visual c# 2010 recipes (apress)

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Freeman
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THE EXPERT’S VOICE
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IN C#
Visual
C# 2010
Recipes
A Problem-Solution Approach


Allen Jones and Adam Freeman
Quick answers and ready-to-use code to get
you more productive in C# 2010 development
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ISBN 978-1-4302-2525-6
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5 54 9 9
Visual C# 2010 Recipes:
A Problem-Solution Approach
Dear Reader,
Whatever your situation, whatever the circumstance, one thing is certain: you
will always know what you want to do, but not necessarily how best to do it. C#
2010 development is no exception, and this book is an invaluable companion
when you are tackling a wide range of C# subjects:

• Application domains, reflection, and metadata
• Tasks, Threads, processes, and synchronization
• Files, directories, and I/O
• LINQ
• XML processing
• Windows Forms and Windows Presentation Foundation applications
• Database access using ADO.NET
• Networking and remoting
• Security and cryptography
• Unmanaged code interoperability
• Commonly used interfaces and patterns
• Windows integration

This book shows you how to solve the types of development problems you will
face every day. It contains hundreds of recipes, presented in a concise problem/

solution format so that you can find the answer to your question fast and get
on with your development. Each recipe provides working code that demon-
strates the solution, as well as additional information to give you a more in-depth
understanding of the classes and techniques used to solve the problem.

Allen Jones & Adam Freeman
Allen Jones, author of
WPF Recipes in C# 2010
Professional C# 2005
C# Programmers Cookbook
Programming .NET Security
Microsoft .NET XML Web
Services Step by Step
C# for Java Developers
Adam Freeman, author of
Programming .NET Security
Microsoft .NET XML Web
Services Step by Step
C# for Java Developers
THE APRESS ROADMAP
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C# 2010
Pro LINQ
in C# 2010
Accelerated
C# 2010
Pro C# 2010 and
the .NET 4.0 Platform
Visual C#
2010 Recipes

C# 2010
Recipes



Visual C# 2010 Recipes
A Problem-Solution Approach












■ ■ ■
Allen Jones and Adam Freeman



Visual C# 2010 Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach
Copyright © 2010 by Allen Jones and Adam Freeman
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval
system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher.
ISBN-13 (pbk): 978-1-4302-2525-6

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the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark.
Publisher and President: Paul Manning
Lead Editor: Jonathan Hassell
Technical Reviewer: Mark Collins
Editorial Board: Clay Andres, Steve Anglin, Mark Beckner, Ewan Buckingham, Gary Cornell,
Jonathan Gennick, Jonathan Hassell, Michelle Lowman, Matthew Moodie, Duncan Parkes,
Jeffrey Pepper, Frank Pohlmann, Douglas Pundick, Ben Renow-Clarke, Dominic Shakeshaft,
Matt Wade, Tom Welsh
Coordinating Editor: Anne Collett
Copy Editor: Damon Larson
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The source code for this book is available to readers at www.apress.com.

For my lovely wife Lena, and our three wonderful girls, Anya, Alexia, and Angelina. I love you all.
—Allen Jones

For my wife, Jacqui Griffyth, who I love a great deal.
—Adam Freeman

















iv

Contents at a Glance
About the Author xx
About the Technical Reviewers xxi
Acknowledgments xxii
Introduction xxiii

■Chapter 1: Application Development 1
■Chapter 2: Data Manipulation 53
■Chapter 3: Application Domains, Reflection, and Metadata 103
■Chapter 4: Threads, Processes, and Synchronization 149
■Chapter 5: Files, Directories, and I/O 205
■Chapter 6: XML Processing 261
■Chapter 7: Windows Forms 307
■Chapter 8: Graphics, Multimedia, and Printing 369
■Chapter 9: Database Access 423
■Chapter 10: Networking 479
■Chapter 11: Security and Cryptography 543
■Chapter 12: Unmanaged Code Interoperability 597



■ CONTENTS AT A GLANCE
v

■Chapter 13: Commonly Used Interfaces and Patterns 619
■Chapter 14: Windows Integration 683
■Chapter 15: Parallel Programming 729
■Chapter 16: Using LINQ 749
■Chapter 17: Windows Presentation Foundation 789

