Softcover

ISBN 10: 0735613702 ISBN 13: 9780735613706

Publisher: Microsoft Press, 2002

“Look it up in Petzold” remains the last word on Windows development. In this .NET-ready Windows programming guide, the best-selling author shows you how to get the most out of Windows Forms—the next-generation Windows programming class library. You’ll discover how to use C# to create dynamic user interfaces and graphical outputs for Windows applications. With dozens of examples of client applications to illustrate common techniques and plenty of no-nonsense advice on best programming practices, you’ll be C# sharp in no time. Topics covered in this guide include:

• A tour of C#
• Windows Forms
• Essential structures
• An exercise in text output
• Lines, curves, and area fills
• Tapping into the keyboard
• Pages and transforms
• Taming the mouse
• Text and fonts
• The timer and time
• Images and bitmaps
• Buttons, labels, and scrolls
• Béziers and other splines
• Menus
• Paths, regions, and clipping
• Dialog boxes
• Brushes and pens
• Edit, list, and spin controls
• Font fun
• Toolbars and status bars
• Printing
• Tree view and List view
• Metafiles
• Clip, drag, and drop

INCLUDED ON CD-ROM: * Sample source code for all the examples presented in the book

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Review:

Aimed at aspiring C# programmers of all levels, legendary Windows expert Charles Petzold's Programming Windows in C# provides an extremely in-depth and intelligent tutorial to the APIs underpinning Microsoft's .NET Framework.

For a generation of programmers Petzold's Programming Windows, The Definitive Guide to the Win32 API book provided a virtual bible of how to get started with Windows development. This massive, handsomely bound hardcover edition attempts the same breadth of coverage for Microsoft's new C# language and the new .NET. With several examples clearly inspired by the earlier C title, this book demonstrates the author's keen eye for showing off and explaining the capabilities of low-level APIs to good effect.

The book first outlines basic "Hello World" examples for both a console and Windows Forms. Next, there's coverage of basic support classes (such as points and rectangles) before turning toward using these structures in extensive sections on graphics programming. Petzold's traditional strengths as a computer author are in ample evidence here, with many short examples presented that exercise the capabilities of the new .NET APIs.

Veteran readers will recognise the basic shape of the early Win32 title in the organisation of this (completely rewritten) C# version in the flow of topics from graphics, keyboard, mouse and timers and the like. (One production note here is that the order of later chapters does jump around somewhat, circling back to graphics topics several times instead of presenting related APIs in order.)

The sections on graphics transforms and how to manipulate images are worthy of note. There's excellent coverage of the possibilities of working with text and fonts output in. NET. Nifty working samples for several types of clocks and shape-drawing demos will let you explore graphical APIs in detail.

Several chapters cover basic Windows forms, control programming with buttons, labels and edit controls, then splitters, ListView and TreeView controls. This volume closes out with references to files and streams, math and string APIs. For any developer who wants to create state-of-the-art, "traditional" client-side software, this book is sure be required reading for its in-depth look at graphics and other leading-edge .NET features. It proves once again that learning low-level APIs in detail is still a good way to learn Windows programming. --Richard Dragan

From the Publisher:

Programming Microsoft® Windows® with C# describes how to use the Windows-based Forms library to create the front-end client interface for Windows applications. Programming Microsoft® Windows® with C# shares best practices and sample C# programs from one of the best-known authors of programming in Windows. Programming Microsoft® Windows® with C# features all the book's sample applications on CD-ROM for supplemental reference and study