}}
else

{
for ( double ray = 0 ; ray<rx ;ray= ray+1)
{
for ( teta = 0 ; teta <2*Math.PI; teta=teta + 0.003)
{
x= cx+ Convert.ToInt32(ray* Math.Cos(teta));
y= cx – Convert.ToInt32(ray* Math.Sin(teta));
Rectangle rect= new Rectangle(x,y,1,1);
e.Graphics.FillRectangle(new SolidBrush(Color.FromArgb(x,y,(int)(ray/rx*255))),rect);
}}}}

How to select a color

To select a color I made a special class that can be moved by the user.Every Color Picher has one of this and the cpntol return the color under it.

Problems

A big problem is the flikkerous repainting .I resolve taking the screenshoot of this control,and putting it on a new control derived from paintbox.This isn't an elegant solution but works…Icall this new control StableColorPicker

Classes

In this relase there are the first version of the control(ColorPicker) who work fine,but isn't very stable,and the second stable version(StableColorPicker).

This article explains how to add the Combobox DataGrid Column Style into a DataGrid on your .NET Windows form.

The sample introduces how to add the Combobox DataGrid Column Style into a DataGrid on your .NET Windows form.The main idea of the sample is to provide you with a suggestion how to update values in other datagrid cells at a row when the current combobox cell has been updated. For this case when we need to update corresponding cells we are using the DataGrid ComboBoxColumn Leave event. When the user will leave changed combobox cell the event will have effect. In this example project when you change a value in Country column a suitable Capital name will be populated into Capital column and vise versa.

This combobox column style is not just a dropdown combobox, which appears when a datagrid cell becomes the current cell. The combobox DataGridColumnStyle automatically fills the text at the cursor with the value of its dropdown values list. As characters are typed, the component finds the closest matching item from the list and fills in the remaining characters.

The Simple Sample describes the Datagrid Combobox basic techniques only. To find out other attractive Datagrid Combobox Column?s features please learn our Datagrid Columns sample projects. Also the code example gives hints how to deal with a database when you need update a set of records in the .NET datagrid interface and store the updates back into datasource database.

// Set column styles
// Define comboCountry variable as a ComboBoxColumn column style
object of DataGridComboBoxColumn class
internal DataGridComboBoxColumn comboCountry;
// Define comboCapital variable as a ComboBoxColumn column style
object of DataGridComboBoxColumn class
internal DataGridComboBoxColumn comboCapital;

………..

// Set column styles
// Set datagrid ComboBox ColumnStyle for Country field comboCountry = (DataGridComboBoxColumn) new
DataGridComboBoxColumn(ref
Dictionary, 0, 0, true, false, false,
DataGridComboBoxColumn.DisplayModes.ShowDisplayMember, 0); comboCountry.Leave += new
DataGridComboBoxColumn.LeaveEventHandler
(this.comboCountry_Leave); TblStyle.GridColumnStyles.Add(comboCountry);
TblStyle.GridColumnStyles[0].MappingName = "Country"; TblStyle.GridColumnStyles[0].HeaderText = "Country";
TblStyle.GridColumnStyles[0].Width = 165; TblStyle.GridColumnStyles[0].NullText = string.Empty;

// Set datagrid ComboBox ColumnStyle for Capital field comboCapital = (DataGridComboBoxColumn) new
DataGridComboBoxColumn(ref Dictionary, 1, 1, true, false, false,
DataGridComboBoxColumn.DisplayModes.ShowDisplayMember, 0); comboCapital.Leave += new
DataGridComboBoxColumn.LeaveEventHandler(this.comboCapital_Leave); TblStyle.GridColumnStyles.Add(comboCapital);
TblStyle.GridColumnStyles[1].MappingName = "Capital"; TblStyle.GridColumnStyles[1].HeaderText = "Capital";
TblStyle.GridColumnStyles[1].Width = 165; TblStyle.GridColumnStyles[1].NullText = string.Empty;

………..

// "Country" datagrid cell has been left. Update
corresponding "Capital" cell value in the current datagrid row private void comboCountry_Leave(object sender,
System.EventArgs e) { System.Data.DataRow[] Capital = Dictionary.Select("Country='" +
comboCountry.combo.Text + "'"); DataGrid1[DataGrid1.CurrentRowIndex, 1] = Capital[0][1]; }

// "Capital" datagrid cell has been left. Update
corresponding "Country" cell value in the current datagrid row private void comboCapital_Leave(object sender,
System.EventArgs e) { System.Data.DataRow[] Country = Dictionary.Select("Capital='" +
comboCapital.combo.Text + "'"); DataGrid1[DataGrid1.CurrentRowIndex, 0] = Country[0][0];

Learn more about DataGridColumns assembly

The assembly online documentation: http://www.rustemsoft.com/DataGridColumnsDoc/
Russ Sabitov
RustemSoft.com

• The horizontal scrollbar disappeared. Only fixed length strings smaller than the control width can be displayed. What if the control resized?
• If you tried to use a mouse wheel, you may have noticed that the selected item moves up and down erratically when the scroll wheel is moved.
• The overridable methods OnPaint() OnPaintBackGround() do not work at all. Simply they are not hooked to the events. Background is painted only via Windows messages.

The sad conclusion is that as the commercial quality controls they are entirely useless.
.Net ListBox control itself works fine, however as a base class for further derivation it is fundamentally flawed. The root of evil is in the Windows API ListBox.
.Net ListBox is just a wrapper for this control. What is the solution?  We can write the control from the scratch or to try to use the existing control and try to work around the problems. Basically this article is the manual how to overcome these problems.

