Developing Windows Applications

/// Required designer variable.
/// </summary>
private System.ComponentModel.Container components = null;
public Form1() {
    //
    // Required for Windows Form Designer support
    //
    InitializeComponent();
    //
    // TODO: Add any constructor code after InitializeComponent call
    //
}
/// <summary>
/// Clean up any resources being used.
/// </summary>
protected override void Dispose(bool disposing) {
    if (disposing) {
        if (components != null) {
            components.Dispose();
        }
    }
    base.Dispose(disposing);
}
#region Windows Form Designer generated code
/// <summary>
/// Required method for Designer support - do not modify
/// the contents of this method with the code editor.
/// </summary>
private void InitializeComponent() {
    this.components = new System.ComponentModel.Container();
    this.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(300, 300);
    this.Text = "Form1";
}
#endregion
    /// <summary>
    /// The main entry point for the application.
    /// </summary>
    [STAThread]
static void Main() {
    Application.Run(new Form1());
}

Now I am going to drop few controls and let's see what Designer adds to InitializeComponent. I drop a button and an edit box on the form and change Button property "Text" to Browse.

You use Properties Window to set properties of controls. This is similar to VB. You call Properties Windows by right clicking on the control and clicking Properties menu item.

The Properties window for a button control looks like following. As you can see from the following figure, I change Text property of button control to "Browse".

Now if you see the InitializeComponent method you will see this code has been added to the method. You can even modify this code by your hand.

#region Windows Form Designer generated code
/// <summary>
/// Required method for Designer support - do not modify
/// the contents of this method with the code editor.
/// </summary>
private void InitializeComponent() {
    this.button1 = new System.Windows.Forms.Button();
    this.textBox1 = new System.Windows.Forms.TextBox();
    this.SuspendLayout();
    //
    // button1
    //
    this.button1.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(8, 24);
    this.button1.Name = "button1";
    this.button1.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(88, 24);
    his.button1.TabIndex = 0;
    this.button1.Text = "Browse";
    //
    // textBox1
    //
    this.textBox1.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(128, 24);
    this.textBox1.Name = "textBox1";
    this.textBox1.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(136, 20);
    this.textBox1.TabIndex = 1;
    this.textBox1.Text = "textBox1";
    //
    // Form1
    /
    this.AutoScaleBaseSize = new System.Drawing.Size(5, 13);
    this.ClientSize = new System.Drawing.Size(292, 273);
    this.Controls.AddRange(new System.Windows.Forms.Control[] {
        this.textBox1, this.button1
    });
    this.Name = "Form1";
    this.Text = "Form1";
    this.ResumeLayout(false);
}
#endregion

Adding Event Handler

The last part of this tutorial is to add an event handler for the button and browse for a file in the text box. You double click on the button to add an event handler for the button. Button1_Click is the event handler for button. In same way you can write event handler for any control.

private void button1_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e) {
    OpenFileDialog fdlg = new OpenFileDialog();
    fdlg.Title = "C# Corner Open File Dialog";
    fdlg.InitialDirectory = @ "c:\" ;
    fdlg.Filter = "All files (*.*)|*.*|All files (*.*)|*.*";
    fdlg.FilterIndex = 2;
    fdlg.RestoreDirectory = true;
    if (fdlg.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK) {
        textBox1.Text = fdlg.FileName;
    }
}

Now you run the program and click the Browse button. It calls Open File Dialog, which lets you browse for a file. I select a file.

And click Open. Action adds file name to the text box and the application looks like following figure.