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Asked: 2026-05-20T14:18:53+00:00

Background : I have a C# Windows Forms application that contains a Windows service

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Background:

I have a C# Windows Forms application that contains a Windows service and an interface used to configure system settings as well as communicate with the service.

Desired Outcome:

I would like to build two versions of the solution – a client version with all the Windows service related code and form elements and a server version that contains everything.

The form contains a tabbed control, where one tab contains elements used to interface with the Windows service using sockets. All I’m really trying to achieve is that for a full build the tab containing service related elements is compiled, while for a conditional build the same tab is excluded.

Problem:

At this stage I’ve used #if directives around the Windows service related code. For example:

#if SERVERBUILD
     //Code relating to Windows service that I do not want to compile 
     //for a client version.
#endif

In the above example, ‘SERVERBUILD’ corresponds to a build configuration that I can select via the Configuration Manager (as opposed to the standard ‘Release’ build option).

The issue I’m having is that some of the code I’ve had to wrap this #if directive around lies in the WinForm.Designer.cs file in the region titled ‘Windows Form Designer generated code‘.

What seems to be occurring is that when I make a change to some of the form properties, this entire region of code seems to be deleted and re-generated, thereby removing the #if sections I had added.

  • Am I going about this the right way?
  • Is there a way to avoid the situation where I am losing the changes I’ve made in the WinForm.Designer.cs code?

I would really appreciate any advice from anyone with experience with conditional compilation and this sort of stuff.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team
        /// <summary>
    /// Required method for Designer support - do not modify
    /// the contents of this method with the code editor.
    /// </summary>
    private void InitializeComponent() {

    Nuff said. Solve your problem by putting the code in the form constructor:

        public Form1() {
        InitializeComponent();
#if !SERVERBUILD
        panel1.Visible = false;
#endif
    }

    Note that using a panel is an easy way to make all the controls that are on it invisible.

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