What is Windows Forms?

Windows Forms is a framework for building Windows client applications that utilize the common language runtime. Windows Forms applications can be written in any language that the common language runtime supports. Some of the advantages of using Windows Forms include the following:

• Simplicity and power: Windows Forms is a programming model for developing Windows applications that combines the simplicity of the Visual Basic 6.0 programming model with the power and flexibility of the common language runtime.

• Lower total cost of ownership: Windows Forms takes advantage of the versioning and deployment features of the common language runtime to offer reduced deployment costs and higher application robustness over time. This significantly lowers the maintenance costs (TCO) for applications written in Windows Forms.

• Architecture for controls: Windows Forms offers an architecture for controls and control containers that is based on concrete implementation of the control and container classes. This significantly reduces control-container interoperability issues.

• Security: Windows Forms takes full advantage of the security features of the common language runtime. This means that Windows Forms can be used implement everything from an untrusted control running in the browser to a fully trusted application installed on a user's hard disk.

• XML Web services support: Windows Forms offers full support for quickly and easily connecting to XML Web services.

• Rich graphics: Windows Forms is one of the first ship vehicles for GDI+, a new version of the Windows Graphical Device Interface (GDI) that supports alpha blending, texture brushes, advanced transforms, rich text support, and more.

• Flexible controls: Windows Forms offers a rich set of controls that encompass all of the controls offered by Windows. These controls also offer new features, such as "flat look" styles for buttons, radio buttons, and check boxes. Refer to Control Samples for the complete list of controls.

• Data awareness: Windows Forms offers full support for the ADO.NET data model.

• ActiveX control support: Windows Forms offers full support for ActiveX controls. You can easily host ActiveX controls in a Windows Forms application. You can also host a Windows Forms control as an ActiveX control.

• Licensing: Windows Forms takes advantage of the common language runtime enhanced licensing model.

• Printing: Windows Forms offers a printing framework that enables applications to provide comprehensive reports.

• Accessibility: Windows Forms controls implement the interfaces defined by Microsoft Active Accessibility (MSAA), which make it simple to build applications that support accessibility aids, such as screen readers.

• Design-time support: Windows Forms takes full advantage of the meta-data and component model features offered by the common language runtime to provide thorough design-time support for both control users and control implementers.