book suggestion

[sklett]

I don't create windows application very often, in fact I rarely create a
complete application, but more often am writing plugins.

I have found that when I sit down to create a windows app, I don't really
have a solid plan for the structure of the program. Sometimes I use
Singletons, sometimes I use static members, sometimes I pass references,
etc.

I'm tired of it and would like to find a "Best Practices" book that will
cover common issues such as;
What code goes in the form class?
Do people use an "engine" or "applicatio n" class? If so, how does it
interact with the UI?
If I have User Controls in my WinForms app and I need access to controls in
the Form class, what is the best way to get to them?
Program options, when to load them, when to save them. Registry? XML file?
These are all questions that I have dealt with every time I write an
application, the problem is, I always solve them different and I ALWAYS end
up with a mismatch of inconsistent approaches that confuse and slow me down.

For example, I encounter a problem today where in one of my UserControl
events, I was changing data that was represented in the Form's TreeView. I
thought "Well, I changed the data, that works, but the icon and Text needs
to change in the tree" Do I route this through my "Engine" class? Do I
expose a field for my TreeView? Do I add a reference to my Singleton
"Engine" class and get to everything there?

Just confusing and sloppy.

So like the subject says, I would really like to find a book(or article)
that lays out common, solid approaches to standard Winform applications.

If you have a suggestion, please do share :)

Thanks for reading my rant,
Steve