Category Archives: miscellany

Find .NET libraries for namespaces in C#

Posted on May 10, 2017 by RodStephens

Some namespaces have names that nicely match their .NET libraries. For example, the System.Drawing namespace is defined in the System.Drawing library. Unfortunately a namespace’s name doesn’t always match the name of the .NET library that defines it. For example, the … Continue reading →

Posted in .NET, miscellany | Tagged .NET libraries, .NET namespaces, C#, C# programming, example, example program, libraries, namespaces, Windows Forms programming | Leave a comment

Run user-entered code that modifies the program’s form in C#

Posted on April 14, 2017 by RodStephens

The example Run user-entered code in C# shows how you can compile and execute code entered at run time. That example simply displays a message box and returns a DialogResult indicating which button the user pressed. This example shows how … Continue reading →

Posted in algorithms, miscellany, programs, reflection | Tagged algorithms, C#, C# compiler, C# programming, CodeDom, compile C# code, compile code, compiler, example, example program, miscellany, programs, reflection, run C# code, run code, user-entered code, Windows Forms programming | Leave a comment

Tip: Make parentheses matching more visible in C#

Posted on April 11, 2017 by Rod Stephens

Recently someone asked me if there was a Visual Studio add-in that highlighted parentheses, brackets, and braces so it would be easier to tell which closing parenthesis matched which opening parenthesis. It turns out that Visual Studio already has a … Continue reading →

Posted in coding, miscellany, tips | Tagged C#, C# programming, coding, example, example program, miscellany, parentheses matching, tips, Windows Forms programming | 1 Comment

Use accelerators on labels and buttons in C#

Posted on March 29, 2017 by Rod Stephens

To place an accelerator on a menu item, you put an ampersand in front of the letter in the menu item’s caption that you want to be the accelerator. At run time, the caption is displayed with the accelerator letter … Continue reading →

Posted in miscellany, productivity | Tagged accelerators, buttons, C#, C# programming, example, example program, labels, menus, miscellany, navigation, productivity, Windows Forms programming | Leave a comment

Activate another running program in C#

Posted on March 16, 2017 by Rod Stephens

This is actually quite simple. First add a reference to the Microsoft.VisualBasic library. Then call Microsoft.VisualBasic.Interaction.AppActivate, passing it the title of the program that you want to activate as in the following code. using Microsoft.VisualBasic; … // Activate the program. … Continue reading →

Posted in miscellany, system | Tagged activate, activate application, activate program, C#, C# programming, example, example program, miscellany, switch programs, system, Windows Forms programming | Leave a comment

Use System.Threading.Timer to make a countdown timer in C#

Posted on March 10, 2017 by RodStephens

The post Make a countdown timer in C# uses a Timer control to count down the time until some deadline. This example does something similar but it uses a Timer object from the System.Threading namespace. The basic idea is similar: … Continue reading →

Posted in miscellany, system | Tagged C#, C# programming, countdown, countdown timer, example, example program, miscellany, system, System.Threading.Timer, threading, threading timer, timer, Windows Forms programming | Leave a comment

Move a window with a title that matches a pattern in C#

Posted on December 27, 2016 by Rod Stephens

The example Set another application’s size and position in C# uses the FindWindow API function to find a window with a given title. Unfortunately FindWindow only finds the window if the title is an exact match. If you only know … Continue reading →

Posted in API, miscellany, regular expressions, system | Tagged API, C#, C# programming, EnumDesktopWindows, example, example program, find desktop window, find window, miscellany, regular expressions, system, window, Windows Forms programming | Leave a comment

Tile desktop windows in rows and columns in C#

Posted on December 26, 2016 by Rod Stephens

The example List desktop windows in C# shows how to list the currently running desktop windows. This example uses that technique to fill a ListBox with the titles of those desktop windows. (See the previous example to see how that … Continue reading →

Posted in API, miscellany, system | Tagged API, arrange desktop windows, arrange windows, C#, C# programming, example, example program, file desktop windows, miscellany, system, tile windows, Windows Forms programming | Leave a comment

Set another application’s size and position in C#

Posted on December 23, 2016 by Rod Stephens

When I write books, there is usually a maximum size that a screen shot can be. I wrote this program to make it easy to set an example program to exactly that size. This program uses the FindWindow API function … Continue reading →

Posted in API, miscellany, system | Tagged API, C#, C# programming, example, example program, find window by caption, FindWindowByCaption, get window placement, GetWindowPlacement, maximize application, maximize other application, maximize window, minimize application, minimize other application, minimize window, miscellaneous, miscellany, restore application, restore other application, restore window, set window placement, set window state, SetWindowPlacement, system, target window, Windows Forms programming | 3 Comments

Find a target window and minimize, maximize, or restore it in C#

Posted on December 23, 2016 by Rod Stephens

This is the first in a series of posts that allow one application to manipulate a target window in another application. Note that this isn’t something that Microsoft really wants you to do. In general one application should not fiddle … Continue reading →