how to run a winform from console application

Question

How do I create  execute and control a winform from within a console application

User · Answer

You can create a winform project in VS2005  VS2008 and then change its properties to be a command line application  It can then be started from the command line  but will still open a winform

User · Answer

Its totally depends upon your choice  that how you are implementing  a  Attached process   ex  input on form and print on console  b  Independent process  ex  start a timer  don t close even if console exit   for a   Application Run new Form1       or ------------- Form1 f   new Form1    f ShowDialog      for b  Use thread  or task anything  How to open win form independently

User · Answer

It  s very simple to do   Just add following attribute and code to your Main-method    STAThread  void Main string   args        Application EnableVisualStyles         Do some stuff       while  Exit              Application DoEvents      Now if you call  form Show    your form won  t be frozen          Do your stuff          Now you  re fully able to show WinForms

User · Answer

You can create a winform project in VS2005  VS2008 and then change its properties to be a command line application  It can then be started from the command line  but will still open a winform

User · Answer

Here is the best method that I ve found  First  set your projects output type to  Windows Application   then P Invoke AllocConsole to create a console window   internal static class NativeMethods        DllImport  kernel32 dll        internal static extern Boolean AllocConsole       static class Program        static void Main string   args            if  args Length    0                   run as windows app             Application EnableVisualStyles                Application Run new Form1                else                  run as console app             NativeMethods AllocConsole                Console WriteLine  Hello World                Console ReadLine

User · Answer

I recently wanted to do this and found that I was not happy with any of the answers here   If you follow Marc s advice and set the output-type to Console Application there are two problems   1  If you launch the application from Explorer  you get an annoying console window behind your Form which doesn t go away until your program exits  We can mitigate this problem by calling FreeConsole prior to showing the GUI  Application Run   The annoyance here is that the console window still appears  It immediately goes away  but is there for a moment none-the-less   2  If you launch it from a console  and display a GUI  the console is blocked until the GUI exits  This is because the console  cmd exe  thinks it should launch Console apps synchronously and Windows apps asynchronously  the unix equivalent of  myprocess  amp         If you leave the output-type as Windows Application  but correctly call AttachConsole  you don t get a second console window when invoked from a console and you don t get the unnecessary console when invoked from Explorer  The correct way to call AttachConsole is to pass -1 to it  This causes our process to attach to the console of our parent process  the console window that launched us    However  this has two different problems   1  Because the console launches Windows apps in the background  it immediately displays the prompt and allows further input  On the one hand this is good news  the console is not blocked on your GUI app  but in the case where you want to dump output to the console and never show the GUI  your program s output comes after the prompt and no new prompt is displayed when you re done  This looks a bit confusing  not to mention that your  console app  is running in the background and the user is free to execute other commands while it s running   2  Stream redirection gets messed up as well  e g   myapp some parameters   somefile  fails to redirect  The stream redirection problem requires a significant amount of p Invoke to fixup the standard handles  but it is solvable     After many hours of hunting and experimenting  I ve come to the conclusion that there is no way to do this perfectly  You simply cannot get all the benefits of both console and window without any side effects  It s a matter of picking which side effects are least annoying for your application s purposes

User · Answer

You should be able to use the Application class in the same way as Winform apps do  Probably the easiest way to start a new project is to do what Marc suggested  create a new Winform project  and then change it in the options to a console application

User · Answer

You can create a winform project in VS2005  VS2008 and then change its properties to be a command line application  It can then be started from the command line  but will still open a winform

User · Answer

The easiest option is to start a windows forms project  then change the output-type to Console Application  Alternatively  just add a reference to System Windows Forms dll  and start coding   using System Windows Forms    STAThread  static void Main         Application EnableVisualStyles        Application Run new Form        or whatever     The important bit is the  STAThread  on your Main   method  required for full COM support

User · Answer

You should be able to use the Application class in the same way as Winform apps do  Probably the easiest way to start a new project is to do what Marc suggested  create a new Winform project  and then change it in the options to a console application