Index 905


vi

Contents

About the Author xx
About the Technical Reviewers xxi
Acknowledgments xxii
Introduction xxiii

■Chapter 1: Application Development 1
1-1. Create a Console Application from the Command Line 2
1-2. Create a Windows-Based Application from the Command Line 5
1-3. Create and Use a Code Module 9
1-4. Create and Use a Code Library from the Command Line 11
1-5. Access Command-Line Arguments 12
1-6. Include Code Selectively at Build Time 14
1-7. Access a Program Element That Has the Same Name As a Keyword 18
1-8. Create and Manage Strongly Named Key Pairs 19
1-9. Give an Assembly a Strong Name 21
1-10. Verify That a Strongly Named Assembly Has Not Been Modified 23
1-11. Delay-Sign an Assembly 24
1-12. Sign an Assembly with an Authenticode Digital Signature 26
1-13. Create and Trust a Test Software Publisher Certificate 28
1-14. Manage the Global Assembly Cache 29
1-15. Prevent People from Decompiling Your Code 30
■ CONTENTS
vii

1-16. Manipulate the Appearance of the Console 31
1-17. Create a Static Class 34
1-18. Create an Anonymous Type 35
1-19. Create an ExpandoObject Dynamic Type 37
1-20. Define an Automatically Implemented Property 39
1-21. Overload an Operator 41

1-22. Define a Conversion Operator 44
1-23. Handle an Event with an Anonymous Function 46
1-24. Implement a Custom Indexer 48
■Chapter 2: Data Manipulation 53
2-1. Manipulate the Contents of a String Efficiently 54
2-2. Encode a String Using Alternate Character Encoding 56
2-3. Convert Basic Value Types to Byte Arrays 59
2-4. Base64 Encode Binary Data 61
2-5. Validate Input Using Regular Expressions 65
2-6. Use Compiled Regular Expressions 70
2-7. Create Dates and Times from Strings 72
2-8. Add, Subtract, and Compare Dates and Times 74
2-9. Sort an Array or a Collection 77
2-10. Copy a Collection to an Array 79
2-11. Use a Strongly Typed Collection 81
2-12. Create a Generic Type 83
2-13. Store a Serializable Object to a File 87
2-14. Serialize an Object Using JSON 90
2-15. Read User Input from the Console 93
■ CONTENTS
viii

2-16. Using Large Integer Values 96
2-17. Select Collection or Array Elements 97
2-18. Remove Duplicate Items from an Array or Collection 100
■Chapter 3: Application Domains, Reflection, and Metadata 103
3-1. Create an Application Domain 104
3-2. Create Types That Can Be Passed Across Application Domain Boundaries 106
3-3. Avoid Loading Unnecessary Assemblies into Application Domains 109
3-4. Create a Type That Cannot Cross Application Domain Boundaries 111

3-5. Load an Assembly into the Current Application Domain 111
3-6. Execute an Assembly in a Different Application Domain 114
3-7. Instantiate a Type in a Different Application Domain 116
3-8. Pass Data Between Application Domains 121
3-9. Unload Assemblies and Application Domains 124
3-10. Retrieve Type Information 125
3-11. Test an Object’s Type 127
3-12. Instantiate an Object Using Reflection 129
3-13. Create a Custom Attribute 133
3-14. Inspect the Attributes of a Program Element Using Reflection 136
3-15. Programmatically Discover the Members of a Type 137
3-16. Invoke a Type Member Using Reflection 140
3-17. Dynamically Invoke a Type Member 142
3-18. Create a Custom Dynamic Type 143
■Chapter 4: Threads, Processes, and Synchronization 149
4-1. Execute a Method Using the Thread Pool 151
4-2. Execute a Method Asynchronously 154
■ CONTENTS
ix

