Form based visual studio project to single c# code and compile using codedom

Question

This code allows me to make a form based application.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System.CodeDom.Compiler;
using System.Diagnostics;

namespace WindowsFormsApplication2
{
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
    public Form1()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
        this.button1.Click += new System.EventHandler(this.button1_Click);
    }

    private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        CodeDomProvider codeProvider = CodeDomProvider.CreateProvider("CSharp");
        string Output = "Out.exe";
        Button ButtonObject = (Button)sender;

        textBox2.Text = "";
        System.CodeDom.Compiler.CompilerParameters parameters = new CompilerParameters();
        parameters.ReferencedAssemblies.Add("System.Windows.Forms.dll");
        parameters.ReferencedAssemblies.Add("System.dll");
        parameters.ReferencedAssemblies.Add("System.Data.dll");
        parameters.ReferencedAssemblies.Add("System.Linq.dll");
        parameters.GenerateExecutable = true;
        parameters.OutputAssembly = Output;
        CompilerResults results = codeProvider.CompileAssemblyFromSource(parameters, textBox1.Text);

        if (results.Errors.Count > 0)
        {
            textBox2.ForeColor = Color.Red;
            foreach (CompilerError CompErr in results.Errors)
            {
                textBox2.Text = textBox2.Text +
                            "Line number " + CompErr.Line +
                            ", Error Number: " + CompErr.ErrorNumber +
                            ", '" + CompErr.ErrorText + ";" +
                            Environment.NewLine + Environment.NewLine;
            }
        }
        else
        {
            textBox2.ForeColor = Color.Blue;
            textBox2.Text = "Success!";
        }
    }
}
}

I have to make the form and its controls programmatically. Can I convert the the program done in visual studio ( as a windows form application) to the input to this application thus avoiding whole coding?

Answer 1

You'll have to learn more about the way a Winforms project is built. Do beware that the IDE provides lots of hard-to-see glue beyond changing the compile options from their default setting. The code generators for resources, settings and the UI designer hide a lot of automagic.

Best way to go about it is studying the build commands that the IDE generates. Tools + Options, Projects and Solutions, Build and Run. Change the "MSBuild project build output verbosity" setting to Normal. The Output window now shows you the command lines passed to the various build tools.

Good enough to show you what's missing from your snippet, you'll have to specify the compiler's /target option . Fix:

  parameters.CompilerOptions = "/target:winexe";