.Net Windows Forms Custom Controls

This book is great for developers with some experiences in writing .net applications. The book is built on 2 custom controls. Text is concise and to the point. It starts out simple and features are added as materials are covered. I like this approach because it is very similar to real development. I hate books that use extremely simple samples because they don't show how to use various techniques together. One thing it can improve is the editing of the book to get rid of some typos.

This book is not intended for the beginning C# programmer but for an experienced C# programmer interested in how to make Windows Forms custom controls it is just the right mix of code and explanation. Too many books spend chapter after chapter re-reviewing the basics and trying to be all things to all people. This technology uses the some most advanced parts of C# save for Reflection and is not a beginner's domain. If you are a professional with a limited amount of time to wade through basic review detritus to find the information you need this book is just what you need. It's short and to the point unlike this review. My only complaint is that "some" sections are a little thin and the code changes from example to example are not clear enough but that's the editor not the author.

This book applies the concept of learn by example. It has two key examples, an IconButton and an Outlook style bar control. Even a control as simple as the IconButton resulted in a challenging project because, inheriting directly from the Contol class, requires the programmer to handle the painting and dimensioning. These techniques come in handy when creating other advanced controls, especially where dependence on inheriting from the common built-in controls won't exist.One of the big values I got from the book was the source code which I used to build the dll and reference in a hosting client application. I then stepped through the application with the debugger. It allowed me to see how the control is drawn to screen line by line. Make sure you take full advantage of running the source.This is not a book for a beginner programmer and at 250 pages doesn't cover all there is to know about control development but it's a nice read that gets right to the point. With these expectations I couldn't have asked for more.