MDI Problems w/ Child Forms

[sgreenwell]

Hi,
Forgive me if this situation has already been posted, but i couldn't find anything on it.

I'm creating an application with which several forms will be created. I do not want the user to be able to have several forms/tasks running at the same time, but i do want the look of the mdi parent with the subsequent windows shown. Let me explain it like this...I want windows shown modally, meaning that the user must make a selection from each window before proceeding to the next window. I did this without using the mdi parent/child relationships, however, each window shows up in the taskbar therefore making it look like 4-5 applications are running at the same time in the taskbar.

I know that the mdi parent/child relationship will fix this issue, but then i run into the problem of allowing the user to run several tasks at the same time, which i do not want.

any help with this situation will be helpful. and thanks in advance.

 

[Bob Langlade]

If you want the MDI/Child solution then you can use the showdialog method otherwise set you your form ShowInTaskbar property to false.

 

[sgreenwell]

Thanks for the reply. I already used the showdialog() method, but with each selected form, there's another item in the taskbar. I did get this problem fixed by setting each child window as a parent window to the next selected window by doing the following:

frmClerkMainMenu.MdiParent = Me.MdiParent
frmClerkMainMenu.Show()

where frmClerkMainMenu is a child window, but it is also being set as a Parent window to the next selected window(which is a child of frmClerkMainMenu).

My issue is now the with each selected window the user can select any window and i don't want this option. I want it to work like the ShowDialog() Method, but i don't know where to go from here.

any help is greatly appreciated! thanks so much!

 

[JuggaloBrotha]

personally i wouldnt use the MDI approach for this

i would go with bob langlade's suggestion of setting each form's ShowInTaskbar property to False then use ShowDialog for the single window at a time

 

[sgreenwell]

Thanks so much...i misinterpreted bob's reply about the showintaskbar property. i decided to go that route after i re-read his reply. thanks for your suggestion. this is what i will do.

and while i'm on the subject of mdi parent forms, is there any way to change the background color of a form identified as "IsMdiContainer = True" (Mdi parent)?

 

[Don Delegate]

Sure, see KB Article 319417:
HOW TO: Change the Background Color for an MDI Parent Form in Visual Basic .NET

 

[sgreenwell]

Thanks so much for the tip, Don! I appreciate your time and help...until i come across another problem, have a great day!