The Code

The control is derived from UserControl. It has a ListBox and a Horizontal scrollbar as members.
For making it Ownerdrawn we need a method for drawing the item. Prior to that the DrawMode of the original control has to be set to DrawMode.OwnerDrawVariable. This will disable the original drawing of the item and also the method MeasureItem() will be activated.
The code of DrawItem is below. Apart from a couple of lines it is more or less straightforward.

protected void DrawListBoxItem(Graphics g, Rectangle bounds, int Index, bool selected)
{
if (Index == -1)
return;

if (bounds.Top < 0)
return;

if (bounds.Bottom > (listBox.Bottom + listBox.ItemHeight))
return;

Graphics gr = null;

if (UseDoubleBuffering)
{
gr = DoubleBuff.BuffGraph;
}
else
{
gr = g;
}

int IconIndex;
Color TextColor;
string Text = GetObjString(Index, out IconIndex, out TextColor);

Image img = null;

if (selected)
{
if (listBox.Focused)
{
using(Brush b = new SolidBrush(_HighLightColor))
{
gr.FillRectangle(b, 0,
bounds.Top + 1, listBox.Width, bounds.Height – 1);
}
}
else
{
using(Brush b = new SolidBrush(Color.Gainsboro))
{
gr.FillRectangle(b, 0,
bounds.Top, listBox.Width, bounds.Height);
}
}

if (listBox.Focused)
{
using(Pen p = new Pen(Color.RoyalBlue))
{
gr.DrawRectangle(p, new Rectangle(0,
bounds.Top, listBox.Width, bounds.Height));
}
}
}

if (IconIndex != -1 && imageList1 != null)
{
img = imageList1.Images[IconIndex];
Rectangle imgRect = new Rectangle(bounds.Left – DrawingPos, bounds.Top , img.Width, img.Height);
gr.DrawImage(img, imgRect, 0, 0, img.Width, img.Height, GraphicsUnit.Pixel);
}

using(Brush b = new SolidBrush(TextColor))
{
gr.DrawString(Text, this.Font, b,
new Point(bounds.Left – DrawingPos + XOffset_forIcon + 2, bounds.Top + 2));
}
}

Here is the code for activation and resizing of the scrollball

private void ResizeListBoxAndHScrollBar()
{
listBox.Width = this.Width;

if (listBox.Width > (MaxStrignLen + XOffset_forIcon + 15))
{
hScrollBar1.Visible = false;
listBox.Height = this.Height;
}
else
{
hScrollBar1.Height = 18;
listBox.Height = this.Height – this.hScrollBar1.Height;
hScrollBar1.Top = this.Height – this.hScrollBar1.Height – 1;
hScrollBar1.Width = this.Width;

hScrollBar1.Visible = true;
hScrollBar1.Minimum = 0;
hScrollBar1.Maximum = MaxStrignLen + XOffset_forIcon + 15;
hScrollBar1.LargeChange = this.listBox.Width;
hScrollBar1.Value = 0;
}
}

Is that all? Now we have the code for item drawing and the scroll bar. Unfortunately it is more complicated and that is the reason why other implementations of ColorListBox are not used in the commercial applications.The control we just created flickers when it is resized or the horizontal scrollbar moved.No matter how good your application is, just one flickering control on the GUI makes the product look unprofessional. It spoils the whole picture.

How can be that fixed? There is a well known technique to eliminate the flickering. It is called Doublebuffering. The idea is that the actual drawing occurs in the memory and when it is completed, the image is copied to the GUI. Let?s use this technique.For that the class DoubleBuff has been written.
It creates a bitmap image from the control and refreshes it when required.

public class DoubleBuffer : IDisposable
{
private Graphics graphics

;
private Bitmap bitmap;
private Control _ParentCtl;
private Graphics CtlGraphics;

public DoubleBuffer(Control ParentCtl)
{
_ParentCtl = ParentCtl;
bitmap = new Bitmap(_ParentCtl.Width , _ParentCtl.Height);
graphics = Graphics.FromImage(bitmap);
CtlGraphics = _ParentCtl.CreateGraphics();
}

public void CheckIfRefreshBufferRequired()
{
if ((_ParentCtl.Width != bitmap.Width) || (_ParentCtl.Height != bitmap.Height))
{
RefreshBuffer();
}
}

public void RefreshBuffer()
{
if (_ParentCtl == null)
return;

if (_ParentCtl.Width == 0 || _ParentCtl.Height == 0)// restoring event
return;

if (bitmap != null)
{
bitmap.Dispose();
bitmap = null;
}

if (graphics != null)
{
graphics.Dispose();
graphics = null;
}

bitmap = new Bitmap(_ParentCtl.Width, _ParentCtl.Height);
graphics = Graphics.FromImage(bitmap);

if (CtlGraphics != null)
{
CtlGraphics.Dispose();
}

CtlGraphics = _ParentCtl.CreateGraphics();
}

public void Render()
{
CtlGraphics.DrawImage(
bitmap,
_ParentCtl.Bounds,
0,
0,
_ParentCtl.Width,
_ParentCtl.Height,
GraphicsUnit.Pixel);
}

public Graphics BuffGraph
{
get
{
return graphics;
}
}

#region IDisposable Members

public void Dispose()
{
if (bitmap != null)
{
bitmap.Dispose();
}

if (graphics != null)
{
graphics.Dispose();
}

if (CtlGraphics != null)
{
CtlGraphics.Dispose();
}
}

#endregion
}

Now we do not draw the items on GUI directly. We draw them on memory based bitmap.But our control still keeps flickering. Why? One more step is left ? the original control repaints the background. But how to stop doing that? As I mentioned, the overridable method OnPaintBackGround() is not hooked to the events and overriding them will do nothing.
In the view of the above the only way to block the original painting of the background is to block the WM_ERASEBKGND event in  WndProc() method.
We have to override WndProc() in specifically created for that class.

