Consider the following code: public class MyControl : Control { [ TypeConverter ( typeof (SomePropertyConverter))] public Foo SomeProperty { get { ... } } } [ TypeConverter ( typeof (FooConverter))] public class Foo { ... } Now here are a couple of questions: Let...

When you author a new component for .NET for which you want to offer a smooth user experience within the Visual Studio designers, you may find you need to write a few more classes to get it working the way you want. For example, you may need to write a designer for it to customize how it looks and behaves...

This is another of those links that you simply must add to your favorites if you develop using .NET. This page tells you when not to use that other very handy website - PInvoke.net . So before you go the p/invoke route, make sure there isn't already a .NET equivalent API available. Someday, when you...

Good to see that Soma's keynote at VSLive! San Francisco brings the concept of 'smart client' back in focus. This is something I am personally passionate about and it is also the theme of this blog. Here is Soma's blog post on the topic and you can view the keynote video here . Still not sure what a...

If I am planning to write a Windows client application in the coming months, what technology should I target - Windows Forms or Avalon? This is a question that comes up every so often and results in a lengthy debate, but no clear conclusion. In an attempt to clarify, John Montgomery has posted a set...

Check out the new and improved MSDN Smart Client Developer Center page - it is a great place to start if you are looking for information about client application development. Jonathan, who is co-editor for the site with Chris Sells , has more information about it in his blog post .

The final versions of .NET Framework 1.1 SP1 and 1.0 SP3 are now available for download on Windows Update .

Technical previews of .NET Framework 1.1 SP1 and 1.0 SP3 are out. You can find links to download, newsgroups and information about what's in the service packs here .

If you haven't seen it already, check out the Smart Client Developer Center on MSDN launched earlier this month. It's a great place to start if you are looking for any kind of information relating to client application development. It also has an RSS feed . Here is the Windows Forms section.

Brian blogs about the fundamental concepts of the .Net component model. The post is typical of Brian - his explanation is always crystal clear!

Ever wanted to write an app with forms that have arbitrary shapes rather than the usual rectangular windows? Mike Harsh describes on MSDN TV how you can accomplish this in Windows Forms, without writing a single line of code, using the RegionMaster controls available for download on WindowsForms.net...

In a comment on BradA's blog, Chris wonders why Windows Forms didn't expose the structures and p/invoke declarations it uses for interop. This would have saved users from having to redefine them for their own use. I guess there were mainly two reasons: 1) These declarations were put together on...

Check out Mike Harsh's post about Windows Forms Markup Language (WFML). The sample and article by Joe Stegman are up on windowsforms.net . Note that this is based on .Net Framework v1.1, so you can try it out today!

Any component has a bunch of properties on it. For example, the WinForms Button control has properties like BackColor, ForeColor, Text, Name, BackgroundImage and so on. When you place a Button on the Form in the VisualStudio designer and look at the generated code, you will find only a subset of the...

[Update: Reformatted and edited the quote below] Here is a great summary by Mark Boulter (Tech Lead on .NET Client Team): To summarize our official position on using Windows Forms controls as ActiveX controls: v1.0 of Windows Forms only supports using Windows Forms controls in Windows...

From an internal mailing list (answers posted by Suzanne ): Q: App compiled on v1.0. When the app is run on a computer with v1.0 and v1.1 (and even v2.0 when released), what version of the framework will it automatically use? A: v1.0. Q: App compiled on v1.0. When the app is run on a computer...

Here is a list of some resources you can use to improve performance of Windows Forms applications: Articles on windowsforms.net. Talk by Shawn Burke (Optimizing Your Application). Headtrax performance report . CLR Performance related bloggers: Jan and Rico . This page has links to useful...

If I want to write a custom control, what's the difference between inheriting from Control and UserControl ? How do I decide which of the two I should derive from? Brian Pepin replies: Main difference is not the "UserControl" part of the class, but the fact that UserControl derives...

As I have mentioned before, there is a wealth of knowledge to be gained from reading internal Microsoft mailing lists. I plan to share some of that when I get a chance - under the category .NET - Random Tips . Here is one such. If you have code like this: private void Foo() {     ...