In a .NET WinForm application, a form is simply an instance of the System.Windows.Forms.Form class so it may be manipulated like any other .NET object.
When you first create a Windows Form Application a main form named Form1 is automatically added to the project and it is instantiated in the main.cbl program which is the entry point of the project.
Other forms can be added by right clicking on the project name in Solution Explorer add selecting Add->New item->Windows Form.
You can then instantiate and manipulate these new forms from your main form.
Please download the attachment MultiFormsDemo.zip from this article and unzip it onto your C:\\drive retaining the folder structure in the .zip file.
Using Visual COBOL open up the solution C:\\MultiFormsDemo\\MultiFormsDemo\\MultiFormsDemo.sln.
Press F5 to run the demo.
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The following is the source code for the main form.
*-------------------------------------------------------------------------*
* MultiForms Demo *
* *
* This example demonstrates how multiple Windows forms can be used within*
* a .NET WinForm application. *
* *
* The main form Form1 is created in main.cbl. Form1 contains a number of *
* button controls which allow you to create two additional forms called *
* Form2 and Form3. Once these forms are created you can click additional *
* buttons to control whether they sould be hidden or shown. *
* *
* An event handler is added to Form1 in order to capture the FormClosed *
* event for both Form2 and Form3 so that Form1 can enable and disable the*
* correct buttons to allow for a new instance of Form2 or Form3 to be *
* created. The FormClose event is triggered by clicking on the Close Form*
* button on Form2 or Form3. *
*-------------------------------------------------------------------------*
class-id MultiFormsDemo.Form1 is partial
inherits type System.Windows.Forms.Form.
working-storage section.
01 Form2 type MultiFormsDemo.Form2.
01 Form3 type MultiFormsDemo.Form3.
method-id NEW.
procedure division.
invoke self::InitializeComponent
goback.
end method.
method-id btnCreate2_Click final private.
procedure division using by value sender as object e as type System.EventArgs.
set Form2 to new type MultiFormsDemo.Form2
*> The following adds an event handler to this form which will catch the FormClosed event on Form2
invoke Form2::add_FormClosed(new System.Windows.Forms.FormClosedEventHandler(self::Form2_Closed))
invoke Form2::Show
*> Disable the Create Form2 button so only one instance of Form2 will be created.
set self::btnCreate2::Enabled to false
set self::btnHide2::Enabled to true
set self::btnShow2::Enabled to true
end method.
method-id btnCreate3_Click final private.
procedure division using by value sender as object e as type System.EventArgs.
set Form3 to new type MultiFormsDemo.Form3
*> The following adds an event handler to this form which will catch the FormClosed event on Form3
invoke Form3::add_FormClosed(new System.Windows.Forms.FormClosedEventHandler(self::Form3_Closed))
invoke Form3::Show
*> Disable the Create Form3 button so only one instance of Form3 will be created.
set self::btnCreate3::Enabled to false
set self::btnHide3::Enabled to true
set self::btnShow3::Enabled to true
end method.
method-id btnHide2_Click final private.
procedure division using by value sender as object e as type System.EventArgs.
invoke Form2::Hide
end method.
method-id btnHide3_Click final private.
procedure division using by value sender as object e as type System.EventArgs.
invoke Form3::Hide
end method.
method-id btnShow2_Click final private.
procedure division using by value sender as object e as type System.EventArgs.
invoke Form2::Show
end method.
method-id btnShow3_Click final private.
procedure division using by value sender as object e as type System.EventArgs.
invoke Form3::Show
end method.
method-id Form1_Load final private.
procedure division using by value sender as object e as type System.EventArgs.
*> set the initial state of the buttons.
set self::btnCreate2::Enabled to true
set self::btnHide2::Enabled to false
set self::btnShow2::Enabled to false
set self::btnCreate3::Enabled to true
set self::btnHide3::Enabled to false
set self::btnShow3::Enabled to false
end method.
*> The following event handler will be triggered when the Close Form2 button is clicked in Form2
method-id Form2_Closed.
procedure division using by value sender as object e as type System.Windows.Forms.FormClosedEventArgs.
set self::btnCreate2::Enabled to true
set self::btnHide2::Enabled to false
set self::btnShow2::Enabled to false
end method.
*> The following event handler will be triggered when the Close Form3 button is clicked in Form3
method-id Form3_Closed.
procedure division using by value sender as object e as type System.Windows.Forms.FormClosedEventArgs.
set self::btnCreate3::Enabled to true
set self::btnHide3::Enabled to false
set self::btnShow3::Enabled to false
end method.
method-id button1_Click final private.
procedure division using by value sender as object e as type System.EventArgs.
invoke self::Close
end method.
end class.
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