Working with Windows Forms

Windows forms are building of an application. Forms are essentially windows, and the two terms are often used interchangeably. More accurately, window refers to what the user sees and interacts with, whereas form refers to what you see when you design. Forms enable users to view and enter information in a program. Such information may be text, pictures, graphs almost anything that can be seen on the screen. Understanding how to design forms correctly enables you to begin creating solid interface foundations for your programs.

Think of a form as a canvas on which you build your program's interface. On this canvas, you can print text, draw shapes, and place controls with which users can interact. The wonderful thing about Visual Basic forms is that they behave like a dynamic canvas. Not only can you adjust a form's appearance by manipulating what's on it, you also can manipulate specific properties of the form.

Chapter 5.1: Changing the Name of a Form

The first thing you should do when you create a new object is give it a descriptive name. Read more...

Chapter 5.2: Changing the Appearance of a Form

In this chapter, I'll show you how to use the more common properties of the form to tailor its appearance. Read more...

Chapter 5.3: Showing and Hiding Forms

Knowing how to create forms does nothing for you if you don't have a way to show and hide them. Read more...

Chapter 5.4: Adding Controls to a Form

The toolbox appears as a docked window on the left side of the design environment by default. Read more...

Chapter 5.5: Creating Transparent Forms

A new property of forms that I think is very cool is the Opacity property. Read more...

Chapter 5.6: Creating Scrollable Forms

A scrollable form is one that can display scrollbars when its contents are larger than the form's physical size. Read more...

Chapter 5.7: Creating MDI Forms

An MDI program contains one parent window and one or more child windows. Read more...

Chapter 5.8: Setting the Startup Form

The Startup object in a Windows Application project is, by default, the first form added to the project. Read more...