Member Avatar for lotrsimp12345

I was wondering how you do this. Would you have to use delegates and event handlers or can you do it through application.Run(object) and call that in the clickevent but I need to keep a reference to previous form. but that doesn't seem possible.

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Dani AI

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— short answer: do not call Application.Run from a click handler. Application.Run starts the WinForms message loop and belongs in Program.Main. For back/next/close flows you’ll get the cleanest, most maintainable behavior by using a single “shell” Form that swaps lightweight page controls (UserControls) or by using a navigation stack that the shell manages.

A simple, practical pattern (shell + navigation stack):

// shell form fields
private readonly Stack<UserControl> history = new Stack<UserControl>();
private UserControl current;

// navigate to a page
void NavigateTo(UserControl next, bool remember = true)
{
    if (remember && current != null) history.Push(current);
    panelHost.Controls.Clear();
    next.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
    panelHost.Controls.Add(next);
    current = next;
}

// go back
void Back()
{
    if (history.Count == 0) return;
    var prev = history.Pop();
    panelHost.Controls.Clear();
    panelHost.Controls.Add(prev);
    current = prev;
}

Each page exposes light events (e.g. NextRequested, BackRequested) so the shell stays in control and pages are decoupled. For state you can either keep page instances in memory (fast, simpler) or store small DTOs and recreate pages on demand (better for many pages to avoid memory bloat). Use ShowDialog only for true modal dialogs; otherwise swap controls so the UI stays responsive.

This combines the ideas already suggested by (history/navigation), (single-form body area), and the tab approach mentioned by — but it avoids creating extra message loops or hiding lots of forms. For most wizards this shell+UserControl pattern is easiest to test, extend, and keep memory predictable.

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Member Avatar for Geekitygeek

Depending on how many forms you'll be working with and whether you want to maintain their state when moving between them, you could keep a List of the forms visited.
If you want to maintain their state then (eg values in controls, changes made, etc) and you are using relatively few forms you can hide each form after its used and keep a reference to it in a List<Form>. If you're talking HUNDREDS of different instances of forms it could suffer a bit from memory bloat that way though : /

Member Avatar for m7mud.mustafa

You could use a single form with header (logo) and footer contains the wizard controls(e.g. NextBtn , BackBtn)

You can use the body area to show and hide panels according to the event and the state of the program.

You can use the wizard at the following link and customize to reach your needs

Member Avatar for Diamonddrake

I suggest using 1 form and using a tabcontrol. but hide its tabs.

I just posted the same thing on that codeproject article. Because its way overkill the way they have done it.

here is an example of hiding them tabs at runtime, but not and design time.

using System;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace customControls
{
  public class TabControlEx : TabControl
  {
    /// <summary>
    /// Gets or sets a value indicating whether the tab headers should be drawn
    /// </summary>
    [
    Description("Gets or sets a value indicating whether the tab headers should be drawn"),
    DefaultValue(true)
    ]
    public bool ShowTabHeaders { get; set; }

    public TabControlEx()
      : base()
    {
    }

    protected override void WndProc(ref Message m)
    {
      // Hide tabs by trapping the TCM_ADJUSTRECT message
      if (!ShowTabHeaders && m.Msg == 0x1328 && !DesignMode) 
        m.Result = (IntPtr)1;
      else
        base.WndProc(ref m);
    }
  }
}
Member Avatar for Geekitygeek

All of the answers here have thier advantages and disadvantages. At the end of the day, it depends a lot on the size and scope of the project you are working on. If it is going to be a large scale application i would recommend using an MDI parent with a stack style history log (the way web browsers work). Each time you move from form to form you add it to the stack and then pop them off when you use the back button.
If its a small application with only a handful of forms then use either panels or tab control.
If you give us an outline of what your app will do we might be able to narrow it down for you.

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