loading forms in tab control

Question

1.80/5 (2 votes)

See more:

In a MainForm I'm using a RadDock control (kinda tab control),in first tab of this control(startpage) form1 was loaded

C#

MainForm()
{
 DocumentWindow DW = new DocumentWindow();
            DW.Text = "form1";
            DW.CloseAction = DockWindowCloseAction.Hide;
            Form1 frm1 = new Form1();
            frm1 .FormBorderStyle = FormBorderStyle.None;
            frm1 .Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
            frm1 .TopLevel = false;
            DW.Controls.Add(frm1);
            this.radDock1.AddDocument(DW);
            this.radDock1.ActiveWindow = DW;
            frm1 .Show();
}

now In an event of Form1 I want to show form2:

C#

Form1()
{
Form2 frm2 = new Form2(ParametersToForm2);
frm2 .ShowDialog();
}

but this code opened frm2 in a new window. How can I show that in a new tab in current tabcontrol of MainForm?

my solution was sending "ParametersToForm2"to a function of MainForm and then this function call form2.

C#

form1()
{
    MainForm mfrm=new MainForm();//I defiend this to can access to a function of this form but this causes a new MainFormWindow that is not what I want
     mfrm.showForm2InNewTab(ParametersToForm2);
    
}

C#

MainForm()
{
showForm2InNewTab(showForm2InNewTab)
{
      DocumentWindow DW = new DocumentWindow();
            DW.Text = "form2";
            DW.CloseAction = DockWindowCloseAction.Hide;
            Form2 frm2 = new Form2(ParametersToForm2);
            frm2 .FormBorderStyle = FormBorderStyle.None;
            frm2 .Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
            frm2 .TopLevel = false;
            DW.Controls.Add(frm2);
            this.radDock1.AddDocument(DW);
            this.radDock1.ActiveWindow = DW;
            frm2 .Show();
}
}

but this way doesn't show form2.

Posted 17-Feb-14 21:04pm

mit62

Updated 17-Feb-14 21:15pm

v5

Add a Solution

Comments

BillWoodruff 18-Feb-14 5:06am

Hi, Keep in mind that most of us here are almost certainly not using the Telerik Controls, and that Telerik does have tech support, and support forums for users, that have good reputations (at least the few people I know using their WinForms Controls say so).

So, in this question, for example, people like me who don't use Telerik Controls, will not know if Telerik's equivalent of the TabControl in WinForms supports hiding different TabPages: the WinForms TabControl does not support that (easily).

Please do take the advice you got here and switch to UserControls !

mit62 18-Feb-14 5:10am

Ok,I do that :)

2 solutions

Solution 2

This is all the bad idea. Forget about forms, have only one main form. Everything you had as forms, convert to tab pages, or panels, or user controls added as children to tab pages.

—SA

Posted 17-Feb-14 21:30pm

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov

Comments

mit62 18-Feb-14 3:37am

thanks SA, the Speed was very low too I'll change my design thanks

mit62 18-Feb-14 4:00am

Sorry,I have another question.If I put some controls on a tab page instead of form. then sometimes I must hide or show this tab for example if an event occured,how can i handle this?
using tab.hide() and tab.show() is enough? and something else,when main form will be loaded all embedded controls should be load too?doesn't make it a bad performance?

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 18-Feb-14 11:34am

I never tried to hide or show tabs, as this is not quite the concept tabs were designed for. You can remove the tab (and tab page) completely and preserve the reference to, say, some panel, to be able to add it again...
—SA

Add a Solution

Add your solution here

Treat my content as plain text, not as HTML

Preview 0

…

Existing Members

Sign in to your account

...or Join us

Download, Vote, Comment, Publish.

Your Email
Password
Forgot your password?

Your Email
This email is in use. Do you need your password?
Optional Password

I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
Please subscribe me to the CodeProject newsletters

When answering a question please:

Read the question carefully.
Understand that English isn't everyone's first language so be lenient of bad spelling and grammar.
If a question is poorly phrased then either ask for clarification, ignore it, or edit the question and fix the problem. Insults are not welcome.
Don't tell someone to read the manual. Chances are they have and don't get it. Provide an answer or move on to the next question.

Let's work to help developers, not make them feel stupid.

This content, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)

OriginalGriff · Accepted Answer · 2014-02-17T21:30:00

Solution 1

Two things:
1) A new instance of the Main form is not the same as the currently displayed instance of the Main form, in the same way that a new car is not the same as your existing car. If you go for a test drive in a new car, and put your mobile phone in the glove box, would you expect to find it again by opening the glove box of your old car?

Instead, use events: The Form1 raises an event which is handled by it's "parent" Main form, and the Main form then creates and handles the new instance of Form2.

This explains how to set up the event: Transferring information between two forms, Part 2: Child to Parent[^]

2) Why, oh why, are you embedding forms in tab pages? Why not use a UserControl, since that is what they are designed for? It's simpler, cleaner, and you don't get a load of garbage with it...

Posted 17-Feb-14 21:30pm

OriginalGriff

Comments

mit62 18-Feb-14 3:36am

oh Thanks,but I'm beginner and I don't know about user controls ,I'll change my design.thanks again

OriginalGriff 18-Feb-14 3:57am

They are really easy to use: you create a control, drop what you need on it and hook it all up, and to the world outside it is just a single control, like a TextBox, with the Properties, Events, and method you let it have. I use them a fair amount, just to reduce the "clutter" on a form: three user controls each containing 6 or 7 related items is a lot "cleaner" to handle than a form with 20 odd controls scattered around! :laugh:

mit62 18-Feb-14 4:02am

you're right

mit62 18-Feb-14 4:34am

sorry,for changing winform to UC is that a good way to change the form to inherit from UserControl instead of Form, then fix any compile errors?

OriginalGriff 18-Feb-14 4:37am

No - I'd start by creating a new UC and copy the controls over, then hook them up - that way you don't risk damaging the existing code beyond repair, and you have the original to compare functionality against to be sure that you have implemented the UC correctly. Then when you are happy, you can delete the forms, but nothing stops working in the meantime!

mit62 18-Feb-14 4:40am

Ok,thanks for your help,you learn me a lot,thanks

OriginalGriff 18-Feb-14 4:53am

You're welcome!