The wheel scrolling

The mouse wheel event processing has also to be fixed. The most sensible way is to block WM_MOUSEWHEEL event and convert it to vertical scroll bar event. Newly created events are sent directly using Windows API SendMessage().

private void GetXY(IntPtr Param, out int X, out int Y)
{
byte[] byts = System.BitConverter.GetBytes((int)Param);
X = BitConverter.ToInt16(byts, 0);
Y = BitConverter.ToInt16(byts, 2);
}

protected override void WndProc(ref Message m)
{
switch (m.Msg)
{
case (int)Msg.WM_ERASEBKGND:

if (_BlockEraseBackGnd)
{
return;
}

break;

case (int)Msg.WM_MOUSEWHEEL:

int X;
int Y;

_BlockEraseBackGnd = false;

GetXY(m.WParam, out X, out Y);

if (Y >0)
{
SendMessage(this.Handle, (int)Msg.WM_VSCROLL,(IntPtr)SB_LINEUP,IntPtr.Zero);
}
else
{
SendMessage(this.Handle, (int)Msg.WM_VSCROLL,(IntPtr)SB_LINEDOWN,IntPtr.Zero);
}
return;

case (int)Msg.WM_VSCROLL:
case (int)Msg.WM_KEYDOWN:

_BlockEraseBackGnd = false;

if (UpdateEv != null)
{
UpdateEv(null, null);
}
break;
}

base.WndProc (ref m);

}

Populating the control

The main method for populating the control is public void AddItem(object Item, int IconIndex, Color TxtColor);
Where the Item can be anything. Any class that has ToString() method. You may create you own class and override the method ToString() or you can simply use strings.

public void AddItem(object Item, int IconIndex, Color TxtColor)
{
ObjectHolder oh = new ObjectHolder(IconIndex, Item, TxtColor);

UseDoubleBuffering = false;
listBox.Items.Add(oh);
ResizeListBoxAndHScrollBar();
}

The internal ListBox and HScrollBar were made public to have an access to them.

an class="smallblack">

Final touch

New control now works fine. Though one last thing that is left – the appearance of the control. On Window 2000 it looks pretty normal but on WinXP it looks like the screenshot below.

Vertical scroolbar has XP style but the horizontal one has standard appearance.To change this the manifest has to be applied.
Basically manifest file specifies the DLL where the common controls reside.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0">
<assemblyIdentity
version="1.0.0.0"
processorArchitecture="X86"
name=""
type="win32"
/>
<description>Your app description here</description>
<dependency>
<dependentAssembly>
<assemblyIdentity
type="win32"
name="Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls"
version="6.0.0.0"
processorArchitecture="X86"
publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df"
language="*"
/>
</dependentAssembly>
</dependency>
</assembly>

The manifest file has to be in the same directory where the applications starts. To avoid having this inconvenient file in the run directory, the manifest can be injected directly into the executable assembly. For automating this task the utility program DotNetManifester.exe has been written. You can use this utility to inject the manifest directly into the program.

Full source code and the latest binaries of the control can be found in ToolBox sectionhere as well as DotNetManifester.exe .

