Editing Windows Forms (section)

== Architecture ==
[[File:DotNet3.0.svg|thumb|right|300px|This [[application programming interface|API]] is a part of [[.NET Framework]] 3.0]]
A ''Windows Forms application'' is an [[event-driven programming|event-driven application]] supported by Microsoft's [[.NET Framework]]. Unlike a [[batch processing|batch program]], it spends most of its time simply waiting for the user to do something, such as fill in a [[text box]] or click a [[Button (computing)|button]]. The code for the application can be written in a .NET programming language such as [[C Sharp (programming language)|C#]] or [[Visual Basic .NET|Visual Basic]].

Windows Forms provides access to native [[Windows USER|Windows User Interface]] Common Controls by wrapping the existent [[Windows API]] in [[managed code]].<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=2048355&seqNum=4|title=C# 4.0 Unleashed|last=De Smet|first=Bart|publisher=Sams Publishing|date=January 4, 2011|chapter=Chapter 5}}</ref> With the help of Windows Forms, the .NET Framework provides a more comprehensive abstraction above the Win32 API than Visual Basic or MFC did.<ref>{{cite book|title=NET Windows Forms in a Nutshell|last1=Griffiths|first1=Ian|last2=Adams|first2=Matthew|publisher=O'Reilly Media|date=March 2003|page=4}}</ref>

Windows Forms is similar to [[Microsoft Foundation Class Library|Microsoft Foundation Class]] (MFC) library in developing client applications. It provides a wrapper consisting of a set of C++ classes for development of Windows applications. However, it does not provide a default application framework like the MFC. Every control in a Windows Forms application is a concrete instance of a class.