4-3. Execute a Method Periodically 163
4-4. Execute a Method at a Specific Time 166
4-5. Execute a Method by Signaling a WaitHandle Object 167
4-6. Execute a Method Using a New Thread 169
4-7. Synchronize the Execution of Multiple Threads Using a Monitor 172
4-8. Synchronize the Execution of Multiple Threads Using an Event 178
4-9. Synchronize the Execution of Multiple Threads Using a Mutex 182
4-10. Synchronize the Execution of Multiple Threads Using a Semaphore 185
4-11. Synchronize Access to a Shared Data Value 187
4-12. Know When a Thread Finishes 190

4-13. Terminate the Execution of a Thread 191
4-14. Create a Thread-Safe Collection Instance 193
4-15. Start a New Process 195
4-16. Terminate a Process 199
4-17. Ensure That Only One Instance of an Application Can Execute Concurrently 201
■Chapter 5: Files, Directories, and I/O 205
5-1. Retrieve Information About a File, Directory, or Drive 206
5-2. Set File and Directory Attributes 211
5-3. Copy, Move, or Delete a File or Directory 213
5-4. Calculate the Size of a Directory 216
5-5. Retrieve Version Information for a File 217
5-6. Show a Just-in-Time Directory Tree in the TreeView Control 219
5-7. Read and Write a Text File 222
5-8. Read and Write a Binary File 224
5-9. Read a File Asynchronously 226
■ CONTENTS
x

5-10. Find Files That Match a Wildcard Expression 230
5-11. Test Two Files for Equality 231
5-12. Manipulate Strings Representing File Names 233
5-13. Determine If a Path Is a Directory or a File 235
5-14. Work with Relative Paths 236
5-15. Create a Temporary File 238
5-16. Get the Total Free Space on a Drive 239
5-17. Show the Common File Dialog Boxes 241
5-18. Use an Isolated Store 243
5-19. Monitor the File System for Changes 246
5-20. Access a COM Port 248
5-21. Get a Random File Name 249

5-22. Manipulate the Access Control List of a File or Directory 250
5-23. Compress Data 253
5-24. Log Data to a File 254
5-25. Process a Log File 256
5-26. Communicate Between Processes 257
■Chapter 6: XML Processing 261
6-1. Show the Structure of an XML Document in a TreeView 261
6-2. Insert Nodes in an XML Document 266
6-3. Quickly Append Nodes in an XML Document 268
6-4. Find Specific Elements by Name 271
6-5. Get XML Nodes in a Specific XML Namespace 272
6-6. Find Elements with an XPath Search 274
6-7. Read and Write XML Without Loading an Entire Document into Memory 278
■ CONTENTS
xi

6-8. Validate an XML Document Against a Schema 281
6-9. Use XML Serialization with Custom Objects 286
6-10. Create a Schema for a .NET Class 290
6-11. Generate a Class from a Schema 291
6-12. Perform an XSL Transform 292
6-13. Load XML with LINQ 296
6-14. Create a New XML Tree with LINQ 298
6-15. Query XML with LINQ 300
6-16. Modify an XML Tree with LINQ 303
■Chapter 7: Windows Forms 307
7-1. Add a Control Programmatically 309
7-2. Store Data with a Control 311
7-3. Process All the Controls on a Form 314
7-4. Track the Visible Forms in an Application 315

7-5. Find All MDI Child Forms 319
7-6. Save Configuration Settings for a Form 322
7-7. Force a List Box to Scroll to the Most Recently Added Item 325
7-8. Restrict a Text Box to Accept Only Specific Input 326
7-9. Use an Autocomplete Combo Box or Text Box 329
7-10. Sort a List View by Any Column 332
7-11. Lay Out Controls Automatically 335
7-12. Use Part of a Main Menu for a Context Menu 336
7-13. Make a Multilingual Form 338
7-14. Create a Form That Cannot Be Moved 341
7-15. Make a Borderless Form Movable 343
■ CONTENTS
xii