using System;
using System.Collections;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.IO;
using System.Windows.Forms;
/// <remarks>
/// File Copier – WinForms demonstration program
/// (c) Copyright 2001 Liberty Associates, Inc.
/// </remarks>
namespace FileCopier
{
/// <summary>
/// Form demonstrating Windows Forms implementation
/// </summary>
// < declarations of Windows widgets cut here >
public class Form1 : System.Windows.Forms.Form
{
/// <summary>
/// internal class which knows how to compare
/// two files we want to sort large to small,
/// so reverse the normal return values.
/// </summary>
public class FileComparer : IComparer
{
public int Compare (object f1, object f2)
{
FileInfo file1 = (FileInfo) f1;
FileInfo file2 = (FileInfo) f2;
if (file1.Length > file2.Length)
{
return -1;
}
if (file1.Length < file2.Length)
{
return 1;
}
return 0;
}
}
public Form1( )
{
//
// Required for Windows Form Designer support
//
InitializeComponent( );
// fill the source and target directory trees
FillDirectoryTree(tvwSource, true);
FillDirectoryTree(tvwTargetDir, false);
}
/// <summary>
/// Fill the directory tree for either the Source or
/// Target TreeView.
/// </summary>
private void FillDirectoryTree(
TreeView tvw, bool isSource)
{
// Populate tvwSource, the Source TreeView,
// with the contents of
// the local hard drive.
// First clear all the nodes.
tvw.Nodes.Clear( );
// Get the logical drives and put them into the
// root nodes. Fill an array with all the
// logical drives on the machine.
string[] strDrives =
Environment.GetLogicalDrives( );
// Iterate through the drives, adding them to the tree.
// Use a try/catch block, so if a drive is not ready,
// e.g. an empty floppy or CD,
// it will not be added to the tree.
foreach (string rootDirectoryName in strDrives)
{
if (rootDirectoryName != @\"C:\\")
continue;
try
{
// Fill an array with all the first level
// subdirectories. If the drive is
// not ready, this will throw an exception.
DirectoryInfo dir =
new DirectoryInfo(rootDirectoryName);
dir.GetDirectories( );
TreeNode ndRoot = new TreeNode(rootDirectoryName);
// Add a node for each root directory.
tvw.Nodes.Add(ndRoot);
// Add subdirectory nodes.
// If TreeView is the source,
// then also get the filenames.
if (isSource)
{
GetSubDirectoryNodes(
ndRoot, ndRoot.Text, true);
}
else
{
GetSubDirectoryNodes(
ndRoot, ndRoot.Text, false);
}
}
catch (Exception e)
{
// Catch any errors such as
// Drive not ready.
MessageBox.Show(e.Message);
}
}
} // close for FillSourceDirectoryTree
/// <summary>
/// Gets all the subdirectories below the
/// passed in directory node.
/// Adds to the directory tree.
/// The parameters passed in at the parent node
/// for this subdirectory,
/// the full pathname of this subdirectory,
/// and a Boolean to indicate
/// whether or not to get the files in the subdirectory.
/// </summary>
private void GetSubDirectoryNodes(
TreeNode parentNode, string fullName, bool getFileNames)
{
DirectoryInfo dir = new DirectoryInfo(fullName);
DirectoryInfo[] dirSubs = dir.GetDirectories( );
// Add a child node for each subdirectory.
foreach (DirectoryInfo dirSub in dirSubs)
{
// do not show hidden folders
if ( (dirSub.Attributes & FileAttributes.Hidden)
!= 0 )
{
continue;
}
/// <summary>
/// Each directory contains the full path.
/// We need to split it on the backslashes,
/// and only use
/// the last node in the tree.
/// Need to double the backslash since it
/// is normally
/// an escape character
/// </summary>
TreeNode subNode = new TreeNode(dirSub.Name);
parentNode.Nodes.Add(subNode);
// Call GetSubDirectoryNodes recursively.
GetSubDirectoryNodes(
subNode,dirSub.FullName,getFileNames);
}
if (getFileNames)
{
// Get any files for this node.
FileInfo[] files = dir.GetFiles( );
// After placing the nodes,
// now place the files in that subdirectory.
foreach (FileInfo file in files)
{
TreeNode fileNode = new TreeNode(file.Name);
parentNode.Nodes.Add(fileNode);
}
}
}
// < boilerplate code cut here >
/// <summary>
/// The main entry point for the application.
/// </summary>
[STAThread]
static void Main( )
{
Application.Run(new Form1( ));
}
/// <summary>
/// Create an ordered list of all
/// the selected files, copy to the
/// target directory
/// </summary>
private void btnCopy_Click(object sender,
System.EventArgs e)
{
// get the list
ArrayList fileList = GetFileList( );
// copy the files
foreach (FileInfo file in fileList)
{
try
{
// update the label to show progress
lblStatus.Text = \"Copying \" + txtTargetDir.Text +
\"\\\" + file.Name + \"…\";
Application.DoEvents( );
// copy the file to its destination location
file.CopyTo(txtTargetDir.Text + \"\\\" +
file.Name,chkOverwrite.Checked);
}
catch // (Exception ex)
{
// you may want to do more than just show the message
// MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
}
}
lblStatus.Text = \"Done.\";
Application.DoEvents( );
}
/// <summary>
/// on cancel, exit
/// </summary>
private void btnCancel_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
Application.Exit( );
}
/// <summary>
/// Tell the root of each tree to uncheck
/// all the nodes below
/// </summary>
private void btnClear_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
// get the top most node for each drive
// and tell it to clear recursively
foreach (TreeNode node in tvwSource.Nodes)
{
SetCheck(node, false);
}
}
/// <summary>
/// check that the user does want to delete
/// Make a list and delete each in turn
/// </summary>
private void btnDelete_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
// ask them if they are sure
System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult result =
MessageBox.Show(
\"Are you quite sure?\", // msg
\"Delete Files\", // caption
MessageBoxButtons.OKCancel, // buttons
MessageBoxIcon.Exclamation, // icons
MessageBoxDefaultButton.Button2); // default button
// if they are sure…
if (result == System.Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK)
{
// iterate through the list and delete them.
// get the list of selected files
ArrayList fileNames = GetFileList( );
foreach (FileInfo file in fileNames)
{
try
{
// update the label to show progress
lblStatus.Text = \"Deleting \" +
txtTargetDir.Text + \"\\\" +
file.Name + \"…\";
Application.DoEvents( );
// Danger Will Robinson!
file.Delete( );
}
catch (Exception ex)
{
//
you may
want to do more than
// just show the message
MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
}
}
lblStatus.Text = \"Done.\";
Application.DoEvents( );
}
}
/// <summary>
/// Get the full path of the chosen directory
/// copy it to txtTargetDir
/// </summary>
private void tvwTargetDir_AfterSelect(
object sender,
System.Windows.Forms.TreeViewEventArgs e)
{
// get the full path for the selected directory
string theFullPath = GetParentString(e.Node);
// if it is not a leaf, it will end with a backslash
// remove the backslash
if (theFullPath.EndsWith(\"\\\"))
{
theFullPath =
theFullPath.Substring(0,theFullPath.Length-1);
}
// insert the path in the text box
txtTargetDir.Text = theFullPath;
}
/// <summary>
/// Mark each node below the current
/// one with the current value of checked
/// </summary>
private void tvwSource_AfterCheck(object sender,
System.Windows.Forms.TreeViewEventArgs e)
{
// Call a recursible method.
// e.node is the node which was checked by the user.
// The state of the check mark is already
// changed by the time you get here.
// Therefore, we want to pass along
// the state of e.node.Checked.
SetCheck(e.Node,e.Node.Checked);
}
/// <summary>
/// recursively set or clear check marks
/// </summary>
private void SetCheck(TreeNode node, bool check)
{
// set this node's check mark
node.Checked = check;
// find all the child nodes from this node
foreach (TreeNode n in node.Nodes)
{
// if the child is a leaf
// just check it (or uncheck it)
if (node.Nodes.Count == 0)
{
node.Checked = check;
}
// if the child is a node in the tree, recurse
else
{
SetCheck(n,check);
}
}
}
/// <summary>
/// Given a node and an array list
/// fill the list with the names of
/// all the checked files
/// </summary>
// Fill the ArrayList with the full paths of
// all the feils checked
private void GetCheckedFiles(TreeNode node,
ArrayList fileNames)
{
// if this is a leaf…
if (node.Nodes.Count == 0)
{
// if the node was checked…
if (node.Checked)
{
// get the full path and add it to the arrayList
string fullPath = GetParentString(node);
fileNames.Add(fullPath);
}
}
else // if this node is not a leaf
{
// call this for all the subnodes
foreach (TreeNode n in node.Nodes)
{
GetCheckedFiles(n,fileNames);
}
}
}
/// <summary>
/// Given a node, return the
/// full pathname
/// </summary>
private string GetParentString(TreeNode node)
{
// if this is the root node (c:\) return the text
if(node.Parent == null)
{
return node.Text;
}
else
{
// recurse up and get the path then
// add this node and a slash
// if this node is the leaf, don't add the slash
return GetParentString(node.Parent) + node.Text +
(node.Nodes.Count == 0 ? \"\" : \"\\\");
}
}
/// <summary>
/// shared by delete and copy
/// creates an ordered list of all
/// the selected files
/// </summary>
private ArrayList GetFileList( )
{
// create an unsorted array list of the full filenames
ArrayList fileNames = new ArrayList( );
// fill the fileNames ArrayList with the
// full path of each file to copy
foreach (TreeNode theNode in tvwSource.Nodes)
{
GetCheckedFiles(theNode, fileNames);
}
// Create a list to hold the fileInfo objects
ArrayList fileList = new ArrayList( );
// for each of the filenames we have in our unsorted list
// if the name corresponds to a file (and not a directory)
// add it to the file list
foreach (string fileName in fileNames)
{
// create a file with the name
FileInfo file = new FileInfo(fileName);
// see if it exists on the disk
// this fails if it was a directory
if (file.Exists)
{
// both the key and the value are the file
// would it be easier to have an empty value?
fileList.Add(file);
}
}
// Create an instance of the IComparer interface
IComparer comparer = (IComparer) new FileComparer( );
// pass the comparer to the sort method so that the list
// is sorted by the compare method of comparer.
fileList.Sort(comparer);
return fileList;
}
}
}
/// <summary>
/// Mark each node below the current
/// one with the current value of checked
/// </summary>
protected void tvwSource_AfterCheck (
object sender, System.Windows.Forms.TreeViewEventArgs e)
{
}

