SibraSoft.Shared

Small, reusable utilities for .NET Windows Forms applications, maintained by Sibra-Soft.

Reorder lists and ListView items, distribute column widths, capitalize the first character of a string, and pass parameters between forms using a shared dialog helper.

NuGet package · Source code · Releases

Requirements

• Windows.
• A project targeting net10.0-windows with Windows Forms enabled, or a compatible newer Windows target.
• The .NET 10 SDK when building this repository from source.

The package is intended for modern .NET Windows Forms applications, not .NET Framework projects.

Installation

Visual Studio

1. Right-click your project and select Manage NuGet Packages.
2. Select nuget.org as the package source.
3. Open Browse, search for SibraSoft.Shared, and install it.

Enable Include prerelease if you want to install a preview version.

.NET CLI

dotnet add package SibraSoft.Shared

Package Manager Console

Install-Package SibraSoft.Shared

The package name is SibraSoft.Shared; its namespaces remain Shared.Extensions and Shared.Utils.

If you previously referenced Shared.csproj directly, remove that project reference before adding the package. Existing namespace imports can stay unchanged.

List extensions

Use Shared.Extensions to move elements in an IList<T>:

using Shared.Extensions;

var items = new List<string> { "Alpha", "Bravo", "Charlie" };

items.MoveUp(2);    // Alpha, Charlie, Bravo
items.MoveDown(0);  // Charlie, Alpha, Bravo
items.Move(2, 0);   // Bravo, Charlie, Alpha

Method	Behavior
MoveUp(index)	Swaps an element with the previous element.
MoveDown(index)	Swaps an element with the next element.
Move(oldIndex, newIndex)	Removes an element and inserts it at the requested index.

Indices are zero-based. The methods return false for invalid indices or a move past a list boundary. Move returns true when both valid indices are equal. A null list throws ArgumentNullException. Use a mutable list; Move requires support for removal and insertion.

ListView extensions

Move the selected item

In your form, where listView1 is an existing ListView control:

using Shared.Extensions;

private void MoveUpButton_Click(object? sender, EventArgs e)
{
    listView1.MoveSelectedItemUp();
}

private void MoveDownButton_Click(object? sender, EventArgs e)
{
    listView1.MoveSelectedItemDown();
}

These helpers move the first selected item by one position and restore its selection and focus. They do nothing if no item is selected or the item is already at the relevant boundary. For manual ordering, disable automatic sorting and use a non-virtual ListView.

Distribute column widths

Mark columns that should keep their current width with Tag = "fixed". The remaining columns share the available width equally.

using Shared.Extensions;

// Run after initializing the form and its columns.
listView1.View = View.Details;
listView1.Columns[0].Width = 80;
listView1.Columns[0].Tag = "fixed";

listView1.ResizeColumns();
listView1.ClientSizeChanged += (_, _) => listView1.ResizeColumns();

The helper reserves space for a vertical scrollbar whenever the ListView contains items. It does not measure text or resize columns to their content. Call it again after changes that affect the layout.

String extensions

using Shared.Extensions;

string title = "hello world".UCFirst(); // Hello world

UCFirst() uppercases the first character using the current culture and leaves the rest unchanged. It is not a title-case conversion. Null input throws ArgumentNullException; an empty string throws ArgumentException.

Dialog utilities

Shared.Utils.Dialogs provides shared request and response parameters, a dialog mode, and helpers for opening forms.

Pass values to a modal dialog

The following example assumes your application defines an EditItemForm with a textBoxName control and a save button.

In the calling form:

using Shared.Utils;

Dialogs.ClearRequest();
Dialogs.ClearResponse();
Dialogs.SetDialogType(Dialogs.Types.Edit);
Dialogs.AddRequestParameter("Name", "Original name");

using var dialog = new EditItemForm();

if (Dialogs.ShowAndWait(dialog, "Edit item", this) == DialogResult.OK)
{
    string updatedName = Dialogs.GetResponseParameter<string>("Name");
    // Use updatedName in your application.
}

In EditItemForm, after InitializeComponent():

textBoxName.Text = Dialogs.GetRequestParameter<string>("Name");

In its save button handler:

Dialogs.AddResponseParameter("Name", textBoxName.Text);
DialogResult = DialogResult.OK;
Close();

Available helpers

Method	Purpose
ClearRequest()	Initializes or clears request parameters and resets the mode to Default.
ClearResponse()	Initializes or clears response parameters.
AddRequestParameter(name, value)	Adds a named input value.
GetRequestParameter<T>(name)	Reads an input value as a supported type.
AddResponseParameter(name, value)	Adds a named output value.
GetResponseParameter<T>(name)	Reads an output value as a supported type.
SetDialogType(type) / GetDialogType()	Sets or reads Dialogs.Types.Default or Dialogs.Types.Edit.
Show(dialog, title)	Sets the title and opens a modeless form. Returns its current DialogResult immediately.
ShowAndWait(dialog, title, parent)	Opens a modal form with an owner and returns its result after it closes.

Parameter behavior

Both getters support string, int, bool, Guid, and List<T>. The request getter additionally supports Dictionary<TKey, TValue>; the response getter does not.

• Call the corresponding clear method before adding or reading parameters.
• Set the dialog type after ClearRequest(), which resets it.
• Adding a duplicate name throws; adding a parameter does not replace an existing value.
• Reading an unknown name throws KeyNotFoundException.
• Unsupported result types throw InvalidOperationException.
• Boolean and collection values must have the expected runtime type. These helpers are not a general-purpose object mapper.

Parameter storage and dialog mode are static and shared across the application. Use this helper for one dialog exchange at a time; simultaneous or nested exchanges can overwrite each other's state. Access Windows Forms controls on the UI thread, and manage modeless form lifetime in the calling application.

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/Sibra-Soft/shared.git
cd shared
dotnet build Shared.csproj --configuration Release

To create a local package:

dotnet pack Shared.csproj --configuration Release --output artifacts -p:Version=1.0.0

For source-based development, you can still reference Shared.csproj directly from a neighboring checkout. Use either a project reference or a package reference in each consumer.

Releases

Publishing a GitHub release runs the repository's release.yml workflow. It builds the tagged source, derives the package version from the release tag, and publishes to NuGet.org using Trusted Publishing.

Use a new version tag such as v1.0.1 for each release. For a preview, use a tag such as v1.1.0-beta.1 and mark the GitHub release as a prerelease. A tag push alone does not publish a package.

The publishing job uses the GitHub environment production and the repository variable NUGET_USER. Its NuGet Trusted Publishing policy must match the repository, workflow filename, and environment, and permit publication of the intended package. No long-lived NuGet API-key secret is required.