Use popup or dynamic C# winform screen (or other solution)?

Question

On C# winforms project, I have a small table, a filter box, an Add button and a Done button grouped together, and they all fit together within 250x250 pixels. I only need to show these elements to the user when they press a button. I figured this could be done using a pop up modal screen or by making room on the main screen until the user presses the Done button.

I know a disadvantage to modal screens is that they can cause problems for users when/if they lose track of the modal screen and then they think the program's not responding.

The disadvantage I see for using a dynamic main screen is that the reshaping interferes with the overall layout. But maybe I could find a way to overcome that problem.

I'm new to all of this, so I wanted to ask opinions here. Thanks.

Answer 1

If you put them in a groupBox or FlowLayout panel possibly in the corner of the main screen and then set the visibility or even enabled on the entire control when they can or can't press the buttons works well.

disable until time they can edit.

groubB.enabled = true;

or

groubB.Visible = true;

Answer 2

Put them all on a panel (or, even better, a custom control), style it to look nice, and then only show the panel on button click.

Answer 3

When the user clicks the button, could you disable all of the controls in the main form and then place the panel in the center of the main form, on top of the other controls? Maybe make the panel a little larger with some decoration around it for emphasis. Then, when the user clicks 'done,' dismiss the panel and re-enable all of the controls in the main form.