C:\Documents and Settings\Nikola\MyDocuments\Visual Studio Projects\WindowsApplication1\Form1.cs(420): Anamespace does not directly contain members such as fields or methods

SetConsoleTextAttribute takes two arguments
1. Handle to console screen buffer
2. character attributes
BOOL SetConsoleTextAttribute(
HANDLE hConsoleOutput,
WORD wAttributes
);

We can get the handle to the console screenbuffer by using a function of win32 API i.e. GetStdHandle(),which takesa parameter and returns a handle for input, output or error device.We give -10 for input,-11 for output and -12 for error device asparameter to GetStdHandle function.We have attributes for fore ground and background colors like 0x0001for fore ground blue and 0×0010 for back ground blue.

How To Use Win32 API Function in C#.

First of all declare the function using DllImport attribute. An API function must be declared static extern.DllImport is used to call an unmanaged code inside a mangaed code, so we must have to use it to call unmanaged win32 APIs.

Let's start an example

using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices; // for DllImport attribute

namespace color_console
{

class Class1
{

static void Main(string[] args)
{
//
// TODO: Add code to start application here
//
Class1 c =new Class1();
c.change();

}
[DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError=true)]
public static extern bool SetConsoleTextAttribute(
IntPtr hConsoleOutput,
CharacterAttributes wAttributes); /* declaring the setconsoletextattribute function*/

[DllImport("kernel32.dll")]
public static extern IntPtr GetStdHandle(int nStdHandle); //declaring the getstdhandle funtion
/* to get thehandle that would be used in setConsoletextattribute function */
void change()
{
IntPtr hOut; /* declaring varianle to get handle*/
hOut= GetStdHandle(-11);/* -11 is sent for output device*/

/*Displaying text in different colors and background colors*/

SetConsoleTextAttribute(hOut, CharacterAttributes.FOREGROUND_BLUE );
Console.WriteLine(" Subhan ALLAH ");

SetConsoleTextAttribute(hOut, CharacterAttributes.BACKGROUND_RED);
Console.WriteLine(" Alkhamdolillah ");
SetConsoleTextAttribute(hOut, CharacterAttributes.BACKGROUND_GREEN );
Console.WriteLine(" Allah O Akbar ");
SetConsoleTextAttribute(hOut, CharacterAttributes.FOREGROUND_RED );
Console.WriteLine(" Pakistan ");

}
/* This enumeration lists all of the character attributes. You can combine attributes to */
/* achieve specific effects.*/

public enum CharacterAttributes
{
FOREGROUND_BLUE = 0×0001,
FOREGROUND_GREEN = 0×0002,
FOREGROUND_RED = 0×0004,
FOREGROUND_INTENSITY = 0×0008,
BACKGROUND_BLUE = 0×0010,
BACKGROUND_GREEN = 0×0020,
BACKGROUND_RED = 0×0040,
BACKGROUND_INTENSITY = 0×0080,
COMMON_LVB_LEADING_BYTE = 0×0100,
COMMON_LVB_TRAILING_BYTE = 0×0200,
COMMON_LVB_GRID_HORIZONTAL = 0×0400,
COMMON_LVB_GRID_LVERTICAL = 0×0800,
COMMON_LVB_GRID_RVERTICAL = 0×1000,
COMMON_LVB_REVERSE_VIDEO = 0×4000,
COMMON_LVB_UNDERSCORE = 0×8000
}

