Pro .NET 2.0 Windows Forms and Custom Controls in C# [Paperback]

Matthew MacDonald (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1590594398 | ISBN-13: 978-1590594391 | Publication Date: December 2004 | Edition: 1

By using C# and the final beta of NET 2.0, this book covers Windows Forms and GDI+ namespaces thoroughly for the .NET programmer in 2005. Experienced author Matthew MacDonald achieves this by combining careful treatment of the API with detailed discussion of solid user-interface design principles. This is an update for .NET 2.0 of MacDonald’s previous edition (1590590457) which gained wide community recognition. Upon reading this edition, you will be equipped to design state-of-the-art Windows interfaces and program graphics, and know how to create your own controls.

As a developer, you must know more than simply adding a control to a window. You must be able to create an entire user interface framework that's scalable, flexible, and reusable. Although this book is not a reference manual, it contains detailed discussions about user interface elements you’ll use on a regular basis. You will learn to use .NET controls, as well as extend them with your own custom controls.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Matthew MacDonald is an author, educator, and MCSD developer who has a passion for emerging technologies. He writes regularly for developer journals like Inside Visual Basic, ASPToday, and Hardcore Visual Studio .NET, and has authored several books about programming with .NET, including User Interfaces in VB .NET: Windows Forms and Custom Controls (1590590449), The Book of VB .NET (1886411824), and .NET Distributed Applications (0735619336). In a dimly remembered past life, MacDonald studied English literature and theoretical physics. You may e-mail him with your praise, condemnation, and everything in between at, [e-mail].

Product Details

• Paperback: 750 pages
• Publisher: A-Press; 1 edition (December 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590594398
• ISBN-13: 978-1590594391
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.2 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #107,870 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #65 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Languages & Tools > C#

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The controls and nothing but, February 20, 2006

By 

Rick Curry - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pro .NET 2.0 Windows Forms and Custom Controls in C# (Paperback)

Don't buy this book if you need to learn ADO.NET, file access, the common language runtime, or any other "starter" .NET topic. This book isn't a general introduction to writing a Windows application. (If you want that, read Jesse Liberty's fairly good "Programming .NET Windows Applications" instead.)

This book is a drill-down, no-holds-barred, VERY comprehensive look at programming advanced WinForms interfaces. It gives the full details on every control, complete with great advice for customizing and extending them. (Custom controls are a major theme in this book.) There's excellent content here that just can't be found in the MSDN, like tips for using layout engines, mixing web and windows contet, and multithreading an interface. This book was written with support from Microsoft's Windows Forms team, and it shows--the content on many subjects is several degrees more comprehensive that any I've seen before.

All in all, this is a stand-out choice for professional developers who already know .NET and C#.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice Look At Custom Controls, August 1, 2006

By 

Daniel McKinnon "Dan" (Tewksbury, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Pro .NET 2.0 Windows Forms and Custom Controls in C# (Paperback)

Pro .NET 2.0 Windows Forms and Custom Controls in C# by Matthew MacDonald provides a nice introduction (well more than that with a book that is ~1000 pages long) to controls in the .NET 2.0 world.

Since noone else has provided a chapter listing, I will do so:

01. UI Architecture
02. Control Basics
03. Forms
04. Classic Controls
05. Images and Resources
06. Lists & Trees
07. Drawing with GDI+
08. Data Binding
09. Custom Controls Basics
10. User Controls
11. Derived Controls
12. Owner-Drawn Controls
13. Design-Time Support for Custom Controls
14. Tool, Menu, Status Strips
15. DataGridView
16. Sound & Video
17. WebBrowser control
18. Validation & Masked Editing
19. Multiple and Single Document Interfaces
20. Multithreading
21. Dynamic Interfaces
22. Help Systems
23. Skinned Forms & Animated Buttons
24. Dynaming Drawing with a Design Surface
25. Custom Extender Providers
26. Advanced Design-Time Support

If you do Windows server/client development in today's day and age and want to learn about all the new controls that are offered to programmers with .NET 2.0, you owe it to yourself to pick up this book and start learning how to build forms and UI components faster than ever!!!

**** RECOMMENDED

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Windows Forms and Custom Controls Coverage, February 26, 2006

By 

T. Anderson (PA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pro .NET 2.0 Windows Forms and Custom Controls in C# (Paperback)

This book covers everything you need to know about Windows Forms and Custom Controls. It is very thorough and well written.

The code samples work well and are well organized.

It doesn't cover the smart client gamut, like data storage, communication, or architecture in context to smart client applications. Which is ok. No book currently out covers smart client properly, but windows forms are the front end to smart clients so it would have been nice to have them placed into the smart client context.

And just to clear up the review below. Turn to page 94 for all the classic common dialogs. Mathew didn't miss anything in this book. Relate to Windows Forms UI development.

He also emphasizes using proper UI architecture and getting business logic out of the UI and develops his samples accordingly.