Swapping out controls quickly

Question

First off, this is my first post and I'd like to say hello to everyone, I plan on spending a lot of time here as I'm really getting into Visual C# development and have a few personal projects I've been working on that I will need some "expert" advice on.

My question is:

You know how when you are installing something, you have a screen such as a EULA agreement, then with one button click it immediately goes to a new screen such as one prompting you for an Install location. How do you create something that swaps controls out that fast. I tried using Panels, but changing the visible property became a pain. I asked my teacher and he said they use different forms and it's just so fast that you don't notice, but it flickers a little for me, as well as creates a new item in the taskbar.

I am planning on creating an iPhone app, and before I waste 100 dollars buying a license, I want to make sure I can write the program and I'm laying it out in c#.

All help is greatly appreciated, Thanks.

Answer 1

You could create the different screens as user controls and swap them in and out. That is pretty much how I do a wizard type interface. Or you could use a tab control and put each of your screens on a different tab and change tabs accordingly.

There are also several controls on the market that are created to have a wizard type interface that you could use. http://www.devexpress.com has one I am familiar with. I hope this helps with what you are looking for.

Answer 2

Hi,

You can check the completed wizard controls here , here or here . To do that manually, just create a usercontrol that`s hold collection of panels and switch them. Somthing like this:

class Notebook : UserControl
  {
    private Collection<Panel> Pages = new Collection<Panel>();

    private Panel SelectedPage;

    [DefaultValue(-1)]

    public int SelectedPageIndex
    {
      get
      {
        if (SelectedPage != null)
        {
          return Pages.IndexOf(SelectedPage);
        }
        return -1;
      }
      set
      {
        SelectPage(value);
      }
    }

    public Notebook()
    {
      // allow to drop controls onto this control.
      SetStyle(ControlStyles.ContainerControl |
               ControlStyles.AllPaintingInWmPaint |
               ControlStyles.Opaque, true);
    }

    void SelectPage(int index)
    {
      Panel page = Pages[index];
      page.Parent = this;
      page.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
      page.BringToFront();
      SelectedPage = page;

    }

  }

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