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Creating MDI application using C# (Walkthrough)

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29 Jun 20046 min read 319.6K   8.9K   51  
If you are a beginner(or intermediate) and want to develop an MDI application in C# then this one is for you!!
This is an old version of the currently published article.
  • <A href="myBestMDI/myBestMDI_src.zip"></A><A href="myBestMDI/myBestMDI_src.zip"></A><A href="myBestMDI/myBestMDI_src.zip">Download source files - 71.2 Kb</A> 

Sample Image - myBestMDI.jpgDownload sourcecode

Introduction


MDI (Multiple Document Interface) is nothing but a way of displaying windows form where there is atleast one parent and many
child windows eg. word Excel Powerpoint kind of windows where each document , sheet or slide act as a child under the parent
container window.
SDI(Single document Interface) examples are Windows Explorer,Internet explorer,Notepad etc...where only one window acts
as an interface.

If you are a beginner(or intermediate) and want to develop an MDI application with basic functionality using the powerful
C# language checkout the following step-by-step guide to develop. Even people coming from VB6 background face lots of
problem because of the pure OOPs usage in C#. Follow this small step by step walkthrough to make a small MDI application.


STEP BY STEP WALKTHROUGH:-

1> Goto File->New->Blank Solution
2> Select Visual C# Projects in Project Types
3> Select WindowsApplication in Templates
4> Type for eg. myBestMDI in the Name textbox
5> By Clicking the browse button select the location & Click OK


CREATING ALL THE NECESSARY FORMS & CODE THEM
============================================

Creating the main MDI form(frmMDIMain) to act as a container
------------------------------------------------------------

1> In the View->Solution Explorer click Form1 only once
2> Locate the property FileName and type "frmMDIMain.cs"
3> In the Solution Explorer now doubleclick frmMDIMain
4> Locate the property (Name) and type "frmMDIMain"
5> Locate the property Text and type "This is the Parent"
6> Locate the property IsMDIContainer and set it to true
7> Locate the property WindowState and set it to Maximized

Creating the child form (frmMChild) to demonstrate multiple instance
--------------------------------------------------------------------

1> Goto Project Menu-Add Windows Forms & type frmMChild
2> In the Solution Explorer now doubleclick frmMChild
3> Locate the property Text and type "This is the Multi Instance Child"
4> Locate the property size & set it to 568, 464

Creating the child form (frmSChild) to demonstrate Single instance
--------------------------------------------------------------------

1> Goto Project Menu-Add Windows Forms & type frmSChild
2> In the Solution Explorer now doubleclick frmSChild
3> Locate the property Text and type "This is the Single Instance Child"
4> Locate the property size & set it to 568, 464

Creating the About form (frmAbout) to give information about this product
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

1> Goto Project Menu-Add Windows Forms & type frmAbout
2> In the Solution Explorer now doubleclick frmAbout
3> Locate the property Text and type "About My Best MDI"
4> Locate the property size & set it to 448, 304
5> Locate the property FormBorderstyle & set it to FixedToolWindow

Creating the Splash form (frmSplash) to display the welcome information with company logo
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1> Goto Project Menu-Add Windows Forms & type frmSplash
2> In the Solution Explorer now doubleclick frmSplash
3> Locate the property size and set it to 448, 320
4> Locate the property ControlBox and set it to False
5> Locate the property FormBoderStyle and set it to None
6> Locate the property StartupPosition and set it to CenterScreen
7> Locate the property BackGroundImage and browse a nice image along with your company logo
8> Locate the property cursor & set it to waitCursor

Adding a timer control to the splash screen for holding it for few seconds so
that the user can read it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1> Goto View->Toolbox and Double click Timer control
2> Locate timer1 control & click it once
3> Set its Interval property to 2000 i.e. in milliseconds
4> Set its Enabled property to true
5> Double click to reach its Tick event
type :-
timer1.Enabled = false;
this.Close();
Adding two classes 1 to act as the Main startup class(clsMain) & 1 for holding
Global objects(clsGlobal)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1> In the Solution explorer right click the Project Name myBestMdi
2> Click Add->New Folder and type classes
3> right click the Folder classes
4> Click Add->Add New Item and class and type clsGlobal in name
Note:- myBestMDI.Classes is automatically taken as the namespace due to folder level
5> change the modifiers for the class from

 public class clsGlobal 

to
 public sealed class clsGlobal 

(This is to protect an instantiation of this class)

 

6> Just after the curly braces of the class starts paste the following line
public static frmMDIMain g_objfrmMDIMain;
//this is to declare a global static reference to our MDI parent so that the same
//instance is referred across all child with no extra line of code

7> Again in the Solution explorer right click the Folder classes
8> Click Add->Add New Item and class and type clsMain in name
9> just below the constructor clsMain function in the clsMain class paste the following
snippet

