C# 5.0 Programmer's Reference

Summary ❘ 23
}
// Place the frame in the current Window
Window.Current.Content = rootFrame;
}
if (rootFrame.Content == null)
{
// When the navigation stack isn't restored navigate to the first page,
// configuring the new page by passing required information as a
// navigation parameter
if (!rootFrame.Navigate(typeof(MainPage), args.Arguments))
{
throw new Exception("Failed to create initial page");
}
}
// Ensure the current window is active
Window.Current.Activate();
If the application’s Frame is null, the code creates a new Frame.
Then if the Frame’s content was null, the bold line of code uses the Frame’s Navigate method to
navigate to a new instance of the MainPage class. (If the Frame’s content is not null, it is a previously
created instance of the MainPage class and it is reused.)
Finally, the code activates the current window, and at that point the MainPage appears.
Summary
Unless you plan to edit C# files in a text editor and then use the command-line interface to compile
them, you will end up using Visual Studio to write and build C# programs. Because of that, the book
does cover Visual Studio to some extent.
The book’s goal, however, is to cover the C# language. This chapter explains the most common
kinds of applications that you can build in C#. It shows how you can build programs that provide
buttons or other methods for executing your C# code.
Visual Studio enables you to build many different kinds of applications. This chapter explains how
to start with four of those types: console, Windows Forms, WPF, and Windows Store applications.
The remainder of this book assumes you can create one of those kinds of applications so that you
can run C# code.
Although this book doesn’t explain user interface programming or Windows Forms, WPF, and
Windows Store applications in more detail, you should look into them when you have a chance.
C# code alone enables you to produce some amazing results, but you need a great user interface
to actually show them off.
When you create a new program, Visual Studio creates all sorts of files to represent forms, windows,
code, resources, and other data associated with the project. Chapter 3, “Program and
Code File Structure,” describes the most common kinds of files associated with C# projects.
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