C-Sharp Programming - Message Box

C-Sharp Programming - MessageBox control in Windows Forms is used to display a message with the given text and action buttons. You can also use MessageBox control to add additional options such as a caption, an icon, or help buttons. In this article, you'll learn how to display a MessageBox in a WinForms app using C# and .NET. You will also learn how to use the MessageBox class dynamically in code samples. 

Get StartedCreate a Windows Forms application using Visual Studio.

MessageBox class has an overloaded static Show method that is used to display a message.

Simple MessageBox

The simplest form of a MessageBox is a dialog with a text and OK button. When you click OK button, the box disappears.

The following code snippet creates a simple Message Box.

1. string message = "Simple MessageBox";  
2. MessageBox.Show(message);  

MessageBox with Title

The following code snippet creates a simple MessageBox with a title.

1. string message = "Simple MessageBox";  
2. string title = "Title";  
3. MessageBox.Show(message, title);  

 

MessageBox with Buttons

A MessageBox can have different button combinations such as YesNo and OKCancel. The MessageBoxButtons enumeration represents the buttons to be displayed on a MessageBox and has following values.

• OK
• OKCancel
• AbortRetryIgnore
• YesNoCancel
• YesNo
• RetryCancel

The following code snippet creates a MessageBox with a title and Yes and No buttons. This is a typical MessageBox you may call when you want to close an application. If the Yes button is clicked, the application will be closed. The Show method returns a DialogResult enumeration.

1. string message = "Do you want to close this window?";  
2. string title = "Close Window";  
3. MessageBoxButtons buttons = MessageBoxButtons.YesNo;  
4. DialogResult result = MessageBox.Show(message, title, buttons);  
5. if (result == DialogResult.Yes) {  
6.     this.Close();  
7. } else {  
8.     // Do something  
9. }  

MessageBox with Icon

A MessageBox can display an icon on the dialog. A MessageBoxIcons enumeration represents an icon to be displayed on a MessageBox and has following values.

• None
• Hand
• Question
• Exclamation
• Asterisk
• Stop
• Error
• Warning
• Information

The following code snippet creates a MessageBox with a title, buttons, and an icon.

1. string message = "Do you want to abort this operation?";  
2. string title = "Close Window";  
3. MessageBoxButtons buttons = MessageBoxButtons.AbortRetryIgnore;  
4. DialogResult result = MessageBox.Show(message, title, buttons, MessageBoxIcon.Warning);  
5. if (result == DialogResult.Abort) {  
6.     this.Close();  
7. }  
8. elseif(result == DialogResult.Retry) {  
9.     // Do nothing  
10. }  
11. else {  
12.     // Do something  
13. }  

MessageBox with Default Button

We can also set the default button on a MessageBox. By default, the first button is the default button. The MessageBoxDefaultButton enumeration is used for this purpose and it has the following three values.

• Button1
• Button2
• Button3

The following code snippet creates a MessageBox with a title, buttons, and an icon and sets the second button as a default button.

1. string message = "Do you want to abort this operation?";  
2. string title = "Close Window";  
3. MessageBoxButtons buttons = MessageBoxButtons.AbortRetryIgnore;  
4. DialogResult result = MessageBox.Show(message, title, buttons, MessageBoxIcon.Warning, MessageBoxDefaultButton.Button2);  
5. if (result == DialogResult.Abort) {  
6.     this.Close();  
7. }  
8. elseif(result == DialogResult.Retry) {  
9.     // Do nothing  
10. }  
11. else {  
12.     // Do something  
13. }  

MessageBox with Message Options

MessageBoxOptions enumeration represents various options and has following values.

• ServiceNotification
• DefaultDesktopOnly
• RightAlign
• RtlReading

The following code snippet creates a MessageBox with various options.

1. DialogResult result = MessageBox.Show(message, title, buttons,  
2. MessageBoxIcon.Warning, MessageBoxDefaultButton.Button2,  
3. MessageBoxOptions.RightAlign|MessageBoxOptions.RtlReading);  

MessageBox with Help Button

A MessageBox can have an extra button called Help button. This is useful when we need to display a help file. The following code snippet creates a MessageBox with a Help button.

1. DialogResult result = MessageBox.Show(message, title, buttons,  
2. MessageBoxIcon.Warning, MessageBoxDefaultButton.Button2,  
3. MessageBoxOptions.RightAlign, true );  

We can also specify a help file when the Help button is clicked. The following code snippet references a help file.

1. DialogResult result = MessageBox.Show(message, title,  
2. buttons, MessageBoxIcon.Question, MessageBoxDefaultButton.Button1, 0, "helpfile.chm");