Printing Invoices using C# and .NET

If we want to save the data in the form, the following method is used:
The BinaryFormatter object spits out the data into a file containing all the members of the InvoiceData class. Because InvoiceDataRow is also serializable and because its a member of the InvoiceData class as an array, the entire InvoiceDataRow[] array is also spit out to the file. (This is a serious time saver, still it would be nice if Forms were serializable). To Deserialize the data, we use the method below:

Deserialization is just as simple. TheInvoiceData class knows how to populate itself from the BinaryFormatter since its Serializable. To get the data from the file into the InvoiceData object, you simply call Deserialize on the file stream you want to populate from. (Of course the file must be one that you previously created using serialize on this object, otherwise it won't work). DateTime Controls

The Invoice program uses DateTime Controls to populate the dates in the form. Once nice featrue of these controls is you can create custom formats by setting the Format property of the control to Custom and the CustomFormat property to the format you wish to display (mine are set to MM/dd/yy). String Formatting an EditBox

To get the amounts converted into currency format, I used a nice feature in .NET that allows you to specify how you want a double value to look in the ToString method. Below is the line of code that will format the sum(a double type) of the Amount column to look like a dollar and cents value.
Improvements

This program would be better, if it didn't use serialization, but dumped its contents into a database. Then you could track customer information, marketing data, and other nice things a business cares about in their invoices. Anyway, if you want to spit out a quick invoice to your printer, this program should do the job. Happy billing!