using namespace System::Text;

	Encoding ^Unicode1 = Encoding::Unicode;
	array<Byte> ^UnicodeBytes = Unicode1->GetBytes("1234");		//Produces: 0x31,0x00,0x32,0x00,0x33,0x00,0x34,0x00

Then To Convert To Unicode Words

	int Count;
	UInt16 UnicodeValue;
	for (Count = 0; Count < UnicodeBytes->Length; Count += 2)
	{
		UnicodeValue = (UInt16)UnicodeBytes[Count];
		UnicodeValue |= ((UInt16)UnicodeBytes[(Count + 1)]) << 8;
		txtOutput->Text += "&#" + UnicodeValue + ";";
	}

Add Microsoft Excel Reference

Menu > Project > Properties > Common Properties > Add Reference > .Net > Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel (choose the latest version)

Add Namespaces

	using namespace Microsoft::Office::Core;
	//using namespace Microsoft::Office::Interop::Excel;		//To avoid pain with errors due to clashes with "Application" by using this we use the below instead
	using namespace Microsoft::Office::Interop;

Create Object

	private: Excel::Application ^ExcelApp1;

	ExcelApp1 = gcnew Excel::Application();

Reading Cells In A Worksheet

	try
	{
		txtOutput->Text = "";

		//----- OPEN EXCEL WORKBOOK -----
		Excel::Workbook ^WorkBook1 = ExcelApp1->Workbooks->Open("C:\\_Downloaded\\test.xlsx",
													 0,
													 true,
													 5,
													 "",
													 "",
													 true,
													 Excel::XlPlatform::xlWindows,
													 "\t",
													 false,
													 false,
													 0,
													 true,
													 1,
													 0);

		//----- OPEN THE WORKSHEET -----
		/* Use this if you need to deal with workbooks with multiple sheets
		int SheetNumber;
		for (SheetNumber = 1; SheetNumber <= WorkBook1->Sheets->Count; SheetNumber++)
		{
		}
		*/
		Excel::Worksheet ^WorkSheet1 = (Excel::Worksheet^)WorkBook1->ActiveSheet;

		//If you don't know which cells your after you can use this:
		//Excel::Range ^ExcelRange1 = Sheet1->UsedRange;

		//----- READ WORKSHEET -----
		int RowIndex = 1;
		int ColumnIndex = 1;
		String ^CellValue;

		for (RowIndex = 1; RowIndex <= 10; RowIndex++)
		{
			//----- READ NEXT ROW -----
			for (ColumnIndex = 1; ColumnIndex <= 3; ColumnIndex++)
			{
				//----- READ NEXT COLUMN -----
				if (((Excel::Range^)WorkSheet1->Cells[(System::Object^)RowIndex, (System::Object^)ColumnIndex])->Value2 != nullptr)
				{
					//CELL HAS A VALUE
					CellValue = ((Excel::Range^)WorkSheet1->Cells[(System::Object^)RowIndex, (System::Object^)ColumnIndex])->Value2->ToString();

					txtOutput->Text += "'" + CellValue + "'";
				}
				else
				{
					//CELL IS BLANK
					txtOutput->Text += "#";
				}
			}
			txtOutput->Text += "\r\n";
		}

		//----- CLOSE WORKBOOK -----
		WorkBook1->Close(false, "C:\\_Downloaded\\test.xlsx", nullptr);

	}
	catch (Exception ^e)
	{
		MessageBox::Show(L"Error:\n" + e, L"Error", MessageBoxButtons::OK, MessageBoxIcon::Error);
	}

Convert::To

Single MySingle = Convert::ToSingle(SomeString);

Internationalization – IMPORTANT!!!

When converting from strings remember to deal with possible Internationalization issues for countries which use different characters, for instance like commas instead of decimal points – Convert::To doesn’t deal with this!

See here

In countries such as Germany they use commas as decimal points (e.g. -0,136222).  So if your program is converting a string like this:

	String ^sTemp;
	Single Value;
	sTemp = "1.234";
	Value = Convert::ToSingle(sTemp);

What you will actually get is 1234 in Value – the decimal point is ignored.

Correctly Handling Conversions From Strings

	String ^sTemp;
	Single Value;
	sTemp = "1.234";
	Value = Single::Parse(sTemp, System::Globalization::CultureInfo::InvariantCulture);

using namespace System::Threading;

Create a flag

	private: bool ClassObjectsLocked;

In your constructor set it up

	ClassObjectsLocked = false;

Then in functions which want to alter values but may be on a different thread

	while (ClassObjectsLocked)
		Thread::Sleep(1);

In functions which want to read values

	ClassObjectsLocked = true;
	...
	ClassObjectsLocked = false;

MyLabel->BringToFront();

	//----- SET OUR POSITION BOTTOM LEFT -----
	this->Left = Screen::PrimaryScreen->WorkingArea.Left;
	this->Top = Screen::PrimaryScreen->WorkingArea.Height - this->Height;

if (Control::ModifierKeys == Keys::Control)

Detecting A Single Modifier Key Is Pressed

if (Control::ModifierKeys & Keys::Shift) != 0)

Set the KeyPreview property of the form to true so that keyboard messages are received by the form before they reach any controls on the form.

Create a KeyPress event (detects keys down combined with any modifier key – i.e. no event for pressing CTRL and a modified key value for CTRL + ‘y’

Or create a KeyDown event (detects every key down including modifier keys and gives individual key value)

Example Handler

	//***********************************
	//***********************************
	//********** FORM KEY DOWN **********
	//***********************************
	//***********************************
	private: System::Void frmMain_KeyDown(System::Object^  sender, System::Windows::Forms::KeyEventArgs^  e)
	{

		try
		{
			//MessageBox::Show("Form.KeyPress: '" + e->KeyValue.ToString() + "' pressed.");

			if ((Control::ModifierKeys == Keys::Control) && (e->KeyValue == 'L'))		//Key values are for CAPS version of letters
			{

				//----- CTRL+L PRESSED -----
				textBox1->Text = "A";

			}
		}
		catch (Exception ^)
		{
		}
	}

Displaying Points

Series > Marker Style