mdi application

Question

I am having trouble communicating with my mdiParent from a child form. I am trying enable some menu items on the mdi parent when a user logs in successfully in frmLogin. I am able to pass info to setPermissions(bool enabled) and I step through the code and it shows that each menu item's enabled property is changed to true but when I go up to the menu again they are still not enabled. what should i do? this code is in the parent: public void setPermissions(bool access) { this.mnuLogon.Enabled = !access; this.mnuLogout.Enabled = access; this.mnuSpending.Enabled = access; this.mnuCurrent.Enabled = access; this.mnuTransactions.Enabled = access; this.mnuDebt.Enabled = access; } this is the code in the child: private void cmdOK_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e) { int login = data.login(txtLogin.Text.ToString(), txtPassword.Text.ToString()); switch(login) { case 0: MessageBox.Show("Invalid Login Name or Password"); txtLogin.Focus(); break; case 1: frm.setPermissions(true); this.Hide(); break; case 2: frm.setPermissions(true); this.Hide(); break; default: MessageBox.Show("Invalid Login Name or Password"); txtLogin.Focus(); break; } } am i missing something obvious? I am fairly new to C#. Thanks, Pete

pete.mcnamee · Answer

Thanks a lot. I finally found what I was looking for in another post last night. I was missing the MdiParent reference. I had tried it so many different ways.

seamus · Answer

Put these two files into aprojects & you can see how it is done ----------- FormParent ------------------------ using System; using System.Drawing; using System.Collections; using System.ComponentModel; using System.Windows.Forms; using System.Data; namespace WindowsApplication1 { /// /// Summary description for Form1. /// public class FormParent : System.Windows.Forms.Form { private System.Windows.Forms.MainMenu mainMenu1; private System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem menuItem1; private System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem menuItem2; private System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem menuItem3; /// /// Required designer variable. /// private System.ComponentModel.Container components = null; public FormParent() { // // Required for Windows Form Designer support // InitializeComponent(); } /// /// Clean up any resources being used. /// protected override void Dispose( bool disposing ) { if( disposing ) { if (components != null) { components.Dispose(); } } base.Dispose( disposing ); } #region Windows Form Designer generated code /// /// Required method for Designer support - do not modify /// the contents of this method with the code editor. /// private void InitializeComponent() { this.mainMenu1 = new System.Windows.Forms.MainMenu(); this.menuItem1 = new System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem(); this.menuItem2 = new System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem(); this.menuItem3 = new System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem(); // // mainMenu1 // this.mainMenu1.MenuItems.AddRange(new System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem[] { this.menuItem1}); // // menuItem1 // this.menuItem1.Index = 0; this.menuItem1.MenuItems.AddRange(new System.Windows.Forms.MenuItem[] { this.menuItem2 this.menuItem3}); this.menuItem1.Text = File; // // menuItem2 // this.menuItem2.Index = 0; this.menuItem2.Text = Two; // // menuItem3 // this.menuItem3.Index = 1; this.menuItem3.Text = Three; // // FormParent // this.AutoScaleBaseSize = new System.Drawing.Size(5 13); this.ClientSize = new System.Drawing.Size(560 397); this.IsMdiContainer = true; this.Menu = this.mainMenu1; this.Name = FormParent; this.Text = Container; this.Load += new System.EventHandler(this.FormParent_Load); } #endregion /// /// The main entry point for the application. /// [STAThread] static void Main() { Application.Run(new FormParent()); } private void FormParent_Load(object sender System.EventArgs e) { FormChild frmChild = new FormChild(); frmChild.MdiParent = this; frmChild.Show(); } public void setPermissions(bool access) { this.menuItem2.Enabled = access; this.menuItem3.Enabled = access; } } } ----------- FormChild ------------------------ using System; using System.Drawing; using System.Collections; using System.ComponentModel; using System.Windows.Forms; namespace WindowsApplication1 { /// /// Summary description for Form2. /// public class FormChild : System.Windows.Forms.Form { private System.Windows.Forms.Button button1; /// /// Required designer variable. /// private System.ComponentModel.Container components = null; public FormChild() { // // Required for Windows Form Designer support // InitializeComponent(); // // TODO: Add any constructor code after InitializeComponent call // } /// /// Clean up any resources being used. /// protected override void Dispose( bool disposing ) { if( disposing ) { if(components != null) { components.Dispose(); } } base.Dispose( disposing ); } #region Windows Form Designer generated code /// /// Required method for Designer support - do not modify /// the contents of this method with the code editor. /// private void InitializeComponent() { this.button1 = new System.Windows.Forms.Button(); this.SuspendLayout(); // // button1 // this.button1.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(40 84); this.button1.Name = button1; this.button1.TabIndex = 0; this.button1.Text = enabled; this.button1.Click += new System.EventHandler(this.button1_Click); // // FormChild // this.AutoScaleBaseSize = new System.Drawing.Size(5 13); this.ClientSize = new System.Drawing.Size(292 266); this.Controls.Add(this.button1); this.Name = FormChild; this.Text = 2; this.ResumeLayout(false); } #endregion private void button1_Click(object sender System.EventArgs e) { if (button1.Text.Equals(enabled)) { button1.Text = disbaled; } else { button1.Text = enabled; } ((FormParent)this.MdiParent).setPermissions(button1.Text.Equals(enabled)); } } }