Floating A Form (But Not Always On Top) - [RESOLVED]

[epixelman]

in VB6 I use to do this to hover a form over the underneath form.. kinda like a toolbox.

Form2.Show, form1

Form2 is the toolbox
Form1 is the Main form

How do I do this in .NET

I know how to show a form

Dim f as Form
f.Show() .....or.... f.ShowDialog

But I want to float a form, yet not be "always on top" of all windows on desktop.

Thanks

[wossname]

MyForm.Topmost = true

Can't remember if that makes it stay above ALL apps or just be at the top if all the windows within your program. Could be all come to think of it.

[epixelman]

Yes... using TopMost allows it to stay above all windows (even not my app)

But I don't want that

In VB6 when you used the "Form2.Show, form1" you could use Form1 (main form) while form2 (toolbox) stayed above the main form.

When you minimize the main form, the toolbox (form2) would minimize with it.

[epixelman]

Well... I still am looking for a solution for a "hovering" toolbox form.

I can get it minimize now when I minimize the Main Form....

But now the problem is.... If I click on another app (not mine) then the toolbox window (which TopMost is True) stays above all windows.

I want it to be a child (i think??) of the main form and disappear behind the app that I selected... say WordPad or something.

Why does this seem so hard. In VB6 it is just as easy as this...

Form2.Show, Form1

[epixelman]

Any ideas??

[epixelman]

I have poured over (6 hours) the SDK docs to find a solution. The SDK Doc says to use "fForm.Show()" to show a modeless form.

And it does what it is suppose to.

But I still can not figure out how to just make the toolbox form (form2) stay above Main form (Form1) but yet not be TopMost above all others.

When I use TopMost on the Toolbox, it stays above ALL windows that I have open. I don't want that.

This is suppose to be a floating toolbox that only stays above the main (or parent) form, but will stay with the main form if I click on, say a Notepad window.

Does anybody know what I am trying to do??
.

[epixelman]

How do people float a "Find-Replace Text", "Spell Check" or "Toolbox" form in their apps.

Surely M$ didn't do away with this method too!!??

[epixelman]

Come on here...

Are there any .NET programmers here?

[epixelman]

I thought this was a forum where you can find answers??

[epixelman]

bump

[epixelman]

RESOLVED!!

I can't believe noone knew this.

f = New Form1()
f.TopMost = False
f.Owner = Me
f.Show()

FYI... You will not need any special resizing code to minimize toolbox (floating form) as I mentioned at the start of the thread.
.