INTRODUCTION TO C# GUI

Objectives
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 Create a Form in the Visual Studio IDE

 Use the Toolbox to add a Button to a Form
 Add Labels and TextBoxes to a Form
 Name Forms and controls
 Correct errors
 Decide which interface to use

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 Creating a Form in the IDE
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 Forms are GUI objects that provide an interface for

collecting, displaying, and delivering information
 Select New Project after starting Visual Studio
 Then choose Windows Forms Application
 After you click OK in the New Project window, you
see the IDE main window

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 Creating a Form in the IDE (cont’d.)
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 Creating a Form in the IDE (cont’d.)
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 Creating a Form in the IDE (cont'd.)
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 The name of the application shows in three places:

the title bar, the Solution Explorer, and the
Properties window
 The main menu lies horizontally across the top
 The Toolbox tab provides a list of controls you
can drag onto a Form
 The Form Designer appears in the center of the
screen
 The Solution Explorer allows viewing and
managing project files and settings
 Creating a Form in the IDE (cont'd.)
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 The Properties window is for configuring

properties and events on controls in your user
interface
 The error list displays messages about compiler
errors in your code
 Creating a Form in the IDE (cont'd.)
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 The Program.cs file contains the automatically

generated Main() method of the application
 Form1.cs contains other automatically generated
code
 The code describes what tasks you will assign to the
controls in your application
 When you create a Windows Form project, Visual
C# adds a Form to the project and calls it Form1
 Creating a Form in the IDE (cont'd.)
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 Creating a Form in the IDE (cont'd.)
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 In the Properties window, you can change the

appearance, size, and color of a window
 The Form class contains around 100 properties
 Property names appear in alphabetical order
(except for Name)
 Creating a Form in the IDE (cont'd.)
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 Using the Toolbox to Add a Button
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to a Form
 When you open the IDE, the left border displays a
Toolbox tab
◦ Open the toolbox, and a list of tool groups is displayed
◦ The tool groups includes the controls you have seen
when using a Windows application
 You can drag controls (such as a Button) onto a
Form
 You can relocate a control by dragging it or delete
it by selecting it and pressing the Del key
 Using the Toolbox to Add a Button
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to a Form (cont'd.)
 A Button is a clickable object that allows a user
to interact with a GUI program
 By default, the first button dragged on is named
button1
 You should probably change the name to something
meaningful
 When you click on a control, the Properties
window shows its properties
 Using the Toolbox to Add a Button
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to a Form (cont'd.)
 Using the Toolbox to Add a Button
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to a Form (cont'd.)
 Using the Toolbox to Add a Button
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to a Form (cont'd.)
 Adding functionality to a Button is easy with the
IDE
 After dragging the button on to a Form, you double-
click on it to create a method that executes when the
user clicks the Button
 You can view the code by selecting View and then
Code from the main menu
 Using the Toolbox to Add a Button
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to a Form (cont'd.)
 Using the Toolbox to Add a Button
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to a Form (cont'd.)
 You will see many generated statements, some
confusing
 To make a Button perform an action, you can
ignore most of these
 Write code between the curly braces of the
button1_Click() method
 If you change the Name property of the button1
object, the name of its subsequently created
Click() method will also change automatically
 You can write anything you want in the Click()
methods
 Adding Labels and TextBoxes to a
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Form
 Labels are controls that you use to display text to
communicate with an application’s user
 You can drag a Label onto a Form, just like a
Button
 You can change its Text property to display any
text you like
◦ Depending on the amount of text, you may need to
resize the label
 In Figure 3-7, “Enter a number” has been assigned
to label1’s Text property
 Adding Labels and TextBoxes to a
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Form (cont'd.)
 Adding Labels and TextBoxes to a
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Form (cont'd.)
 TextBoxes are controls through which a user can
enter input data in a GUI application
 If a user is supposed to enter data in a TextBox, you
frequently want to start with its Text property empty
 When a user types a value into a TextBox, it
becomes the value of the Text property
 It is a string by default
 If the user is supposed to enter a number, you’ll have to
convert it, just as in a console application
 Adding Labels and TextBoxes to a
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Form (cont'd.)
 Adding Labels and TextBoxes to a
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Form (cont'd.)
 The form on the next slide is meant to have the user
enter two numbers in the TextBoxes
 When the user clicks the Button, the sum of the
two numbers will be displayed in label3
 You must create the code to do the addition
 It goes in the button1_Click() method
 Adding Labels and TextBoxes to a
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Form (cont'd.)
 Adding Labels and TextBoxes to a
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Form (cont'd.)
 Adding Labels and TextBoxes to a
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Form (cont'd.)
 Adding Labels and TextBoxes to a
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Form (cont'd.)
 Naming Forms and Controls
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 Provide reasonable Name property values for all the

controls you place on a Form
 Conventionally, start control names with a lowercase letter
and use camel casing
 Start Form names with an uppercase letter and use camel
casing
A Form is a class, and C# class names conventionally start with
an uppercase letter
 Use the type of object in the name
 To rename a control after you have generated code for it,
use the code refactoring feature
 Naming Forms and Controls (cont'd.)
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 Naming Forms and Controls (cont'd.)
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 When you click Rename, a dialog box opens

 Type the new method name
 A Preview Changes dialog box will highlight the
change
 Confirm the change by clicking Apply
 Naming Forms and Controls (cont'd.)
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 Correcting Errors
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 As in console-based programs, you will often generate
syntax errors
 If you build or run a program with an error, you will
see “Build failed” in the lower-left corner of the IDE
 You will also see an error dialog box
◦ Always click No in response to “Would you like to
continue and run the last successful build?”
 Errors will be listed in the error list at the lower-left
corner of the screen
 Double-clicking an error message will take you to the
location in the code where the error was found
 Correcting Errors (cont'd.)
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 Correcting Errors (cont'd.)
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 Correcting Errors (cont'd.)
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 When you are working in the Form Designer, it is easy

to inadvertently double-click a control and create an
event-handling method you don’t want
◦ You can leave the event-handling method empty, but that’s
considered bad form
◦ You cannot just delete the method because, behind the
scenes, other code will have been created that refers to the
method
◦ Instead, go to the Properties window of the control, and
then click on its Events button, select the button you want
to eliminate, and delete the method name
 Correcting Errors (cont'd.)
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 Deciding Which Interface to Use
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 You have learned to create:

 Console applications
 GUI applications
 Both types contain basic building blocks
 GUI applications
 Look “snazzier” and are easy to use
 GUI applications take longer to develop
 Console applications
 Simpler; may be better when learning new logical
constructs
 You Do It
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 Working With the Visual Studio IDE

 Providing Functionality for a Button
 Adding a Second Button to a Form
 Summary
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 Forms are GUI objects that provide an interface

for collecting, displaying, and delivering
information
 The Toolbox displays a list of available controls
you can add to a Form
◦ This list includes Button, CheckBox, and Label
 Labels are controls that you use to display text to
communicate with an application’s user
 Provide reasonable Name property values for all
the controls you place on a Form
 Summary (cont’d.)
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 If you build or run a program that contains a syntax

error, you see “Build failed” in the lower-left
corner of the IDE and an error dialog box
 Both console and GUI applications can contain
variables and constants, decisions, loops, arrays,
and calls to other methods
◦ GUI applications
 Look “snazzier”
 Contain controls that a user can manipulate with a mouse
 Usually take longer to develop