Form Management in .net vs 6.0

[TMachi]

I've been chasing my tail on this one... any help here would be great.

I'm trying to figure out the best way to get two (or more) non-MDI child
forms to switch between themselves independently.

To understand what I'm trying to do, in VB 6.0...
Add form1 to project
put a command button (called button1) on form1
Add Form2 to project
put a command button (called button1) on form2
The button1_click event on form1 has one line of code: Form2.show
The button1_click event on form2 has one line of code: Form1.show

run the program and you'll see when you click the button on form1...form2 is
loaded if not already loaded and brought to the top (previously known as
zorder) When clicking on the button on form2... form1 is loaded if not
already loaded and brought to the top (previously known as zorder). Closing
form1 does not close form2 and vice versa.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
Now in .net the only way I am able to come close to duplicating this type of
behavior is by overloading the New() function for each form to: New(byval
frmCallingForm as form) ... I store frmCallingForm globally for the form to
keep it from falling out of scope when the New() is completed...then I
assign the button1_click event to:
try
FrmCallingForm.hide()
FrmCallingForm.show()
catch
FrmCallingForm = new form1(me)
frmCallingForm.show()
end try

-this code has one flaw... open form1, click button1 (which opens form2),
close form1... both Form1 and form2 close. I would like the forms to be
independent of one another.

Some questions:
1) Anyone notice that forms in .net don't have a Zorder property?
2) Anyone have a better way of doing this, short of creating a class to
collect and manage these forms?

[Bill McCarthy]

Hi TMachi,

have you seen my Q&A column in Visual Studio Magazine. It explains the
differences between the VB6 and VB.NET forms execution model. I think it
shoudl have the info you need to get this working, if not post back here and
we'll see what we can work out.

You can find my article (and lots more) at www.fawcette.com
the article and code can be downlaoded for free at present !! from :
http://www.fawcette.com/Archives/pre...v01/qa0111/qa0
111.asp




"TMachi" <tmachi@nam.org> wrote in message news:3c7d50ec$1@10.1.10.29...
> I've been chasing my tail on this one... any help here would be great.
>
> I'm trying to figure out the best way to get two (or more) non-MDI child
> forms to switch between themselves independently.
>
> To understand what I'm trying to do, in VB 6.0...
> Add form1 to project
> put a command button (called button1) on form1
> Add Form2 to project
> put a command button (called button1) on form2
> The button1_click event on form1 has one line of code: Form2.show
> The button1_click event on form2 has one line of code: Form1.show
>
> run the program and you'll see when you click the button on form1...form2 is
> loaded if not already loaded and brought to the top (previously known as
> zorder) When clicking on the button on form2... form1 is loaded if not
> already loaded and brought to the top (previously known as zorder). Closing
> form1 does not close form2 and vice versa.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ------------
> Now in .net the only way I am able to come close to duplicating this type of
> behavior is by overloading the New() function for each form to: New(byval
> frmCallingForm as form) ... I store frmCallingForm globally for the form to
> keep it from falling out of scope when the New() is completed...then I
> assign the button1_click event to:
> try
> FrmCallingForm.hide()
> FrmCallingForm.show()
> catch
> FrmCallingForm = new form1(me)
> frmCallingForm.show()
> end try
>
> -this code has one flaw... open form1, click button1 (which opens form2),
> close form1... both Form1 and form2 close. I would like the forms to be
> independent of one another.
>
> Some questions:
> 1) Anyone notice that forms in .net don't have a Zorder property?
> 2) Anyone have a better way of doing this, short of creating a class to
> collect and manage these forms?
>
>
>
>
>