Keep form on top and open and close other forms

Question

I'm new to C# and could use some help.

What I have so far is a set of 8 windows forms I have created in C#, these forms have basic things like text boxes, labels, radio buttons, etc. Now that I have completed making all of these forms I want to have one additional form (called the Selector form) I can use to select one of the other 8 forms. At any given time, I want the Selector form to be on top of other windows and it will have 8 radio buttons (or regular buttons, doesn't matter). When one of the buttons is clicked, the current form (not the Selector form) should disappear and a new form should appear. The name of the button will be the name of the new form that appears.

I have seen a few examples and here is the code I have so far:

void Button1Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            //this.Hide();
            var form1 = new CASII();
            form1.Closed += (sender1, args) => this.Close();
            form1.Show();           
        }

        void Button2Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
//          this.Hide();
            var form2 = new CCARAdmin();
            form2.Closed += (sender1, args) => this.Close();
            form2.Show();
            //Application.Run(new CCARAdmin());         
        }

Problem I am having is I don't want to hide the Selector form, which this does, and I don't know how to identify the other form that is open to close it and then open a different form.

From starting the program the logic would be like this: Show Selector form When a button is clicked on the Selector form, keep the Selector form on top and show the other form with the name of the button. When a different button is clicked on the Selector form, close the previous form that was open (not the Selector form) and open the new form corresponding to the name of the button. Keep the Selector form on top. When the Selector form is close, application stops.

Pratap Das · Answer 1 · 2013-11-12T16:17:34.787

selectorForm.TopMost = true ( this will help to keep the selector form always on top). Create a form variable in your selector form to keep the reference of your currently opened form.

Sample code for 1 button click :

Form frm = null;
void Button1Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            //this.Hide();
            var form1 = new CASII();
             if (frm == null)
             {
                 frm = form1;
             }
             else
             {
                 frm.Close();
             }
            form1.Show();
            this.TopMost = true;
            frm = form1;
        }

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:50

Problem I am having is I don't want to hide the Selector form, which this does, and I don't know how to identify the other form that is open to close it and then open a different form.

Set Selector form TopMost to True to make it always on top. Or you can use BringToFront after opening a new form
to know other forms that are open check this answer. Or you can define each From as a field in the Selector form, and check that.

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 12 '13 at 18:20

I resolved this by setting TopMost to true and then using the following code under each one of the buttons:

            for (int i = Application.OpenForms.Count - 1; i >= 0; i--)
            {
                if (Application.OpenForms[i].Name != "FormSelector")
                    Application.OpenForms[i].Close();
            }
            var form = new TRAC();
            if (radioButton9.Checked == true)
            {
                form.Show();
            }

Keep form on top and open and close other forms

3 Answers3