TextBoxLoggerLibrary 1.1.0

TextBoxLogger

A Modern Way to implement DI ILogger functionality in Windows Forms.

About

Implements the ILogger interface with Windows Forms controls in .NET Core 6.0. The TextBoxLogger Library is a great example to show the use of DI in Windows Forms projects! Dependency Inversion/Injection (DI) is a great way to improve the application operations in terms of testing, maintenance and reusability.

MORE EXAMPLES/DOCUMENTATION TO FOLLOW - STAY TUNED!

How to use

A Form that implements the ILogForm interface can act as an ILogger!. The ILogForm interface is quite simple:

namespace TextBoxLoggerLibrary;

public interface ILogForm
{
    public Control LogControl { get; }

    public void Show();
}

Let's assume that we have a Form called frmLog, which implements this interface. We assume, that a RichTextBox (or a TextBox) are typical controls that can show logger messages. Note that because Dependency Injection is supported, we include an IConfiguration argument in the constructor, which can be used to retrieve settings from a local appsettings.json file.

namespace SampleWin;

public partial class frmLog : Form, ILogForm
{
    private readonly IConfiguration _configuration;

    public frmLog(IConfiguration configuration)
    {
        InitializeComponent();
        _configuration = configuration;
    }

    //--------------------------------------------------------
    //implemented function for the ILogForm
    //this is the only thing that we need to do within the form!
    public Control LogControl => richTextBoxLog // or txtLog;
    //--------------------------------------------------------

    private void frmLog_FormClosing(object sender, FormClosingEventArgs e)
    {
        if (e.CloseReason == CloseReason.UserClosing)
        {
            e.Cancel = true;
            this.WindowState = FormWindowState.Minimized;
        }
    }

    private void btnClear_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        //txtLog.Clear();
        richTextBoxLog.Clear();
    }
}

We still need to configure the host services, in order to register the ILogForm. We need to change the Main entry function, in order to enable Dependency Injection as shown below:

//declare the library here to facilitate calls
global using TextBoxLoggerLibrary;

//be sure that you have installed the Dependency Injection Nuget packages
using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
using Microsoft.Extensions.Hosting;

namespace SampleWin;

internal static class Program
{

    static IHost? host;

    public static IServiceProvider Provider => host.Services;

    /// <summary>
    ///  The main entry point for the application.
    /// </summary>
    [STAThread]
    static void Main()
    {
        // To customize application configuration such as set high DPI settings or default font,
        // see https://aka.ms/applicationconfiguration.
        ApplicationConfiguration.Initialize();

        var builder = Host
           .CreateDefaultBuilder()
           .ConfigureServices((context, services) =>
           {
               services
                   .AddSingleton<frmMain>() //this is the main form, which we assume that is called frmMain
                   .AddLogForm<frmLog>()
                   ;

           })
            //we can configure TextBox or RichTextBox logging by using one the following calls.
            //the non-commented code is used in our case
            //.ConfigureTextBoxLogging()
            .ConfigureRichTextBoxLogging()
         ;

        host = builder.Build();

        var form = host.Services.GetService<frmMain>();
        Application.Run(form);
    }
}

Within the main form (frmMain), a sample code to store/show the logForm instance is shown below:

ILogForm logForm;
protected override void OnLoad(EventArgs e)
{
    base.OnLoad(e);

    InitializeControls();
    logForm = Program.Provider.GetRequiredService<ILogForm>();
    logForm.Show();
}

That's it! Any logging message in our classes is shown in the registered RichTextBox/TextBox of our choice!

The frmLog example, assumes that a RichTextBox named richTextBoxLog is used. For completeness, the frmLog.Designer.cs code is given below:

namespace SampleWin;
{
    partial class frmLog
    {
        /// <summary>
        /// Required designer variable.
        /// </summary>
        private System.ComponentModel.IContainer components = null;

        /// <summary>
        /// Clean up any resources being used.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="disposing">true if managed resources should be disposed; otherwise, false.</param>
        protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
        {
            if (disposing && (components != null))
            {
                components.Dispose();
            }
            base.Dispose(disposing);
        }

        #region Windows Form Designer generated code

        /// <summary>
        /// Required method for Designer support - do not modify
        /// the contents of this method with the code editor.
        /// </summary>
        private void InitializeComponent()
        {
            this.txtLog = new System.Windows.Forms.TextBox();
            this.btnClear = new System.Windows.Forms.Button();
            this.richTextBoxLog = new System.Windows.Forms.RichTextBox();
            this.SuspendLayout();
            // 
            // txtLog
            // 
            this.txtLog.Anchor = ((System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles)((((System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Top | System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Bottom) 
            | System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Left) 
            | System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Right)));
            this.txtLog.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(490, 415);
            this.txtLog.Multiline = true;
            this.txtLog.Name = "txtLog";
            this.txtLog.ScrollBars = System.Windows.Forms.ScrollBars.Both;
            this.txtLog.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(255, 46);
            this.txtLog.TabIndex = 4;
            this.txtLog.Visible = false;
            // 
            // btnClear
            // 
            this.btnClear.Anchor = ((System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles)((System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Bottom | System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Left)));
            this.btnClear.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(12, 415);
            this.btnClear.Name = "btnClear";
            this.btnClear.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(75, 23);
            this.btnClear.TabIndex = 5;
            this.btnClear.Text = "Clear";
            this.btnClear.UseVisualStyleBackColor = true;
            this.btnClear.Click += new System.EventHandler(this.btnClear_Click);
            // 
            // richTextBoxLog
            // 
            this.richTextBoxLog.Anchor = ((System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles)((((System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Top | System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Bottom) 
            | System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Left) 
            | System.Windows.Forms.AnchorStyles.Right)));
            this.richTextBoxLog.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(12, 12);
            this.richTextBoxLog.Name = "richTextBoxLog";
            this.richTextBoxLog.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(776, 397);
            this.richTextBoxLog.TabIndex = 6;
            this.richTextBoxLog.Text = "";
            this.richTextBoxLog.WordWrap = false;
            // 
            // frmLog
            // 
            this.AutoScaleDimensions = new System.Drawing.SizeF(7F, 15F);
            this.AutoScaleMode = System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode.Font;
            this.ClientSize = new System.Drawing.Size(800, 450);
            this.Controls.Add(this.richTextBoxLog);
            this.Controls.Add(this.btnClear);
            this.Controls.Add(this.txtLog);
            this.Name = "frmLog";
            this.Text = "Log";
            this.FormClosing += new System.Windows.Forms.FormClosingEventHandler(this.frmLog_FormClosing);
            this.ResumeLayout(false);
            this.PerformLayout();

        }

        #endregion

        private TextBox txtLog;
        private Button btnClear;
        private RichTextBox richTextBoxLog;
    }
}