Multiple Forms in C# Window

Question

Hi people

I'm trying to build a simple application to test the idea of having multiple forms in one application. For example, in Visual Studio, you have the IDE - design area, and on the right hand side, you have a form called Properties and Solution Explorer

When you click on something in the design area, i.e. Textbox, on the right hand side, the properties for that object selected automatically changes.

I do not want to add the PropertyGrid ontop of the same form where the objects are, it must be independant on its own.

My ultimate goal is to have a 3D viewer/WPF and on the right hand side, a form. When you click in the 3D viewer on a line, or point, the selected object's properties must be displayed in the PropertyGrid

Second to that, I want to be able to dock the forms, or reset to default layout.

Screesnhot: http://i39.tinypic.com/15rf412.jpg (properties should be docked inside the main form - not like screenshot)

Example: http://dan.virgesystems.com/images/CPVimage.JPG

Thanks in advance... Riaan de Lange, South Africa

Answer 1

Try encapsulating your viewer and form into user controls. You can use the splitter control or panels to layout the container form as you please. Communication between the user controls can be done through events or direct references.

Answer 2

http://www.dreamincode.net/forums/showtopic57601.htm

Answer 3

If you decide to do it using WinForms, there's a good C# opensource library for VS-style docking: http://sourceforge.net/projects/dockpanelsuite/

Here's a screenshot of an application using it: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Image:Kosmos.2.0.png