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Welcome to the CoreWindowsWrapper wiki!

This project should not be a substitute for System.Windows.Forms.

Microsoft has begun to implement System.Windows.Forms in NETCore with the introduction of NETCore 3.0-Preview. In older versions this was not the case. Since NETCore 3 is still a preview, you can at least create basic windows with this project. Due to its strong resemblance to System.Windows.Forms, the familiarization phase should be very short.

This project is intended for the Windows platform only. An implementation on Linux or Mac is not planned (provided). There are other projects that implement this.

Nevertheless, I believe that this project is sufficient for smaller applications.

Usage

Create a Native Window

Create a new Class derive from NativeWindow

//Native Window
public class Window1:NativeWindow
{
	//Add your Controls
	//in this example a Button
	private NativeButton _Button;
	
	//Override InitControls Function
	protected override void InitControls()
	{
		//Set the properties of the Form.
		this.Text = "Dies ist meine Anwnedung";//Caption of the Window.
		this.Name = "Window1";
		this.Left = 100;
		this.Top = 100;
		this.Width = 600;
		this.Height = 400;
		
		//Create the Button
		this._Button = new NativeButton
		{
			Left = 10,
			Top = 10,
			Width = 100,
			Height = 30,
			Text = "Test",//Caption of the Button
			Name = "bnTest",
			Font = new Font(){Name="Arial",Size=14}
		};	
		//Add Eventhandler
		this._Button.Clicked += button_OnClicked;
		
		//Add the Button to the Window.
		this.Controls.Add(this._Button);
	}
	//Eventhandler for the Button
	private void button_OnClicked(object sender, EventArgs e)
	{
		//Show a Messagebox.
		MessageBox.Show("Button Clicked!");
	}
}

Initialize the Application

To initilize the Application you have to create 2 Lines of Code in the Main-Function. This is necessary because of Threading and Windows Messaging.

using CoreWindowsWrapper;

namespace ConsleCaller
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            //Create the Window
            Window1 nw = new Window1();
            //Run the Application
            NativeApp.Run(nw);
        }
    }
}

Using Colors

The class Color Tools includes predefined colors, as well as the function RGB. Here you can modify the background color of the window. Unfortunately, it is currently not possible to change the background color of all controls.

// use the Defined Colors
this.BackColor = ColorTool.LightGray;
// use the RGB Function
this.BackColor = ColorTool.RGB(125,125,125);

Create Menus

The NativeWindow object has a property Menu. Here is the first entry of the menu deposited. The following example creates a File menu. This menu has 3 items and a separator entries. Open, Close, Separator and Exit.

            //Creating the File Menu
            NativeMenu menuFile = new NativeMenu("mnuFile", "&File");
            
            //Create Sub-Items for File-Menu
            NativeMenuItem menuFileOpen = new NativeMenuItem("mnuOpen", "&Open");
            NativeMenuItem menuFileClose = new NativeMenuItem("mnuClose", "&Close Document");
            NativeMenuItem menuFileSep = new NativeMenuItem("mnuFileSep") {IsSeparator = true};
            NativeMenuItem menFileExit = new NativeMenuItem("mnuExit", "E&xit");

            //Add Menu Event Handlers
            menuFileClose.Click += FileClose_Click;
            menuFileOpen.Click += FileOpen_Click;
            menFileExit.Click += Menu_Exit;

            //Add The Sub-Items to File-Menu
            menuFile.Items.Add(menuFileOpen);
            menuFile.Items.Add(menuFileClose);
            menuFile.Items.Add(menuFileSep);
            menuFile.Items.Add(menFileExit);

            //Add the first Element of the Menu to the Form
            this.Menu = menuFile;

If you want to continue to add main menus next to the File menu, create another NativeMenu class and add it to the Items listing in the File menu. Each menu entry below the new menu is added to this new menu.

            //Create Help-Menu
            NativeMenu menuHelp = new NativeMenu("&Help");
            //Add Sub-Item to Help-Menu
            NativeMenuItem menuInfo = new NativeMenuItem("&Info");
            //Add Event-Handler
            menuInfo.Click += MenuInfo_Click;
            //Add the Sub-Item to the Help-Menu
            menuHelp.Items.Add(menuInfo);
            //Add the Help-Menu to the File-Menu
            menuFile.Items.Add(menuHelp);
            //Add the first Element of the Menu to the Form
            this.Menu = menuFile;