C#

class MyCtrl:UserControl
{
    ListBox lb;
    public MyCtrl()
    {
        ...
        lb = new ListBox();
        lb.Visible = false;
        lb.Width = 50; //initially the width is set to 50
        this.Controls.Add(lb);
        ...
    }
    public ShowMyListBox(string[] data)
    {
        lb.DataSource = data;
        lb.Width = lb.PreferredSize.Width; 
        //even though initially the Width is set to 50, lb.PreferredSize.Width returns 120 on the first call
        //but the following calls returns reliable preferred widths.
        lb.Visible = true;
    }
}

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.IO;
using System.IO.Compression;

namespace GZipDump
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            UInt64 charsRead = 0;
            string file;
            if (args.Length > 0)
                file = args[0];
            else
            {
                Console.Write("GZip file to be read (full path): ");
                file = Console.ReadLine();
            }

            using (GZipStream gz = new GZipStream(new FileInfo(file).OpenRead(), CompressionMode.Decompress))
            {
                byte[] bytes = new byte[1];
                while (gz.Read(bytes, 0, 1) > 0)
                {
                    Console.Write(Convert.ToChar(bytes[0]));
                    charsRead++;
                }
            }

            Console.WriteLine("\n\nCompleted.");
            Console.WriteLine("Characters Read: " + charsRead);
            Console.ReadLine();
        }
    }
}