Performance Consulting: A Practical Guide for HR and Learning Professionals

We have covered a lot of content in this chapter. Building Windows applications is a huge subject, and an entire book could easily be written on this subject alone. Hopefully this chapter has provided an understanding of the basic tenets used in building Windows Forms applications so you understand how and where to dive into more detail in any specific topic.

Although .NET makes building ASP.NET applications very simple, and provides a strong foundation for exposing and consuming Web Services, thick client applications will always be required. Understanding the power and versatility available with Windows Forms applications will be essential in creating enterprise .NET solutions. Rich clients can provide a dynamic, flexible, and interactive experience for the user that a web solution never can. With the incredibly rich functionality exposed by Windows Forms and the many Windows Forms controls, Windows application development may experience a renaissance as application developers return to the rich client.

In this chapter we have covered the following topics:

• How to build Windows Forms applications using the .NET Framework

• Using Visual Studio .NET to quickly build Windows Forms applications

• Adding menu support to an application, including dynamic and context-sensitive menus

• Utilizing custom and common dialog resources in a project

• How to use visual inheritance to build powerful and dynamic Windows Forms applications

• How to use Windows Forms controls in an application

• How to create and extend existing controls for specialized functionality

• Exposing and consuming custom events from a custom control