7-16. Create an Animated System Tray Icon 346
7-17. Validate an Input Control 348
7-18. Use a Drag-and-Drop Operation 350
7-19. Update the User Interface in a Multithreaded Application 354
7-20. Display a Web Page in a Windows-Based Application 356
7-21. Display WPF Windows in a Windows Forms Application 360
7-22. Display WPF Controls in Windows Forms 363
■Chapter 8: Graphics, Multimedia, and Printing 369
8-1. Find All Installed Fonts 370
8-2. Perform Hit Testing with Shapes 372
8-3. Create an Irregularly Shaped Control 376
8-4. Create a Movable Sprite 379
8-5. Create a Scrollable Image 383
8-6. Perform a Screen Capture 385
8-7. Use Double Buffering to Increase Redraw Speed 386
8-8. Show a Thumbnail for an Image 389

8-9. Play a Simple Beep or System Sound 391
8-10. Play a WAV File 392
8-11. Play a Sound File 393
8-12. Play a Video 395
8-13. Retrieve Information About Installed Printers 398
8-14. Print a Simple Document 401
8-15. Print a Multipage Document 404
8-16. Print Wrapped Text 408
8-17. Show a Dynamic Print Preview 410
■ CONTENTS
xiii

8-18. Manage Print Jobs 412
8-19. Perform Text-to-Speech 417
8-20. Recognize Characters in an Image (OCR) 419
■Chapter 9: Database Access 423
9-1. Connect to a Database 425
9-2. Use Connection Pooling 428
9-3. Create a Database Connection String Programmatically 431
9-4. Store a Database Connection String Securely 433
9-5. Execute a SQL Command or Stored Procedure 436
9-6. Use Parameters in a SQL Command or Stored Procedure 441
9-7. Process the Results of a SQL Query Using a Data Reader 445
9-8. Obtain an XML Document from a SQL Server Query 448
9-9. Perform Asynchronous Database Operations Against SQL Server 452
9-10. Write Database-Independent Code 456
9-11. Discover All Instances of SQL Server on Your Network 460
9-12. Create an In-Memory Cache 462
9-13. Create a DataSet Programmatically 466
9-14. Perform a LINQ Query 468

9-15. Perform a LINQ Query with Entity Types 471
9-16. Compare LINQ DataSet Results 473
■Chapter 10: Networking 479
10-1. Obtain Information About the Local Network Interface 480
10-2. Detect Changes in Network Connectivity 484
10-3. Download Data over HTTP or FTP 486
10-4. Download a File and Process It Using a Stream 490
■ CONTENTS
xiv

10-5. Respond to HTTP Requests from Within Your Application 492
10-6. Get an HTML Page from a Site That Requires Authentication 497
10-7. Send E-mail Using SMTP 499
10-8. Resolve a Host Name to an IP Address 504
10-9. Ping an IP Address 507
10-10. Communicate Using TCP 510
10-11. Create a Multithreaded TCP Server That Supports Asynchronous
Communications 515
10-12. Communicate Using UDP 523
10-13. Create a SOAP-Based Web Service 526
10-14. Call a WCF Service Using a Dynamically Generated Service Proxy 532
10-15. Process the Content of an Atom or RSS Feed 534
10-16. Manipulate URIs 538
■Chapter 11: Security and Cryptography 543
11-1. Allow Partially Trusted Code to Use Your Strongly Named Assembly 544
11-2. Disable Code Access Security 547
11-3. Disable Execution Permission Checks 548
11-4. Ensure the Runtime Grants Specific Permissions to Your Assembly 549
11-5. Limit the Permissions Granted to Your Assembly 552
11-6. View the Permissions Required by an Assembly 554

11-7. Determine at Runtime If Your Code Has a Specific Permission 558
11-8. Restrict Who Can Extend Your Classes and Override Class Members 559
11-9. Inspect an Assembly’s Evidence 562
11-10. Determine If the Current User Is a Member of a Specific Windows Group 564
11-11. Restrict Which Users Can Execute Your Code 568
11-12. Impersonate a Windows User 572
■ CONTENTS
xv

