← All projects

Part 3 of this project

Forms

Validate file names on Save As

Goal for this part

Validate file names on Save As.

Treat 03-Forms as the source of truth for this checkpoint. If your local tree drifted, re-clone that folder rather than mixing files from neighbors.

What you should already know

You do not need prior WinForms experience for part 1. Later parts assume you finished the earlier snapshots on the same machine.

  • .NET 8 SDK is installed
  • You can run dotnet from a terminal
  • WinForms snapshots target Windows

Why WinForms fits Pagepress

WinForms RichTextBox gives bold/italic/fonts quickly so the course can focus on documents, not rendering engines.

ToolStrip + RichTextBox is the classic Windows writer. Track dirty state and warn on close.

Checkpoint

After you run the snapshot, you should recognize the behavior described in the goal—before you move on. If the window (or server) never appears, stop and fix the run steps.

Code shape

Snapshots stay small on purpose. Look for this kind of core call as you read the folder:

richTextBox.SaveFile(path, RichTextBoxStreamType.RichText);

How to run it

Clone the teaching repo, open 03-Forms, install what the README asks for, then run dotnet run.

git clone https://github.com/michaeldunga1/fcc-winforms-writer.git
cd fcc-winforms-writer/03-Forms
dotnet restore
dotnet build
dotnet run

Common mistakes

  • Ignoring platform-specific install notes in the snapshot README
  • Accepting empty or invalid input without a message
  • Validating only in the UI and never in the save path
  • Using placeholder text as if it were real data

Related tutorials