}

}

We can also change the font and cursor ofconsole application using win32 APIs.Changing the title of the console is also easy, just useSetConsoleTitle()function and provide a string to it as a parameter.That would be title of console. You can do it easily

[DllImport("kernel32.dll")
public static extern bool SetConsoleTitle(String lpConsoleTitle);
First declare setconsoletitle function and then use it
SetConsoleTitle(" ALlah O Akbar … ");

By
Kashif Bilal
kashiff@gmail.com

SDI(Single document Interface) examples are Windows Explorer,Internet explorer,Notepad etc…where only one window acts as an interface.

If you are a beginner(or intermediate) and want to develop an MDI application with basic functionality using the powerful C# language checkout the following step-by-step guide to develop. Even people coming from VB6 background face lots of problem because of the pure OOPs usage in C#. Follow this small step by step walkthrough to make a small MDI application.

1> Goto File->New->Blank Solution
2> Select Visual C# Projects in Project Types
3> Select WindowsApplication in Templates
4> Type for eg. myBestMDI in the Name textbox
5> By Clicking the browse button select the location & Click OK

CREATING ALL THE NECESSARY FORMS & CODE THEM
============================================

Creating the main MDI form(frmMDIMain) to act as a container
————————————————————
1> In the View->Solution Explorer click Form1 only once
2> Locate the property FileName and type "frmMDIMain.cs"
3> In the Solution Explorer now doubleclick frmMDIMain
4> Locate the property (Name) and type "frmMDIMain"
5> Locate the property Text and type "This is the Parent"
6> Locate the property IsMDIContainer and set it to true
7> Locate the property WindowState and set it to Maximized

Creating the child form (frmMChild) to demonstrate multiple instance
——————————————————————–
1> Goto Project Menu-Add Windows Forms & type frmMChild
2> In the Solution Explorer now doubleclick frmMChild
3> Locate the property Text and type "This is the Multi Instance Child"
4> Locate the property size & set it to 568, 464

Creating the child form (frmSChild) to demonstrate Single instance
——————————————————————–
1> Goto Project Menu-Add Windows Forms & type frmSChild
2> In the Solution Explorer now doubleclick frmSChild
3> Locate the property Text and type "This is the Single Instance Child"
4> Locate the property size & set it to 568, 464

Creating the About form (frmAbout) to give information about this product
————————————————————————-
1> Goto Project Menu-Add Windows Forms & type frmAbout
2> In the Solution Explorer now doubleclick frmAbout
3> Locate the property Text and type "About My Best MDI"
4> Locate the property size & set it to 448, 304
5> Locate the property FormBorderstyle & set it to FixedToolWindow

Creating the Splash form (frmSplash) to display the welcome information with company logo
—————————————————————————————
1> Goto Project Menu-Add Windows Forms & type frmSplash
2> In the Solution Explorer now doubleclick frmSplash
3> Locate the property size and set it to 448, 320
4> Locate the property ControlBox and set it to False
5> Locate the property FormBoderStyle and set it to None
6> Locate the property StartupPosition and set it to CenterScreen
7> Locate the property BackGroundImage and browse a nice image along with your company logo
8> Locate the property cursor & set it to waitCursor

Adding a timer control to the splash screen for holding it for few seconds so
that the user can read it.
———————————————————————————————
1> Goto View->Toolbox and Double click Timer control
2> Locate timer1 control & click it once
3> Set its Interval property to 2000 i.e. in milliseconds
4> Set its Enabled property to true
5> Double click to reach its Tick event
type :-
timer1.Enabled = false;
this.Close();
Adding two classes 1 to act as the Main startup class(clsMain) & 1 for holding
Global objects(clsGlobal)
———————————————————————————————
1> In the Solution explorer right click the Project Name myBestMdi
2> Click Add->New Folder and type classes
3> right click the Folder classes
4> Click Add->Add New Item and class and type clsGlobal in name
Note:- myBestMDI.Classes is automatically taken as the namespace due to folder level
5> change the modifiers for the class from
public class clsGlobal
to
public sealed class clsGlobal
(This is to protect an instantiation of this class)

6> Just after the curly braces of the class starts paste the following line
public static frmMDIMain g_objfrmMDIMain;
//this is to declare a global static reference to our MDI parent so that the same
//instance is referred across all child with no extra line of code

7> Again in the Solution explorer right click the Folder classes
8> Click Add->Add New Item and class and type clsMain in name
9> just below the constructor clsMain function in the clsMain class paste the following
snippet
[STAThread]
static void Main()
{
try
{
frmSplash objfrmSplash = new frmSplash();
objfrmSplash.ShowDialog();
clsGlobal.g_objfrmMDIMain = new frmMDIMain();
Application.Run(clsGlobal.g_objfrmMDIMain);
}
catch(Exception ex)
{
MessageBox.Show(ex.Message,"My Best MDI",MessageBoxButtons.OK,MessageBoxIcon.Stop);
}
}
//This is the Single Threaded Apartment Model(out of our scope) of the application which will run the Main function
//when the application starts
10> Since we are using Application class and MessageBox functions in the above code we need a
add the foolowing line on the top
using System.Windows.Forms;
11> Now go to frmMain now and from its code window remove the following piece of code
[STAThread]
static void Main()
{
Application.Run(new Form1());
}
//because we cannot have two Main function.We are invoking everything from clsMain

