using splitContainer in an MdiContainer?

[Doc John]

We developed a Win application that basically consists of an Mdi Form and
several child Forms. Now we want to change its appearance so that it has an
Outlook-like appearance: it would have a panel on the left with several
buttons, and when I press those buttons the individual Forms would open up
on the right panel.
How difficult would this transition be? I've added a splitContainer to my
Mdi Form, but I'm not sure how to display a Child Form on to my right panel.

Any help is appreciated.

I'm using VS2005.

[Linda Liu [MSFT]]

Hi Doc,

Based on my understanding, you'd like to mimic the Outlook UI in your
appilcation, i.e. have a panel with several buttons on the left and show
the forms on the right in the main form. If I'm off base, please feel free
to let me know.

Firstly, I don't think it's good to use SplitContainer for your purpose,
because there will be some limitations when you show a form inside a
control, e.g. SplitContainer, Panel and etc. For example, if the child form
has a TextBox in it and then you show the form within a SplitContainer, you
will find you can't set the input caret within the TextBox when you click
in the TextBox.

I suggest that you use a ToolStrip in the MDI parent form and dock it to
left. You may show your MDI child forms in the MDI parent form and dock it
to fill.

The following is a sample.

private void toolStripButton 1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
// Form2 is the MDI child form
Form2 frm = new Form2();
frm.MdiParent = this;
frm.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
frm.Show();
}

Hope this helps.
If you have any question, please feel free to let me know.
Sincerely,
Linda Liu
Microsoft Online Community Support

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[Linda Liu [MSFT]]

Hi Doc,

How about the problem now?

If you need our further assistance, please feel free to let me know.

Thank you for using our MSDN Managed Newsgroup Support Service!

Sincerely,
Linda Liu
Microsoft Online Community Support