WebView2, a browser for WinForms in .NET 5

In .NET 5, WinForms got a WebView2 control for displaying web pages.. even ones we create on-the-fly while the app’s running. Let’s kick the tires.

  Jan 17, 2025 (rev. Sep 16, 2025) ·  6 min

TaskDialog, a new message box for WinForms in .NET 5

In .NET 5, WinForms got a major upgrade to the MessageBox called TaskDialog. It’s way more flexible and powerful - let’s check it out!

  Dec 31, 2024 (rev. Sep 16, 2025) ·  6 min

Selecting multiple directories with the FolderBrowserDialog in .NET 9

One of the smaller updates to make it into .NET 9 for WinForms was allowing multi-selection in the FolderBrowserDialog. Let’s see how.

  Dec 19, 2024 (rev. Sep 16, 2025) ·  2 min

How to Use GetStockIcon for WinForms in .NET 8

Buried deep in the list of .NET 8 improvements for WinForms is the GetStockIcon method. It gives us a way to access stock Windows icons at runtime for the OS the app is running on. Let’s check it out.

  Dec 18, 2024 (rev. Sep 16, 2025) ·  5 min

Simple ways to notify a user without a MessageBox in WinForms

When sending notifications in a WinForms app, a MessageBox is the only way to go… or is it? Let’s get creative and see what else we might do.

  Aug 16, 2023 (rev. Sep 16, 2025) ·  6 min

How to log messages to multiple targets with NLog

When it comes to finding a bug in an app, few things beat a good trail of logs. And for writing those logs, few tools beat NLog in simplicity or flexibility. I rarely appreciate just how flexible it is though, so it’s worth spending a little time taking a closer look.

  Jul 2, 2023 (rev. Sep 16, 2025) ·  6 min

Why doesn't VS 2022 show my WinForms UI at design time?

Someone at work asked about whether we’d be able to use VS 2022 to work on our main WinForms app. It works just fine in VS 2019, so it should work in VS 2022, right? Except it doesn’t. What we get is white screens of brokenness whenever we try to open a Form in the designer. But why?

  Jan 14, 2023 (rev. Sep 16, 2025) ·  9 min

Displaying an IIS hosted site in CEFSharp

Thanks to CEFSharp, we can finally bring WinForms to the web! That didn’t sound right. Okay, let’s just look at hosting a site in IIS and showing it.

  Aug 16, 2022 (rev. Sep 16, 2025) ·  2 min

Host a simple webpage in WinForms with CefSharp

WinForms and the web. Like oil and water, they don’t mix well. But with CEFSharp, they mix a LOT better. Let’s check it out.

  Jun 28, 2022 (rev. Sep 16, 2025) ·  10 min

How to log errors in WinForms using NLog

Logs are a great tool for squashing bugs and tracing errors. Let’s see how to add NLog to our project.

  Oct 9, 2021 (rev. Sep 16, 2025) ·  5 min