.NET Windows Forms Custom Controls [Paperback]

Richard L. Weeks (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0672323338 | ISBN-13: 978-0672323331 | Publication Date: January 21, 2002 | Edition: 1

The intent of this book is to teach .NET developers the skills necessary to create their own leading edge custom controls. The art of creating custom controls has never been truly explored in detail, often the examples provided are trivial and do not begin to explore the requirements need for a commercial quality custom control. This book will not only provide that knowledge, but, in addition provide the source for a fully functional Outlook Bar control.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The intent of this book is to teach .NET developers the skills necessary to create their own leading edge custom controls. The art of creating custom controls has never been truly explored in detail, often the examples provided are trivial and do not begin to explore the requirements need for a commercial quality custom control. This book will not only provide that knowledge, but, in addition provide the source for a fully functional Outlook Bar control.

About the Author

.NET Windows Forms CustomControls About the Author

Richard Weeks has been writing software for the better part of 10 years, specializing in C++, MFC, COM, ATL, and now C#. His major areas of interest include custom control development, compiler theory, distributed applications development, and design patterns. During the past 10 years, he managed to make time to earn his B.S. degree in Computer Science from Western Carolina University; it proudly hangs next to his G.E.D. When not working, he enjoys video games, go-cart racing, and good beer. Richard Weeks can be reached at [e-mail].

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Sams; 1 edition (January 21, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0672323338
• ISBN-13: 978-0672323331
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,817,941 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Buggy and incomplete, March 18, 2005

By 

Dana Robinson (Champaign, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: .NET Windows Forms Custom Controls (Paperback)

This book is an adequate introduction to the creation of custom controls, including design-time support.

I give it only two stars because:

1) It does not give you enough in-depth information to create real-world custom controls. It is just a brief introduction.

2) The source code is rubbish. It is poorly formatted, has annoying typos (with no errata on the SAMS website, though you can download the code) and looks like it was written by people with shaky concepts of how .NET code should be written.

I especially like the content-free XML comments. Nice.

Unfortunately, I don't think there is a better book out there. The only other source of custom control info is the web, which can be kind of spotty. If you are an author and you know custom controls, please write a better book than this one.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book met my expectations, and then some., July 23, 2002

By 

Rex (Vancouver) - See all my reviews

This review is from: .NET Windows Forms Custom Controls (Paperback)

This book applies the concept of learn by example. It has two key examples, an IconButton and an Outlook style bar control. Even a control as simple as the IconButton resulted in a challenging project because, inheriting directly from the Contol class, requires the programmer to handle the painting and dimensioning. These techniques come in handy when creating other advanced controls, especially where dependence on inheriting from the common built-in controls won't exist.

One of the big values I got from the book was the source code which I used to build the dll and reference in a hosting client application. I then stepped through the application with the debugger. It allowed me to see how the control is drawn to screen line by line. Make sure you take full advantage of running the source.

This is not a book for a beginner programmer and at 250 pages doesn't cover all there is to know about control development but it's a nice read that gets right to the point. With these expectations I couldn't have asked for more.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not very useful, February 5, 2002

By 

Matt Brohn (Madison, WI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: .NET Windows Forms Custom Controls (Paperback)

This book is quite luke warm. Most of the book is source code that actually has a few errors. The source code included makes up ~1/3 of the already slim book. I would have rather seen an attached disc or a website I could go to to download the source. The book breifly discusses some main topics including distribution and GDI however the book is too thin to actually be very benificial. Most of the concepts are readily available on MSDN or GotDotNet.com. I hate to be harsh but this book failed to introduce so general important concepts including typical custom control layouts invloving a custom arraylist amd arraylistitems.. I have yet to write a control that hasn't used these. Anyway... two start because it does hit some basic concepts but really lacks the warmth and depth need to fully be a custom control development book.