MDI Form

[Nathan M]

Hi,

I want to create an outlook-style form with a panel of buttons on the left
and the main information filling the rest of the screen. A different screen
appears for each button that is clicked. I've thought of using a tabcontrol
with the tabs hidden and using the buttons to navigate to the pages. But
that approach means tons of data handled on one form, and I'd rather separate
it. Is there any way to do this MDI-style and still keep the panel on the
left?

[Ken Tucker [MVP]]

Hi,

If you are using vb.net 2005
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=21657

vb.net 2003
http://www.windowsforms.com/default....emID=8&mid=142
Ken
-------------------------
"Nathan M" <Na*****@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:67**********************************@microsof t.com...

Hi,

I want to create an outlook-style form with a panel of buttons on the left
and the main information filling the rest of the screen. A different
screen
appears for each button that is clicked. I've thought of using a
tabcontrol
with the tabs hidden and using the buttons to navigate to the pages. But
that approach means tons of data handled on one form, and I'd rather
separate
it. Is there any way to do this MDI-style and still keep the panel on the
left?

[Nathan M]

Thanks for that link, Ken. What I did was take a look at the code behind the
WPane, and wrote my own code to do what I want. Here's a simple solution for
anyone who wants to do the same thing:

Start with a blank form. Drag a panel (Panel1) onto it and set it's docking
to left. Then drag a stripbar to the form, then another panel (Panel2) with
the docking set to fill. Add a second form (Form2) to the application, and
put this somewhere in the code:

Dim frm As New Form2()
With frm
.Location = New Point(0, 0)
.TopLevel = False
.TopMost = False
.ControlBox = False
.FormBorderStyle = FormBorderStyle.None
.StartPosition = FormStartPosition.Manual
.Size = Panel2.ClientSize
.Parent = Panel2
.Visible = True
.Dock = DockStyle.Fill
.Focus()
End With

That's so simple it's freaky.
"Nathan M" wrote:

Hi,

I want to create an outlook-style form with a panel of buttons on the left
and the main information filling the rest of the screen. A different screen
appears for each button that is clicked. I've thought of using a tabcontrol
with the tabs hidden and using the buttons to navigate to the pages. But
that approach means tons of data handled on one form, and I'd rather separate
it. Is there any way to do this MDI-style and still keep the panel on the
left?