Common Dialog Boxes

1. The Windows provides a number of common dialog boxes that support opperations that are common among many applications
2. It's best to use these dialogs instead of creating your own so users have less to learn when encountering new applications
3. Color dialog box (ColorDialog)
   1. Used to select a pre-defined or custom color

      if (colorDialog1.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
      	label1.ForeColor = colorDialog1.Color;
      

      
      
      
4. Font dialog box (FontDialog)
   1. Used to select font attributes

      if (fontDialog1.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
      	this.Font = fontDialog1.Font;            
      

      
      
      
5. Folder browser dialog box (FolderBrowserDialog)
   1. Used to select a particular folder

      if (folderBrowserDialog1.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
      	MessageBox.Show("Selected " + folderBrowserDialog1.SelectedPath);          
      

      
      
      
6. Open file dialog box (OpenFileDialog)
   1. Used to select the name of an existing file

      openFileDialog1.Filter = "Text files (*.txt)|*.txt|All files|*.*";
      if (openFileDialog1.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
          MessageBox.Show("Selected " + openFileDialog1.FileName);         
      

      
   2. Note that this dialog does not really open anything!
   3. Use the filter property to specify file types
7. Save file dialog box (SaveFileDialog)
   1. Used to supply a name to save a file

      saveFileDialog1.Filter = "Text files (*.txt)|*.txt|All files|*.*";
      if (saveFileDialog1.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK)
      	MessageBox.Show("Selected " + saveFileDialog1.FileName);       
      

      
   2. Note that this dialog does not actually save anything!
   3. Use the filter property to specify file types
8. Print dialog box (PrintDialog)
   1. Used to select a printer, change settings, and print a PrintDocument

      PrintDocument doc = new PrintDocument();
      doc.DocumentName = "My document";
      doc.PrintPage += new PrintPageEventHandler(doc_PrintPage);
      printDialog1.Document = doc;
      printDialog1.ShowDialog();   
      

      
   2. PrintPage is an event which is triggered when the page is printing
   3. See a complete example here