Chapter 8. Controls

The basic unit of the ui in WinForms is the control. Everything that interacts directly with the user in a region defined by a container is a control. This includes controls that do everything themselves , as well as standard controls such as the TextBox, user controls (controls that contain other controls), and even the Form class itself.

This chapter covers the broad categories of the standard controls provided by WinForms. It explains how to build custom and user controls and how to provide support for drag and drop, the most popular kind of intercontrol communication. If you'd like a survey of the standard controls, refer to Appendix D: Standard WinForms Components and Controls.