WPF Desktop application MDI like/Parent-Child - c#

I'm creating an WPF desktop application.
Desc : One main window(Parent) for whole application which includes display, completely docked display.
"X" no. of child windows, whenever whichever child is opened, On minimizing of this child, the child should get minimized on the parent window [Currently, it goes behind the main window]
WHAT I NEED : Whenever child is minimized it should not go behind, it should be minimized on parent window.
Note : I cannot use wpf.mdi.dll, since I have a data display on my main screen(Parent window, Display will be completely docked)

Perhaps you can use AvalonDock(free) or Telerik Docking(not free).

After setting
Owner = this;
ShowIntaskbar=false;
The thing worked for me

Related

Unable to display Child form on top of main form's controls

Windows 7 pro 64 bit, VS2015 or VS2019
Hi,
I have a C# Win Form with many various controls.
I defined the main form as MDI parent and built an MDI child form with it's own controls, activated by a menue item in the main.
The child form builds nicely, but it is always displayed under the main form's many different controls.
I have tried many remedies, non of whch solved the problem.
I'v Set the child form as TopMost = true; TopLevel = true; each or all, for no avail.
Have moved from VS2015 to VS2019 community - Same.
I have been wasting hours to solve something that seems to be strightforward.
Can anyone help me out of this?
//In Main Form with menustrip, ComPortSetup is a standard winform class with some controls
private void portSetupToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
ComPortSetup comPortSetup = new ComPortSetup();
comPortSetup.MdiParent = this;
comPortSetup.TopMost = true;
comPortSetup.TopLevel = true; //Can not change programmatically
comPortSetup.Show();
}
That is how MDI works, there is no way around that.
All controls on the MDI Parent form will take away "client" space for the MDI child forms. And thus they will always be shown on top of any MDI Child form.
In other words, the MDI child forms can only use the space that is on the MDI Parent form that is not occupied already by other controls.
What you can do is put a panel on the MDI Parent form, and for example dock it to the left. Then put your "main" controls on that panel. The MDI Child forms will use whatever space is left on your MDI Parent form.
You could put a splitter control next to this panel so you can make it larger or smaller, or make it slidable so the panel comes forward when your mouse is near it, and hides itself again when the mouse is moving away from it.
Another approach you can try, is not making it MDI anymore and set the parent of the "child" forms yourself. But this will most likely cause other problems.
I would try the first approach, the panel on the mainform, docked to the left with a splitter control next to it.
I am not sure, but I believe that when using MDI forms, it is not expected that the parent has its own controls on the main form area, otherwise you will experience this exact problem.
So there are a couple of ways around this.
Firstly you can place a Panel on your parent form, and then your child can be added to the Panel.
This is now "proper" MDI control however, but it might allow you to achieve what you want.
ChildForm child = new ChildForm();
parentPanel.controls.add(child); //ParentPanel needs to already be on main form
Or the other method is to put your Parent Controls either on a MenuStrip (like MS Word) or you can use a Floating Dockable child form (think Visual Studio) which is then always visible.
If you want to do the latter, then I would suggest DockPanelSuite control to help you with this
https://github.com/dockpanelsuite/dockpanelsuite

Whats the difference between Parentform and Owner

In winforms we have objForm.Owner and objForm.Parent. Whats the difference between these two.
I opened a form B from form A as a dialog and was expecting to access form A's public properties from form B using ParentForm property but finally ended up using Owner property instead as ParentForm was null !!
A parent-child relationship exists between windows when the child is embedded in the parent window and cannot move outside of its bounds. Examples are child controls like TextBox and Panel. And the MDI windowing model, MDI child windows are embedded in the MDI parent and parented to the dark-gray MDI client window.
An owned window applies to top-level windows and primarily controls their Z-order. An owned window is always on top of its owner. It is also minimized and restored along with its owner. Examples are tool windows and dialogs.
Note how a Form is normally a top-level window and does not have a parent. So wouldn't have a use for its Parent and ParentForm properties. It can however be turned into a child window by setting its TopLevel property to false. Sample code is here.
Form.Owner - Is the Form that "owns" this form. For example Find/Replace dialog would be Owned by Notepad's main window. If you
minimize the main Form, the owned form will minimize, if you restore
the main form, the owned form will restore
ContainerControl.ParentForm - Is the Form that this ContainerControl is ultimately placed on
Check this article. Their is explained Parent too.

How to achieve that just the top modal window is accessible?

Following problem. In my application you can open multiple modal windows. Every window is dependent on the previous opened window (hierarchical). Means that when a child window is opened, the user cannot drag this child window aside and interact with the parent window.
How can I achieve, that the surface behind the top child window freezes? I use RadWindow, by the way.
Try setting the child RadWindow's Owner property to its parent RadWindow.
The key was the bool WindowBaseAutomationPeer.IsTopmost Property of the RadWindow class. Telerik Documentation

C#/WPF, how to make a window (created with Window.ShowDialog()) title bar blink when clicking its parent window (like MessageBox does)?

I'm trying to create a custom MessageBox by using a WPF Window that is called with ShowDialog().
So far, I've managed to implement everything, except for one thing.
As you know, when you use MessageBox.Show("text"); you cannot set the focus or click the parent window (the one that called the MessageBox). If you do try to click the parent window, the MessageBox will blink briefly in order to alert you that you must close if first.
Windows created with Window.ShowDialog();, however, do not show that behavior. In fact, while you cannot set the focus to the parent window, the child (called with ShowDialog()) will never blink briefly.
My question is, is there any way to implement that in WPF? I've been searching for an answer but I must admit, I am stumped.
Thanks everyone!
You need to set the Owner of the modal window correctly, e.g. using the following code from within the owning window:
Window win = new SomeModalWindow();
win.Owner = this;
win.ShowDialog();
You would have to set Owner property of the child Window to the parent Window. See the MSDN Documentation here.

Tooltips Problem with Infragistics UltraToolBar in child window

Currently have an UltraToolBar displaying within a MDI child window currently all the buttons on the bar function but they do not show their tooltips when hovered over. I was wondering if anyone else may have dealt with this problem before and what they did.
Are you using the toolbar in Ribbon mode or in old toolbar mode?
If the toolbar is in on a child mdi form, you should probably be merging it into the parent mdi manager.
On your 'main form' you should use a UltraTabbedMdiManager class to open your child MDI windows. Get the main structure of you app set up right and the small stuff with fall out naturally.

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