11-13. Create a Cryptographically Random Number 575
11-14. Calculate the Hash Code of a Password 577
11-15. Calculate the Hash Code of a File 581
11-16. Verify a Hash Code 583
11-17. Ensure Data Integrity Using a Keyed Hash Code 586
11-18. Work with Security-Sensitive Strings in Memory 589
11-19. Encrypt and Decrypt Data Using the Data Protection API 592
■Chapter 12: Unmanaged Code Interoperability 597
12-1. Call a Function in an Unmanaged DLL 597
12-2. Get the Handle for a Control, Window, or File 601
12-3. Call an Unmanaged Function That Uses a Structure 603
12-4. Call an Unmanaged Function That Uses a Callback 606
12-5. Retrieve Unmanaged Error Information 608
12-6. Use a COM Component in a .NET Client 610
12-7. Release a COM Component Quickly 613
12-8. Use Optional Parameters 614
12-9. Use an ActiveX Control in a .NET Client 615
12-10. Expose a .NET Component Through COM 616
■Chapter 13: Commonly Used Interfaces and Patterns 619
13-1. Implement a Custom Serializable Type 620
13-2. Implement a Cloneable Type 626

13-3. Implement a Comparable Type 631
13-4. Implement an Enumerable Collection 636
13-5. Implement an Enumerable Type Using a Custom Iterator 640
13-6. Implement a Disposable Class 647
■ CONTENTS
xvi

13-7. Implement a Formattable Type 651
13-8. Implement a Custom Exception Class 655
13-9. Implement a Custom Event Argument 659
13-10. Implement the Singleton Pattern 661
13-11. Implement the Observer Pattern 663
13-12. Implement a Parallel Producer-Consumer Pattern 669
13-13. Perform Lazy Object Initialization 671
13-14. Use Optional Parameters 673
13-15. Add a Method to a Type Without Modifying It 675
13-16. Call an Object Member Dynamically 677
13-17. Create a Variant Generic Type 679
■Chapter 14: Windows Integration 683
14-1. Access Runtime Environment Information 684
14-2. Retrieve the Value of an Environment Variable 688
14-3. Write an Event to the Windows Event Log 690
14-4. Read and Write to the Windows Registry 692
14-5. Search the Windows Registry 695
14-6. Create a Windows Service 699
14-7. Create a Windows Service Installer 704
14-8. Create a Shortcut on the Desktop or Start Menu 706
14-9. Create a Windows 7 Jump List 709
14-10. Use Windows Search 711
14-11. Check Internet Connectivity 716

14-12. Display a Task Dialog 717
14-13. Write Custom Performance Counters 720
■ CONTENTS
xvii

14-14. Read Performance Counters 724
14-15. Obtain Elevated Privileges 726
■Chapter 15: Parallel Programming 729
15-1. Perform Simple Parallel Tasks 729
15-2. Return a Result from a Task 732
15-3. Wait for Tasks to Complete 734
15-4. Parallel Process a Collection 736
15-5. Chain Tasks Together 738
15-6. Write a Cooperative Algorithm 739
15-7. Handle Exceptions in Tasks 741
15-8. Cancel a Task 743
15-9. Share Data Between Tasks 745
■Chapter 16: Using LINQ 749
16-1. Perform a Simple LINQ Query 749
16-2. Filter Items from a Data Source 755
16-3. Filter a Data Source by Type 757
16-4. Filter Ranges of Elements 759
16-5. Select Multiple Member Values 760
16-6. Filter and Select from Multiple Data Sources 762
16-7. Use Permutations of Data Sources 765
16-8. Concatenate Data Sources 767
16-9. Group Result Elements by Attribute 769
16-10. Sort Query Results 774
16-11. Compare Data Sources 776
16-12. Aggregate Data Sources 778

