Delphi-like 'docked forms' in C#/.NET

[Julian Mensch]

My employer has developed an application in Delphi with a
very complex user-interface that we may be transitioning to
C# at some point. Our interface uses large numbers of tabbed
sub-forms, with the contents of each tab being treated as a
separate form using what Delphi calls 'Docked Forms'. The
benefit from a developer's perspective here is that the code is
treated as separate organizational units, with each tab being
its own child form. This makes having over 200 forms as tabs
of a parent form managable from a design perspective. Our
team leader would like us to continue this style of code
organization in C# development if at all possible, so that
changes to one tab's GUI don't introduce potential bugs or file
alterations to other tabs.

I've got a moderate amount of C# experience with web-based
things but am still somewhat new to windows forms with .NET.
I was hoping people here could explain to me how you do
something like Delphi's docked forms in C#, to achieve code
modularity within a single parent form by dividing up tabbed
sub-forms into distinct classes. It might be as simple as
me not knowing what the term is for the C# equivalent to
these docked forms. Any pointers to examples, articles or
how-to's on the web would be very helpful. I've looked a fair bit
but am probably not using the right terminology.

I'm specifically not looking for MDI-style "multiple sizable
document windows in a main window", which seems to be
what comes up on most searches, but instead the ability to
nest distinct forms inside tabs on a parent form, or whatever
is considered best practices in terms of code organization
in C# to replace this strategy in Delphi.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!

-- Julian Mensch

[Peter Morris]

I make the main form an MdiContainer and then set childForm.MdiParent to the
main form instance. I then drop a dev express Mdi tab manager component (or
something like that) onto the main form and they become tabs instead.
Having come from Delphi myself I might have experienced many of the things
you have in your near future, so feel free to email me :-)
Pete