the name Application does not exist in the current context

Question

I have an existing winform app which didn't use Program.cs. I wanted to add Program.cs with the usual code

static class Program
{
    /// <summary>
    /// The main entry point for the application.
    /// </summary>
    [STAThread]
    static void Main()
    {
        Application.EnableVisualStyles();
        Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
        Application.Run(new Form1());
    }
}

but I have the error message

Application doesn't exist in the current context.

How to solve this ?

Answer 1

You need to have a using directive for System.Windows.Forms in the beginning of the file:

using System.Windows.Forms;

static class Program
{
    /// <summary>
    /// The main entry point for the application.
    /// </summary>
    [STAThread]
    static void Main()
    {
        Application.EnableVisualStyles();
        Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
        Application.Run(new Form1());
    }
}

Either that, or modify the Main method to use the full type names:

System.Windows.Forms.Application.EnableVisualStyles();
System.Windows.Forms.Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
System.Windows.Forms.Application.Run(new Form1());

...though I would recommend the first solution.

Answer 2

Make sure you added reference to System.Windows.Forms assembly and added reference to System.Windows.Forms namespace.