■ CONTENTS
xviii

16-13. Share Values Within a Query 780
16-14. Create Custom LINQ Extension Methods 782
16-15. Convert from IEnumerable<> 784
■Chapter 17: Windows Presentation Foundation 789
17-1. Create and Use a Dependency Property 790
17-2. Create and Use an Attached Property 795
17-3. Define Application-Wide Resources 799
17-4. Debug Data Bindings Using an IValueConverter 801
17-5. Debug Bindings Using Attached Properties 803
17-6. Arrange UI Elements in a Horizontal or Vertical Stack 805
17-7. Dock UI Elements to the Edges of a Form 807
17-8. Arrange UI Elements in a Grid 809
17-9. Position UI Elements Using Exact Coordinates 811
17-10. Get Rich Text Input from a User 813
17-11. Display a Control Rotated 818
17-12. Create a User Control 820
17-13. Support Application Commands in a User Control 822
17-14. Create a Lookless Custom Control 826
17-15. Create a Two-Way Binding 833
17-16. Bind to a Command 836
17-17. Use Data Templates to Display Bound Data 844
17-18. Bind to a Collection with the Master-Detail Pattern 848
17-19. Change a Control’s Appearance on Mouseover 854
17-20. Change the Appearance of Alternate Items in a List 856
17-21. Drag Items from a List and Drop Them on a Canvas 858
■ CONTENTS
xix

17-22. Display the Progress of a Long-Running Operation
and Allow the User to Cancel It 862
17-23. Draw Two-Dimensional Shapes 866
17-24. Create Reusable Shapes 871
17-25. Draw or Fill a Shape Using a Solid Color 873
17-26. Fill a Shape with a Linear or Radial Color Gradient 875
17-27. Fill a Shape with an Image 879
17-28. Fill a Shape with a Pattern or Texture 882
17-29. Animate the Property of a Control 886
17-30. Animate Several Properties in Parallel 889
17-31. Create a Keyframe-Based Animation 892
17-32. Animate an Object Along a Path 894
17-33. Play a Media File 898
17-34. Query Keyboard State 902

Index 905

xx

About the Authors
■Allen Jones has a master’s degree in software engineering from Oxford
University and 20 years industry experience covering a wide range of IT
disciplines. He has spent the last ten years leading the development of
innovative commercial software solutions in areas such as security, content
management, trading, portfolio management, strategic planning, and real-time
search. Allen is a partner at QuantumBlack, a design and technology studio that
applies visual analytics to help organizations make faster decisions and smarter
investments, and earn new revenues.

■Adam Freeman is an experienced IT professional who has held senior
positions at a range of companies, most recently as chief technology officer and
chief operating officer of a global bank. He started his career in programming
and still finds it one of the most engaging and interesting ways to spend a day.


xxi

About the Technical Reviewer
■Mark Collins has developed software for over 25 years, mostly using the
Microsoft stack. He has served many roles, including development manager,
architect, team lead, database administrator, and project manager. He has
extensive experience in retail (point-of-sale and inventory) and customer
relationship management (CRM) solutions. Mark currently serves as a senior
software engineer for a nonprofit organization, providing a custom CRM, mail
processing, and fulfillment system.


xxii

Acknowledgments
We would like to thank everyone at Apress for working so hard to bring this book to print. In particular,
we would like to thank Anne Collett and Jonathan Hassell. We would also like to thank Damon Larson
and Mark Collins, whose respective efforts as copy editor and technical reviewer made this book far
better than it would have been without them.

Allen Jones
Adam Freeman


xxiii

Introduction
Mastering the development of Microsoft .NET Framework applications in C# is less about knowing the
C# language and more about knowing how to use the functionality of the .NET Framework class library
most effectively. Visual C# 2010 Recipes explores the breadth of the .NET Framework class library and
provides specific solutions to common and interesting programming problems. Each solution (or recipe)
is presented in a succinct problem/solution format, and most are accompanied by working code
samples.
Visual C# 2010 Recipes is not intended to teach you how to program, nor to teach you C#. However,
if you have even the most rudimentary experience programming applications built on the .NET
Framework using C#, you will find this book to be an invaluable resource.
Ideally, when you are facing a problem, this book will contain a recipe that provides the solution, or
at least it will point you in the right direction. Even if you just want to broaden your knowledge of the
.NET Framework class library, Visual C# 2010 Recipes is the perfect resource to assist you.
However, you cannot become proficient with C# and the classes in the .NET Framework class library
merely by reading about them. Rather, you must use them and experiment with them by writing code,
code, and more code. The structure and content of this book and the real-world applicability of the
solutions it provides offer the perfect starting point from which to kick-start your own experimentation.

Allen Jones
Adam Freeman