Building Graphical User Interface

Building Graphical User Interface

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Windows Forms are based on the Graphical User Interface (GUI). Hence, several graphical interface elements can be used within a Windows-based application. The .NET Framework provides the System.Drawing namespace that is included in the Windows Graphics Design Interface (GDI+). Several classes that expose GDI+ functionality are found in the System.Drawing namespace and its associated namespaces. The following are the different namespaces that are included in GDI+:

• System.Drawing Namespace: It provides access to graphics functionality as well as graphical programming. Some of the important classes within the System.drawing namespace include Bitmap class, Brush class, Font class, Graphics class, Icon class, Pen class, Image class, and StringFormat class. The Bitmap class encapsulates the GDI+ bitmap, and consists of the pixel data of the graphics image.
  
  The Graphics class encapsulates GDI+ drawing surface and provides drawing canvas for graphical designing. The Pen class is used to draw lines and curves on the drawing canvas, and the Brush class is used to fill the interiors of the various shapes of images. The Font class determines a particular text format including its font face, size and style attributes. The StringFormat class encapsulates text layout information.



• System.Drawing.Design Namespace: It contains classes that provide additional functionality for design-based graphical operations. Some of the classes of the System.Drawing.Design namespace are BitmapEditor class, FontEditor class, ImageEditor class, and ToolboxItem class. The BitmapEditor class is used to provide a user interface for selecting image files. The FontEditor class is used to provide a user interface for selecting a list of available fonts. The ImageEditor class is used to provide a user interface for selecting an image from the properties window. The ToolboxItem class is used to provide implementation of a toolbox item.



• System.Drawing.Drawing2D Namespace: It contains classes that provide advanced two-dimensional and vector graphics that render advanced visual effects. Some of the classes of the System.Drawing.Drawing2D namespace are Blend class, ColorBlend class, GraphicsPath class, LinearGradientBrush class, GraphicsState class, and Matrix class. The Blend class encapsulates a Brush object with custom multi-color gradients. The ColorBlend class defines arrays of colors and their positions with multi-color gradients.



• System.Drawing.Imaging Namespace: It contains classes that allow manipulation of image files. The ColorMap class of this namespace defines a map for converting colors. The ColorPalatte class defines an array of colors that create a color palatte. The ImageAttributes class contains information about how to manipulate bitmap and metafile colors.



• System.Drawing.Printing Namespace: It contains classes that provide printing facilities. The Margins class of this namespace specifies margins of a particular page. The PageSettings class defines settings, which apply to a single and printed page. The PaperSize class specifies the size of a page to be printed. The PrinterSettings class determines information about the settings of the printer and how the document is to be printed.



• System.Drawing.Text Namespace: It contains classes that facilitate advanced use and manipulation of fonts. The FontCollection class is the base class for installed as well as private font collections. The InstalledFontCollection class defines those fonts that are installed on the system. The PrivateFontCollection class specifies lists of font files that are provided by the client application.

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