gum-forms-controls

What problem does it solve?

Provides a concise developer reference to understand and work with Forms controls that inherit from FrameworkElement in Gum, resolving confusion caused by WPF conventions that do not apply and explaining how visuals, layout, and state interact in the Gum runtime.

Core Features & Use Cases

• Explains the Visual versus FrameworkElement separation and how the Visual owns layout and rendering while the FrameworkElement provides logical behavior.
• Describes the two construction paths (Forms-first and Visual-first), when each is used, and how visuals may create or link to Forms objects.
• Details ReactToVisualChanged patterns for locating named child elements, how state machines drive appearance, and how to customize visuals via DefaultVisuals or state edits.
• Lists common non-obvious behaviors such as Gum layout semantics, IsVisible differences, and parent discovery across the visual hierarchy.
• Points to key file locations and classes to inspect when implementing or debugging controls and generated screens.

Quick Start

Load the gum-forms-controls reference when implementing or debugging a Button, ListBox, TextBox, FrameworkElement subclass, or any visual-to-forms interaction to check construction paths, ReactToVisualChanged patterns, and state-driven styling.