User · Answer

All the above answers are great help  but I thought to add some more tips for the absolute beginner   So  you want to do something with Windows Forms  in a Console Application   Add a reference to System Windows Forms dll in your Console application project in Solution Explorer   Right Click on Solution-name- add- Reference      Specify the name space in code  using System Windows Forms   Declare the needed properties in your class for the controls you wish to add to the form   e g  int Left   get  set        need to specify the LEFT position of the button on the Form  And then add the following code snippet in Main     static void Main string   args    Application EnableVisualStyles            Form frm   new Form        create aForm object          Button btn   new Button                         Left   120              Width   130              Height   30              Top   150              Text    Biju Joseph  Redmond  WA                          more code         frm Controls Add btn       add button to the Form                 add more code here as needed         frm ShowDialog       a modal dialog

User · Answer

The easiest option is to start a windows forms project  then change the output-type to Console Application  Alternatively  just add a reference to System Windows Forms dll  and start coding   using System Windows Forms    STAThread  static void Main         Application EnableVisualStyles        Application Run new Form        or whatever     The important bit is the  STAThread  on your Main   method  required for full COM support

User · Answer

The easiest option is to start a windows forms project  then change the output-type to Console Application  Alternatively  just add a reference to System Windows Forms dll  and start coding   using System Windows Forms    STAThread  static void Main         Application EnableVisualStyles        Application Run new Form        or whatever     The important bit is the  STAThread  on your Main   method  required for full COM support

User · Answer

You can create a winform project in VS2005  VS2008 and then change its properties to be a command line application  It can then be started from the command line  but will still open a winform

User · Answer

It  s very simple to do   Just add following attribute and code to your Main-method    STAThread  void Main string   args        Application EnableVisualStyles         Do some stuff       while  Exit              Application DoEvents      Now if you call  form Show    your form won  t be frozen          Do your stuff          Now you  re fully able to show WinForms

User · Answer

If you want to escape from Form Freeze and use editing  like text for a button  use this code  Form form   new Form    Form Button Text    randomText   System Windows Forms Application EnableVisualStyles    System Windows Forms Application Run form

User · Answer

Its totally depends upon your choice  that how you are implementing  a  Attached process   ex  input on form and print on console  b  Independent process  ex  start a timer  don t close even if console exit   for a   Application Run new Form1       or ------------- Form1 f   new Form1    f ShowDialog      for b  Use thread  or task anything  How to open win form independently

User · Answer

The easiest option is to start a windows forms project  then change the output-type to Console Application  Alternatively  just add a reference to System Windows Forms dll  and start coding   using System Windows Forms    STAThread  static void Main         Application EnableVisualStyles        Application Run new Form        or whatever     The important bit is the  STAThread  on your Main   method  required for full COM support

User · Answer

You should be able to use the Application class in the same way as Winform apps do  Probably the easiest way to start a new project is to do what Marc suggested  create a new Winform project  and then change it in the options to a console application

User · Answer

This worked for my needs     Task mytask   Task Run      gt        MyForm form   new MyForm        form ShowDialog          This starts the from in a new thread and does not release the thread until the form is closed  Task is in  Net 4 and later

User · Answer

If you want to escape from Form Freeze and use editing  like text for a button  use this code  Form form   new Form    Form Button Text    randomText   System Windows Forms Application EnableVisualStyles    System Windows Forms Application Run form

User · Answer

You should be able to use the Application class in the same way as Winform apps do  Probably the easiest way to start a new project is to do what Marc suggested  create a new Winform project  and then change it in the options to a console application

User · Answer

Here is the best method that I ve found  First  set your projects output type to  Windows Application   then P Invoke AllocConsole to create a console window   internal static class NativeMethods        DllImport  kernel32 dll        internal static extern Boolean AllocConsole       static class Program        static void Main string   args            if  args Length    0                   run as windows app             Application EnableVisualStyles                Application Run new Form1                else                  run as console app             NativeMethods AllocConsole                Console WriteLine  Hello World                Console ReadLine

