I am designing an installer interface for a already written program. It is my first windows.form. I see three approaches to solving my "problem" of needing multiple "screens". I can add all the labels/buttons/interface, and then hide/show them at events. Or I can close and open a new windows? Or do I somehow load my next form into the window frame (sortv like an iFrame approach)? Can somehow help explain how to do this?
Thanks!
Though there is nothing stopping you from using any of the approaches that you mentioned, using separate windows and opening/closing them would be cleaner. If the code for individual windows gets complicated it would be clearer if they were separate.
Since you said you are doing installer's particulary take a look at Wix. It was meant to be used for creating installer's. It has it's own approach of building UI from XML's.
I would design my "screens" as unique frames with each frame having the controls it needed. Then I would just swap them in and out of the main window.
Its sort of like an IFrame (visually at least).
I agree that WiX is worth a look. An alternative to WiX that some people like more (it's just different, some people like one approach, some like the other) is NSIS.
When I have a requirement that calls for swapping out the controls in a single window, I tend to create a user control for each "page".
Have you considered using The Panel control? You can group certain controls together and have them placed inside one or more Panels.
You could Hide/Show each panel when required.