create reference to form

[ralphtrent]

Hello
I have an MDI Form. I have a list of available forms under a window title bar. When the user clicks on the form they want to open, i call the OnClick event for that menu option. I want to be able to then call a routine that will check to see if the form is currently open, if it is then bring it to front, else open it. I pass the name of the form to the routine as a string. If I need to create a reference to the form, how would I do that if all I know is the same of the form? I have searched and searched but nothing came up that meets my needs.

So in short, if I know the name for a form, how can I create a form object to reference that form.

Thanks,
RalphTrent

 

[RyanEK]

Hi,

When creating the MDI form, you can place an [identifier] in the Tag property of the form. You can then iterate the forms eg.

foreach (Form mdiChild in this.MdiChildren)
{
  if (mdiChild.Tag.Equals([identifier]))
  {
    this.ActivateMdiChild(mdiChild);
    mdiChild.Activate();    
  }
}

Ryan

 

[ralphtrent]

i found that in order to use the this.MdiChildren collection, the MdiChild must be currently open. I am looking to see how reopen a closed window. Im not sure how your code will work with what I need to do. Can you please explain a little further?

Thanks again,
RalphTrent

 

[RyanEK]

The code I gave you activates a mdi form that is already open.

To do what you're asking place a flag in the loop eg. FormFound = true. If the form hasn't been found then create a new instance of the mdi form.

If you're still having trouble, post your OnClick event code.