Creating menus in the main MDI form
————————————–
1> Click View->Designer of frmMdiMain
2> Goto Toolbox and add a double click MainMenu control
3> Click once on the typehere menu
4> Locate the property Name & set it to mnuFile
5> Locate the property Text & set it to &File
Note:- & is for underscore which will enable the Hot key 'F'
6> Same way click on the sub menu TypeHere box
7> Locate the property Name & set it to mnuFileNewMultiple
8> Locate the property Text & set it to &New Multiple
9> Locate the property ShortCut & choose CtrlN
10> Same way click on the sub menu TypeHere box
11> Locate the property Name & set it to mnuFileNewSingle
12> Locate the property Text & set it to New &Single
13> click on the sub menu TypeHere box
14> Locate the property Name & set it to mnuFileCloseChild
15> Locate the property Text & set it to &Close Child
16> click on the sub menu TypeHere box
17> Locate the property Name & set it to mnuFileSep1
18> Locate the property Tex

t &
set it to –
Note – is a hyphen which will automatically put a whole seperator
19> click on the sub menu TypeHere box
20> Locate the property Name & set it to mnuFileExit
21> Locate the property Text & set it to E&xit

Now i am sure by now you should be able to create one more menu
22> Create one more top level menu with Name mnuWindow and text &Window
set its MDIList property to true(will show names of opened windows)
with 3 sub menus with name
mnuWindowCascade and text &Cascade
mnuWindowTileVertical and text Tile&Vertical
mnuWindowTileHorizontal and text Tile&Horizontal

23> Create one more top level menu with Name mnuHelp and text &Help
with a sub menu with name mnuHelpAbout and text &About…
'…' as the suffix is just a Microsoft convention to signify that the command will show a dialog box.

Putting life in the menus created by adding code to it
——————————————————–

1> Now in the frmSChild code add the following lines
private static frmSChild m_SChildform;
public static frmSChild GetChildInstance()
{
if (m_SChildform ==null) //if not created yet, Create an instance
m_SChildform = new frmSChild();
return m_SChildform; //just created or created earlier.Return it
}

//This is to make sure that when we Click on a 'New Single' menu on Parent form twice
//it should not open two instance of the same child form

2> Click View->Designer of frmMdiMain again
3> Double click New Single Menu on MDI main form
add the following code

frmSChild objfrmSChild = frmSChild.GetChildInstance();
objfrmSChild.MdiParent = this;
objfrmSChild.Show();
objfrmSChild.BringToFront();

4> Click View->Designer of frmMdiMain again
5> Double click New Multi Menu on MDI main form
add the following code

frmMChild objfrmMChild = new frmMChild();
objfrmMChild.MdiParent = this;
objfrmMChild.Show();

6> Double click CloseChild on MDI main form
add the following code
try
{
if(this.ActiveMdiChild.Name =="frmMChild")
{
frmMChild objfrmMChild = (frmMChild)this.ActiveMdiChild;
objfrmMChild.Close();
}
else
{
frmSChild objfrmSChild = (frmSChild)this.ActiveMdiChild;
objfrmSChild.Close();
}

}
catch
{
}

7> Double click Exit on MDI main form
add the following code

Application.Exit();

8> Double click Cascade menu under Windows on MDI main form
add the following code

this.LayoutMdi(MdiLayout.Cascade);
9> same way for tile Vertical add
this.LayoutMdi(MdiLayout.TileVertical);
81> and for tile horizontal add
this.LayoutMdi(MdiLayout.TileHorizontal);

20> Now finally double click About menu in Help to add
frmAbout objfrmAbout = new frmAbout();
objfrmAbout.ShowDialog();

21> Press F5 to start with debugging or Ctrl+F5 to start w/o debugging

Njoi programming!!

The author (Irfan Patel) is a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer with Bachelor of Computer Application as the academic qualification.He has worked extensively with COM and has been programming since 1998. He has also trained more than 200 students and has taught various languages,RDBMS & platforms from C,C++ to VB with Oracle,Access & MS SQLServerfrom Vbscript,Javascript to ASP.His expertise comes from various industries viz Jewellery, Shipping ,Automobile ,Radio Frequency Devices, Photometers to name few.Besides programming he loves music,singing,dancing, bike riding & cricket.

Download Source

This article will teach you how to designan interface (Windows Form) in Visual Studio .NET using the language ofC# and then creating and linking it to a database on SQL Server 2000.The first thing to be done is to start the Visual Studio .NETenvironment and create a new Project named "WindowsApplication1". Theprojects by default are usually saved in "My Documents\Visual StudioProjects" folder but you can browse and change the location. Nextchoose the Project Types as: Visual C# Projects and Templates: WindowsApplication and click OK. Now a new project for you has been created.You can add as many forms you like from the Project —> Add WindowsForms, but here we need only two forms. The Form1 is designed throughthe Toolbox components as follows. The View —> Toolbox containsWindows components like Labels, Text box, Combo box, Buttons, Radio andCheck box, Picture box, List box, Timer, Progress bar, Main Menu,DataGrid and other controls. You just need to drag these on the formand set their properties. All the code for the above additions will beautomatically generated by the .NET compiler. An example picture of theForm1 to be designed for this tutorial is shown below:

                                Figure 1: FORM1 DESIGN

Form2 will only contain the DataGridComponent from the Toolbox. You can set the Color, Name, Font and otherproperties through the Properties of the forms. Here I have set theBackground color to Blue.

