I'm currently working on an application using Visual studio 2010.. And was trying to create an interface like that of iTunes and Spotify, where it's a full window app, with custom window controls. Could anyone point me in the direction as how to do this?
https://www.dropbox.com/s/pszm4txuxt400tt/spotify.PNG
Try using WPF for a simple attractive set of controls which you can edit as required.
You can set you main windows mode on the On Load event to be fullscreen or maximised.
Google WPF tutorials if you want to learn more about using the controls available.
Related
i have create a few WPF applications in visual studio, and now i would like to create a final application to run all of the created apps in the final application. i would like to know how i can create a layout that displays the apps that are running inside the final app as buttons that can be clicked and cause the app to expand and allow the user to work on that app and then when finished return back to the final app and see the other apps to choose from. I imagine it would look like a Google chrome blank page that allows you see your familiar webpages and click on them to load them up. Any help or advice on what i should focus on to implement this would be much appreciated.
Thank you for taking the time to read over this.
Consider using a VisualBrush this takes other WPF UI (your "apps") and uses their UI as a brush for another UI element.
Raj Kumar has a simple article called Visual Brush in WPF for details.
The bit you probably want is at the bottom where he shows you rendering a controls content in another control. The magic being binding the controls visual to the element name whos UI it should render.
I am developing a Windows Form Application in Visual Studio 2008 (C#)
And I want to add Style to the items.
I have been investigating a few ideas about it but I have not found an example about how to do it. Is it really possible?
My app looks like:
But I really want to add more style in buttons, textboxs and other items I have:
My boss insists on using Visual Studio 2008.
To do this without purchasing anything else, you could create your own custom button and text box controls, either from scratch or as controls derived from the existing windows forms controls and then overriding OnPaint etc. Take a look at what's been done here:
http://dotnetrix.co.uk/button.htm
You could also investigate third party options.
Or, use WPF if that's a possibility as others have said. I'd push for WPF! If there's an existing WinForms Code base you can always host WPF Elements in WinForms. See:
Walkthrough: Hosting a Windows Presentation Foundation Control in Windows Forms
IF you wana to use Winforms than you have to buy this one for example:
http://devcomponents.com/
You have to bind the new assemblies in your application that is not a lot of work!
But better way do that with WPF
http://wpftutorial.net/DataGrid.html
I am developing an application that will be running behind the scenes in Windows and would like to put an icon in the system tray for troubleshooting purposes (simple way for users to tell if the app is running). There is no other UI for the application, and the icon does not need to have any functionality as of right now.
All of the solutions I have found as of yet involve creating a form. I am wondering if there is a way to simply add a class to my current C# code that allows me to control the icon, rather than doing the whole 'make a form, set it to be invisible....' nonsense that seems to be the popular suggestion on the forums. Something along the lines of the way that UI control is done in say, Swing for Java. I would really appreciate any ideas!
You can do it with a custom ApplicationContext. Google reveals first this tutorial on how to achieve it.
Or you can alter your main Program file not to show any form at all:
Application.Run(); //remove the Form oject from this call
From whatever project you use, why not just create an instance of the NotifyIcon class and use it to display the icon in the system tray?
For Windows Forms:
Form.ShowInTaskbar to show/hide in the taskbar
and use a NotifyIcon to show in the tray
Can you give me an example on how to put my application form in the taskbar?
like Windows media player or Window search when minimize.
What you are looking for is creating an Application Desktop Toolbar (also known as AppBar). The main function you use to register your application window as an AppBar is SHAppBarMessage.
To get you started, you can look at this old appbar example with C++. If you want to do it in C#, there's a thread that discusses some details on how to do it in WPF. I am not aware of examples of how to do it with WinForms, but a quick search on the web should bring something.
Update: Actually, if you want a toolbar that sits on the taskbar, you need to implement a Deskband. Here's a sample DeskBand in C++ and here's a DeskBand in C#.
That's what happens when you don't touch a topic in a while. :-)
What this is really called is the 'System Tray' You want your app to have an icon in the windows system tray. Many languages provide this functionality.
Here are a few links:
http://www.codeguru.com/Cpp/COM-Tech/shell/icons/article.php/c1335
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/shell/systemtray.aspx
I need to be able to embed and control the playback of an AVI file in a WinForms app, using C#. The video needs to be embedded in the form, not launched in a separate media player window.
What's the best approach to do this? I found the System.Media namespace, which sounded promising, but it appears that is only useful for sound.
Do I use DirectX to do this? MCI? Or some other approach?
You can use Media Player inside your Winform. This would been an easy way to do it.
The way i did it was, and I quote:
Right-click the Toolbox, and click Choose Items.
Note: If you do not see the Toolbox, click Toolbox on the View menu to
open it. The Customize Toolbox Items dialog box opens.
On the COM Components tab, select the Windows Media Player check box,
and then click OK.
The Windows Media Player control appears on the current Toolbox tab.
When you add the Windows Media Player control to the Toolbox, Visual
Studio automatically adds references to two libraries: AxWMPLib and
WMPLib. The next step is to add the control to the Windows Form.
To add the Windows Media Player control to a Windows Form
Drag the Windows Media Player control from the Toolbox to the Windows
Form.
In the Properties window, set the Dock property to Fill. You can do
this by clicking the center square.
Double-click the title bar of the form to add the default Load event
in the Code Editor.
Add the following code to the Form_Load event handler to load a video
when the application opens.
axWindowsMediaPlayer1.URL =
#"http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=95772";
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb383953(v=vs.90).aspx
I highly recommend this library:
http://directshownet.sourceforge.net/
It is a .NET wrapper around the DirectShow API.
(The sample apps should get you going very quickly.)
--Bruce
The suggestions from Daok and Brian Genisio are both good options. Let me add a third: DirectShow. Used to be part of DirectX but has now been promoted to the Windows SDK. There are many good C# sample applications to look at, and it gives complete control of the playback.
I would consider using the WPF media controls and just use the ElementHost to put your WPF control inside your WinForms app. I think you will get a much more rich experience.
See System.Windows.Forms.Integration for more information