User · Answer

I recently wanted to do this and found that I was not happy with any of the answers here   If you follow Marc s advice and set the output-type to Console Application there are two problems   1  If you launch the application from Explorer  you get an annoying console window behind your Form which doesn t go away until your program exits  We can mitigate this problem by calling FreeConsole prior to showing the GUI  Application Run   The annoyance here is that the console window still appears  It immediately goes away  but is there for a moment none-the-less   2  If you launch it from a console  and display a GUI  the console is blocked until the GUI exits  This is because the console  cmd exe  thinks it should launch Console apps synchronously and Windows apps asynchronously  the unix equivalent of  myprocess  amp         If you leave the output-type as Windows Application  but correctly call AttachConsole  you don t get a second console window when invoked from a console and you don t get the unnecessary console when invoked from Explorer  The correct way to call AttachConsole is to pass -1 to it  This causes our process to attach to the console of our parent process  the console window that launched us    However  this has two different problems   1  Because the console launches Windows apps in the background  it immediately displays the prompt and allows further input  On the one hand this is good news  the console is not blocked on your GUI app  but in the case where you want to dump output to the console and never show the GUI  your program s output comes after the prompt and no new prompt is displayed when you re done  This looks a bit confusing  not to mention that your  console app  is running in the background and the user is free to execute other commands while it s running   2  Stream redirection gets messed up as well  e g   myapp some parameters   somefile  fails to redirect  The stream redirection problem requires a significant amount of p Invoke to fixup the standard handles  but it is solvable     After many hours of hunting and experimenting  I ve come to the conclusion that there is no way to do this perfectly  You simply cannot get all the benefits of both console and window without any side effects  It s a matter of picking which side effects are least annoying for your application s purposes

User · Answer

All the above answers are great help  but I thought to add some more tips for the absolute beginner   So  you want to do something with Windows Forms  in a Console Application   Add a reference to System Windows Forms dll in your Console application project in Solution Explorer   Right Click on Solution-name- add- Reference      Specify the name space in code  using System Windows Forms   Declare the needed properties in your class for the controls you wish to add to the form   e g  int Left   get  set        need to specify the LEFT position of the button on the Form  And then add the following code snippet in Main     static void Main string   args    Application EnableVisualStyles            Form frm   new Form        create aForm object          Button btn   new Button                         Left   120              Width   130              Height   30              Top   150              Text    Biju Joseph  Redmond  WA                          more code         frm Controls Add btn       add button to the Form                 add more code here as needed         frm ShowDialog       a modal dialog

User · Answer

Here is the best method that I ve found  First  set your projects output type to  Windows Application   then P Invoke AllocConsole to create a console window   internal static class NativeMethods        DllImport  kernel32 dll        internal static extern Boolean AllocConsole       static class Program        static void Main string   args            if  args Length    0                   run as windows app             Application EnableVisualStyles                Application Run new Form1                else                  run as console app             NativeMethods AllocConsole                Console WriteLine  Hello World                Console ReadLine

User · Answer

This worked for my needs     Task mytask   Task Run      gt        MyForm form   new MyForm        form ShowDialog          This starts the from in a new thread and does not release the thread until the form is closed  Task is in  Net 4 and later

User · Answer

Here is the best method that I ve found  First  set your projects output type to  Windows Application   then P Invoke AllocConsole to create a console window   internal static class NativeMethods        DllImport  kernel32 dll        internal static extern Boolean AllocConsole       static class Program        static void Main string   args            if  args Length    0                   run as windows app             Application EnableVisualStyles                Application Run new Form1                else                  run as console app             NativeMethods AllocConsole                Console WriteLine  Hello World                Console ReadLine

[c#] how to run a winform from console application?

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