Re: MDI; Finding a property on parent from MDI child form - C# Discussion Boards

Re: MDI; Finding a property on parent from MDI child form

20-Aug-08 9:02

Hi,

I have got a MDI app where one of the childforms must be able to see the status of a RadioButton on a docked panel on the MDI from. I want too use the mousedown event on a child frmShow to draw lines on the form if the radPoly was clicked on the pnlTools on the parent MDI form. Please help with a simple code example.

Thanks

Ian

Mark Miller20-Aug-08 9:32

Re: MDI; Finding a property on parent from MDI child form

20-Aug-08 9:32

Ian,

It isn't a real simple example, but you could take a look at my Extensions to DrawTools[^] article which has the type of ability (and more) you are looking for.

In that application, the MDI parent form sets properties on the DrawArea object to communicate settings from parent to child.

HTH

Sincerely,

-Mark
mark@msdcweb.com
http://www.msdcweb.com

ianhunt0120-Aug-08 20:18

Re: MDI; Finding a property on parent from MDI child form

20-Aug-08 20:18

Thanks Mark,

Nice app and very usefull info for something else that I want to do but no MDI stuff in there ?

cheers

Ian

Mark Miller21-Aug-08 9:44

Re: MDI; Finding a property on parent from MDI child form

21-Aug-08 9:44

Ian,

The DrawTools project uses a MDI parent form - I had forgotten it doesn't use any child forms.

Try this out for a solution to your problem:
In your child form expose some public or internal properties that are set when a toolbar button in the parent form is clicked. For example:

*** child form ***
public bool isPoly;

*** parent form ***
In the toolbarButton_Click(...) event:

if (ActiveMdiChild == null) return;
            var child = ActiveMdiChild as childformclass;
            child.isPoly = toolbarButton.Checked;

This way the child form(s) can see when a button on the toolbar in the parent is checked or not and react accordingly.

Additionally in the parent form you will want to react when the child form changes and set the state of buttons according to the active child form:

*** parent form ***
In MdiChildActivate event:

if (ActiveMdiChild == null) return;
            var child = ActiveMdiChild as childformclass;
            toolbarButton.Checked = child.isPoly;

HTH

Sincerely,

-Mark
mark@msdcweb.com
http://www.msdcweb.com

ianhunt0121-Aug-08 21:22

Re: MDI; Finding a property on parent from MDI child form

21-Aug-08 21:22

Thanks Mark,

This was really helpfull !! I used to work in VB6 Pro and thought about moving over to C#.Net instead of VB.Net. In order to learn the new C#.Net environment it seems you have to buy a lot of books (four up to date) and do the Microsoft certified courses and still all of it only shows you bits and pieces and end up becoming very expensive.

So what I am trying to say is that the code you supplied helps me a lot in grasping whats happening.

So thanks again for your patience.

Ian

Mark Miller23-Aug-08 14:46

Re: MDI; Finding a property on parent from MDI child form

23-Aug-08 14:46

Ian,

You are very welcome - glad I was able to help.

I came to C# after making a living programming in Visual FoxPro for close to 10 years. I picked up some Java experience along the way as well. When I started learning .NET and C# I too bought several books - the best one for me was Windows Forms 2.0 Programming[^].

Hang in there and don't be afraid to ask questions on CodeProject - everyone here is very helpful.

Sincerely,

-Mark
mamiller@rhsnet.org

ianhunt0124-Aug-08 21:15

Re: MDI; Finding a property on parent from MDI child form

24-Aug-08 21:15

Thanks Mark,

The book looks good and I will amazon it soon !!

Cheers

Ian

led mike20-Aug-08 9:33

led mike

20-Aug-08 9:33

ianhunt01 wrote:
I have got a MDI app where one of the childforms must be able to see the status of a RadioButton on a docked panel on the MDI from.

Why? Best Practice would be for views to get their data from the Model rather than another View. See Model-View-Controller[^]

led mike

Re: MDI; Finding a property on parent from MDI child form

ianhunt0120-Aug-08 20:16

Re: MDI; Finding a property on parent from MDI child form

20-Aug-08 20:16

No,

I had a look at the Wiki and it does not tell me much in a practical way of achieving this.

But thanks in any case

Ian

led mike21-Aug-08 6:44

led mike

21-Aug-08 6:44

ianhunt01 wrote:
No,

I had a look at the Wiki and it does not tell me much in a practical way of achieving this.

Ok, I guess unless you can copy/paste some code you can't do it. Good luck.

led mike

Syntax Coloring Control For Use In A C# App

Kevin Marois20-Aug-08 8:39

Kevin Marois

20-Aug-08 8:39

Anyone know of a SIMPLE TO USE syntax coloring control for use in a C# WinForms application?

Everything makes sense in someone's mind

Re: Syntax Coloring Control For Use In A C# App

Mark Miller20-Aug-08 9:15

20-Aug-08 9:15

Try this control - it works very well and is quite extensible: http://www.codeplex.com/SyntaxBox[^]

Sincerely,

-Mark
mark@msdcweb.com
http://www.msdcweb.com

Help in Key Event needed

Saiyed Alam20-Aug-08 5:48

Saiyed Alam

20-Aug-08 5:48

Hello friends I have a function name " private void fnSave()". I want to call this function when ever I press " Ctrl+S " button. Just like in MS Word.Can any one help me plz?

vikas amin20-Aug-08 6:52

vikas amin

20-Aug-08 6:52

you can try RegisterHotKey() API

http://www.codeproject.com/KB/miscctrl/ashsimplehotkeys.aspx[^]

Vikas Amin

My First Article on CP" Virtual Serial Port "[^]

modified on Thursday, July 24, 2008 5:33 PM

Giorgi Dalakishvili20-Aug-08 6:55

Giorgi Dalakishvili

20-Aug-08 6:55

You can use KeyDown, KeyPress and KeyUp events to detect pressed keys.

Giorgi Dalakishvili

#region signature
my articles
#endregion

Alan N20-Aug-08 8:20

Alan N

20-Aug-08 8:20

Hi Saiyed,
In MS Word the Ctrl+S key combination runs the code assigned to the File..Save menu item. It's called a shortcut key and if you are implementing menus in your application you can do this too. Shortcut keys can be assigned to menu items in the Visual Studio designer.

Alan.

Saiyed Alam21-Aug-08 23:39

Saiyed Alam

21-Aug-08 23:39

Thank u Alan. But is it not possible to implement that without using Shortcut key in menu item?
If there is then how? All I want is just to call a function like private void fnSaveData() whenever some one press (Ctrl+S) together.

Alan N26-Aug-08 6:57

Alan N

26-Aug-08 6:57

Hi Saiyed,
Try this in your app.

Set the KeyPreview property of the main form to true and also set a KeyDown event handler for the main form.

With these two elements in place, the main form key handler will see all keys destined for any child control on the form so it will not matter which control has focus when the user presses Ctrl + S.

You can then test specifically for Ctrl + S as shown in the code fragment.

private void MainForm_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e) {
  // test for keys we are interested in
  // here just the Ctrl + S combination
  if (e.KeyData == (Keys.Control | Keys.S)) {
    MessageBox.Show("Key trapped" + Environment.NewLine +
                    e.KeyData.ToString());
    // Don't pass this key combination on to any child controls
    e.SuppressKeyPress = true;
  }

}

Just insert your save method in place of the message box code.

Alan.