Can I see source code of built-in controls?

Question

how do i view source code of text box that developed by microsoft in visual studio 2008 while i am programming with c# language in visual studio 2008?

Answer 1

.NET Reflector

Answer 2

If the text box is part of the .net framwork you can see its source by following theses steps http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sburke/archive/2008/01/16/configuring-visual-studio-to-debug-net-framework-source-code.aspx

Answer 3

Yes it's possible see Scott Gu's blog post on how-to

http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2007/10/03/releasing-the-source-code-for-the-net-framework-libraries.aspx

Answer 4

Unfortunately the .NET Framework is not Open-Source and you cannot browse the source code.

You can use Reflector to look into the Microsoft Assembly, but you won'ìt have direct access to the raw code.

Answer 5

Reflector is good. But did you also try using the Microsoft Symbol server?

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/sburke/archive/2008/01/16/configuring-visual-studio-to-debug-net-framework-source-code.aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/b8ttk8zy(VS.71).aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/b8ttk8zy.aspx

http://weblogs.asp.net/rajbk/archive/2010/04/21/setting-up-visual-studio-2010-to-step-into-microsoft-net-source-code.aspx

Answer 6

In Visual Studio 2010, under Tools -> Options -> Debugging, if you enable "Enable .NET Framework Source Stepping" you will be able to do that.

VS will download symbols from the MS symbols server.