[STAThread]
  static void Main() 
  {
   try
   {
    frmSplash objfrmSplash = new frmSplash();
    objfrmSplash.ShowDialog();
    clsGlobal.g_objfrmMDIMain = new frmMDIMain();
    Application.Run(clsGlobal.g_objfrmMDIMain);
   }
   catch(Exception ex)
   {
    MessageBox.Show(ex.Message,"My Best MDI",MessageBoxButtons.OK,MessageBoxIcon.Stop);            
   }
  }
//This is the Single Threaded Apartment Model(out of our scope) of the application which will run the Main function
//when the application starts


10> Since we are using Application class and MessageBox functions in the above code we need a
add the foolowing line on the top
using System.Windows.Forms;
11> Now go to frmMain now and from its code window remove the following piece of code

[STAThread]
  static void Main() 
  {
   Application.Run(new Form1());
  }
//because we cannot have two Main function.We are invoking everything from clsMain

Creating menus in the main MDI form
--------------------------------------

1> Click View->Designer of frmMdiMain
2> Goto Toolbox and add a double click MainMenu control
3> Click once on the typehere menu
4> Locate the property Name & set it to mnuFile
5> Locate the property Text & set it to &File
Note:- & is for underscore which will enable the Hot key 'F'
6> Same way click on the sub menu TypeHere box
7> Locate the property Name & set it to mnuFileNewMultiple
8> Locate the property Text & set it to &New Multiple
9> Locate the property ShortCut & choose CtrlN
10> Same way click on the sub menu TypeHere box
11> Locate the property Name & set it to mnuFileNewSingle
12> Locate the property Text & set it to New &Single
13> click on the sub menu TypeHere box
14> Locate the property Name & set it to mnuFileCloseChild
15> Locate the property Text & set it to &Close Child
16> click on the sub menu TypeHere box
17> Locate the property Name & set it to mnuFileSep1
18> Locate the property Text & set it to - 
Note - is a hyphen which will automatically put a whole seperator
19> click on the sub menu TypeHere box
20> Locate the property Name & set it to mnuFileExit
21> Locate the property Text & set it to E&xit

Now i am sure by now you should be able to create one more menu
22> Create one more top level menu with Name mnuWindow and text &Window
set its MDIList property to true(will show names of opened windows)
with 3 sub menus with name
mnuWindowCascade and text &Cascade
mnuWindowTileVertical and text Tile&Vertical
mnuWindowTileHorizontal and text Tile&Horizontal

23> Create one more top level menu with Name mnuHelp and text &Help
with a sub menu with name mnuHelpAbout and text &About...
'...' as the suffix is just a Microsoft convention to signify that the command will show a dialog box.

Putting life in the menus created by adding code to it
--------------------------------------------------------

1> Now in the frmSChild code add the following lines

  private static frmSChild m_SChildform;
  public static frmSChild GetChildInstance()
  {
   if (m_SChildform ==null) //if not created yet, Create an instance
    m_SChildform = new frmSChild();
   return m_SChildform;  //just created or created earlier.Return it
  }

//This is to make sure that when we Click on a 'New Single' menu on Parent form twice 
//it should not open two instance of the same child form

2> Click View->Designer of frmMdiMain again
3> Double click New Single Menu on MDI main form
add the following code

frmSChild objfrmSChild = frmSChild.GetChildInstance();
objfrmSChild.MdiParent = this;
objfrmSChild.Show();
objfrmSChild.BringToFront();



4> Click View->Designer of frmMdiMain again
5> Double click New Multi Menu on MDI main form
add the following code

frmMChild objfrmMChild = new frmMChild();
objfrmMChild.MdiParent = this;
objfrmMChild.Show();

6> Double click CloseChild on MDI main form
add the following code

try
{
 if(this.ActiveMdiChild.Name =="frmMChild")
 {
  frmMChild objfrmMChild = (frmMChild)this.ActiveMdiChild;
  objfrmMChild.Close();
 }
 else
 {
  frmSChild objfrmSChild = (frmSChild)this.ActiveMdiChild;
  objfrmSChild.Close();

 }
}
catch
{
}

7> Double click Exit on MDI main form
add the following code

Application.Exit(); 


8> Double click Cascade menu under Windows on MDI main form
add the following code

this.LayoutMdi(MdiLayout.Cascade);


9> same way for tile Vertical add

this.LayoutMdi(MdiLayout.TileVertical);


81> and for tile horizontal add

this.LayoutMdi(MdiLayout.TileHorizontal);

20> Now finally double click About menu in Help to add

frmAbout objfrmAbout = new frmAbout();
objfrmAbout.ShowDialog();

21> Press F5 to start with debugging or Ctrl+F5 to start w/o debugging

 Sample screenshot

Njoi programming!!


 

 

 

 

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Written By
Instructor / Trainer
India India
Irfan Patel is a Bachelor of Computer Application
He holds a MCSD, MCP.NET, ITIL Certifications and has worked extensively with C#, ASP.Net, SQL Server since 1998.
He has also trained various programming languages and tools, RDBMS & OS platforms to more than 1000 students.

His expertise comes from various industries viz Jewellery, Shipping ,Automobiles , RFID projects, Ticket Reservation systems and e-commerce websites.

Besides teaching and programming he loves music, singing, dancing, bikes & following his favourite football team Chelsea.

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