CSharp .Net Tutorial: Input Box Class

Many programming languages, such as Visual Basic 6, include pre-made functions to gather user input via means of an input box. However, the .Net Frameworks, and more specifically CSharp .Net, do not include such an option. This tutorial will walk you through the steps of creating and using your very own input box class.

Step One - Create a Input Box Class

The first step will be to start up Visual Studios and load your CSharp project. Once your project has been loaded, click the 'Project' menu and select the 'Add Class...' button. You will be prompted to enter a name for the new class. Call it, 'InputBox.cs'. By default the class will be private(not accessible by other classes or forms), to make the class public and the prefix 'public' before the class declaration. Like so,

public class InputBox

Now that the input box class is available to the public, create a private DialogResult function inside the class called, 'GetResponse()' using the source code supplied below.

private DialogResult GetResponse(string Question, string Title, ref string Response)
{
// The Input Box Form
Form inputBox = new Form();
inputBox.StartPosition = FormStartPosition.CenterScreen;
inputBox.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(394, 114);
inputBox.Text = Title;
inputBox.TopMost = true;
inputBox.FormBorderStyle = FormBorderStyle.FixedToolWindow;

// Question Label
Label lblQuestion = new Label();
lblQuestion.Text = Question;
lblQuestion.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(12, 9);

// Input Box
TextBox inputText = new TextBox();
inputText.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(361, 20);
inputText.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(15, 48);

// OK Button
Button cmdOK = new Button();
cmdOK.Text = "OK";
cmdOK.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(335, 71);
cmdOK.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(42, 19);
cmdOK.DialogResult = DialogResult.OK;

// Cancel Button
Button cmdCancel = new Button();
cmdCancel.Text = "Cancel";
cmdCancel.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(271, 71);
cmdCancel.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(58, 19);
cmdCancel.DialogResult = DialogResult.Cancel;

// Add Controls to the Form
inputBox.Controls.Add(lblQuestion);
inputBox.Controls.Add(inputText);
inputBox.Controls.Add(cmdOK);
inputBox.Controls.Add(cmdCancel);

// Set the Forms Accept Button
inputBox.AcceptButton = cmdOK;
inputBox.CancelButton = cmdCancel;

// Show the Form
DialogResult Result = inputBox.ShowDialog();

// Return the Results
Response = inputText.Text;
return Result;
}

And, create a public string function called, 'ShowInputBox()' using this code,

public string ShowInputBox(string Question, string Title)
{
string Result = "";

if (new InputBox().GetResponse(Question, Title, ref Result) == DialogResult.OK)
{
return Result;
}

return Result;
}

Conclusion

To use the input box class simple call the ShowInputBox() method and supply the proper parameters. Here is an example usage,

this.Text = new InputBox().ShowInputBox("What would you like the form's title to be?", "Set Form Title");

This code will set a form's title text to whatever the user types.