Now move towards designing the database.This database is a simple database for registering people to use anyemail service. Start the Enterprise Manager of the SQL Server 2000 andcreate new database named "REGISTER DATABASE". Within the database,create new table named "REGISTER" in which following columns andattributes are defined while designing:

Now the next step is to link this databasewith our Windows Application. Go back to Form1 and drag theSqlConnection and SqlDataAdapter components from theToolbox—->Data bar. Double click on the form to go the code. Thenamespaces at the above of your program should contain these:

using System;

using System.Drawing;

using System.Collections;

using System.ComponentModel;

using System.Windows.Forms;

using System.Data;

using System.Data.SqlClient;

Allthe SqlConnection, SqlCommand, SqlDataAdapter etc are inherited fromSystem.Data.SqlClient. Next create new variables for storing the valuesretrieved from the textboxes and combo boxes keyed in by the user whilefilling out the form. For example we declare the following:

private string Fname,Lname,Lang,Country,State,Timezone,

Bmonth,Byear,Occup;

private char Gender;

private int Zipcode,Bday;

Then we retrieve all that is keyedin by the user by the component events. For every component i.e. textboxes, combo boxes and radio boxes that we created, write the followingcode:

private void textBox1_TextChanged(object sender, System.EventArgs e)

{

this.Fname=this.textBox1.Text.ToString();

}

private void comboBox1_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, System.EventArgs e)

{

this.Lang=this.comboBox1.SelectedItem.ToString();

}

private void radioButton1_CheckedChanged(object sender, System.EventArgs e)

{

this.Gender='M';

}

Now add the following code to make the buttons functional in their click event code:

private void button1_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)

{ //LIST ALL REGISTERIES BUTTON

Form2 f2=new Form2();

f2.ShowDialog();

}

private void button2_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)

{ //CANCEL BUTTON

this.Dispose();

}

private void button3_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)

{ //REGISTER NOW BUTTON

if(this.textBox1.Text==""||this.textBox2.Text=="")

s="smallblack"> MessageBox.Show("Please enter your name");

else

{this.sqlConnection1.Open();

stringinsert="INSERT INTO REGISTER(FNAME, LNAME, LANG, COUNTRY, STATE,ZIPCODE, TIMEZONE, GENDER, BDAY, BMONTH, BYEAR, OCCUPATION) VALUES ('"+this.Fname +"','"+ this.Lname +"','"+ this.Lang +"','"+ this.Country +"','"+ this.State +"','"+ this.Zipcode +"','"+ this.Timezone +"','"+ this.Gender +"','"+ this.Bday +"','"+ this.Bmonth +"','"+ this.Byear +"','"+ this.Occup +"')";

SqlCommand cmd=new SqlCommand(insert,this.sqlConnection1);

cmd.ExecuteNonQuery();

this.sqlConnection1.Close();

MessageBox.Show("You have been successfully registered to our database.");

}

}

Now we go to the Form2. We havealready set a DataGrid in the form. Also drag the SqlConnection andSqlDataAdapter components same as before and add the following code inthe Form2_Load event method:

private void Form2_Load(object sender, System.EventArgs e)

{

string select="SELECT * FROM REGISTER";

DataSet ds=new DataSet();

this.sqlConnection1.Open();

this.sqlDataAdapter1=new SqlDataAdapter(select,sqlConnection1);

this.sqlDataAdapter1.Fill(ds,"REGISTER");

if(ds.Tables["REGISTER"].Rows.Count==0)

{

MessageBox.Show("There are currently no registries in the database.");

}

else

{

this.dataGrid1.SetDataBinding(ds,"REGISTER");

}

this.sqlConnection1.Close();

}

The form2 after running the program and registering a user "Fatima Ahmed" will look like this:

Hope this article helps you learn all what is taught about creating, designing a Winform in C# and linking it to a database.

<!– start a block of source code –>

Downloads

<!– demo and source files –>

Download demo project – 138 KB

RssNewsFeed is a free .NET library written in C#, which allows you to access an rss  feed without going through the hassle of parsing. It will  extract feed information, together with the news items, and return them as a collection of objects.

(RSS is a Web content syndication format and is an acronym for Really SimpleSyndication. RSS is a dialect of XML and so all RSS files must conform to the XML 1.0, as published on the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) website).

Using the library

The RssNewsFeed consists of three public classes, ContentSyndication, SyndicationChannel, and SyndicationItem. A SyndicationChannel  object is returned by the ContentSyndicationclass when the GetContent () method is returned, and contains information about the requested channel. It also contains a collection of SyndicationItem objects which contain information about each news item.

To use the library in your application, insert a referenece to the RssNewsFeed.dllby right-clicking on the Reference tree node in the Visual Studio IDE. Select Add Reference, and then select Browse. After you've located the dll, select Ok.

Insert the namespace Cyberise.RssNewsFeed in your application, and create an instance of the ContentSyndication class. See the sample code for more information.

The RSSNewsFeed has its own exception class NewsFeedException, which is thrown in the event of an error. A descriptive message together with the actual exception which caused the error are passed off to the calling application. These can be accessed via the Message() and InnerExecption() methods respectively.

Features

• Parses rss versions 0.9,0.91,1.0, and 2.0
• Returns feed's logo website as bitmap object.
• Free for commerical and personal use.

Documentation

Latest html documentation on how to use the assembly is available from  here. A compiled help file is also available.

Download

The latest version of RssNewsFeed can be accessed from here. Sample demo code on how to use the assembly library is also included in the zip file. The library was compiled using the .NET 1.0 framework.

Contact

If you would like to contact me for queries, comments, or to report a bug, please click here. Although the library is free for commercial or personal use, I would appreciate a link to this pageplaced on your site and please send me an email so that I can add a link to your application from my site and build up a list of applications using the library.

Version history

1.0 Initial version
1.1 Rewrote xml parser to handle incorrectly formed rss news feeds. Released for public use.