Show Child Toolstrip in Parent

Question

Is is possible to have a child's toolstrip directly underneath the parent's toolstrip.

When the child is maximised, the parent's toolstrip is seperated from the child toolstrip by a dark gray line (the boundry of the mdi form). At the moment, I have all the toolstrips used by the child forms actually in the parent form, and I change their visible property depending on which form is open, but there must be a better solution.

I have a screenshot of what I mean. The right image is the result I need, i.e. the parent's toolstrip and the child's toolstrip not seperated by the dark border.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/717/mdiform.jpg/

Thanks

Answer 1

Try this, it does what you want. The Child ToolStrip is on the parent form when the child is maximized and on the child form if the child form is not maximized

 

Public Class Form1

  Private MyToolStrip As New ToolStrip With {.Parent = Me}
  Private Button3 As New ToolStripButton("AAA")
  Private Button4 As New ToolStripButton("BBB")

  Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
    MyToolStrip.Items.Add(Button3)
    MyToolStrip.Items.Add(Button4)
    Dim F As New childForm
    F.MdiParent = Me
    F.Show()
  End Sub
End Class

Class childForm : Inherits Form

  Private MyChildToolStrip As New ToolStrip With {.Parent = Me}
  Private WithEvents Button1 As New ToolStripButton("CCC")
  Private WithEvents Button2 As New ToolStripButton("DDD")


  Private Sub childForm_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
    MyChildToolStrip.Items.Add(Button1)
    MyChildToolStrip.Items.Add(Button2)
  End Sub

  Private Sub childForm_StyleChanged(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Resize
    If Me.WindowState = FormWindowState.Maximized Then
      'When maximized, the toolstrip goes on the MdiParent form
      MyChildToolStrip.Parent = Me.MdiParent
    Else
      'When normal, the toolstrip goes on the MdiParent form
      MyChildToolStrip.Parent = Me
    End If
  End Sub
End Class

 

Answer 2

That worked.

MyChildToolStrip.Parent = Me.MdiParent

It is such a simple solution. However, the child's toolstrip appears above the parent's toolstrip (and menubar). How can I get it to appear below the parent's toolstrip

 

Thanks again.

Answer 3

This is the easiest way to make sure it will always be the lowest one

 

Public Class Form1

  Private MyToolStrip As New ToolStrip With {.Parent = Me}
  Private Button3 As New ToolStripButton("AAA")
  Private Button4 As New ToolStripButton("BBB")

  Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
    MyToolStrip.Items.Add(Button3)
    MyToolStrip.Items.Add(Button4)
    Dim F As New childForm
    F.MdiParent = Me
    F.Show()
  End Sub
End Class

Class childForm : Inherits Form

  Private MyChildToolStrip As New ToolStrip With {.Parent = Me}
  Private WithEvents Button1 As New ToolStripButton("CCC")
  Private WithEvents Button2 As New ToolStripButton("DDD")


  Private Sub childForm_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
    MyChildToolStrip.Items.Add(Button1)
    MyChildToolStrip.Items.Add(Button2)
  End Sub

  Private Sub childForm_StyleChanged(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Resize
    If Me.WindowState = FormWindowState.Maximized Then
      'When maximized, the toolstrip goes on the MdiParent form
      MyChildToolStrip.Parent = Me.MdiParent
      Me.MdiParent.Controls.SetChildIndex(MyChildToolStrip, 0)
    Else
      'When normal, the toolstrip goes on the MdiParent form
      MyChildToolStrip.Parent = Me
    End If
  End Sub
End Class

Answer 4

Thanks again for your help.

 

I did a little research and found out that you can also move the toolstrip to the bottom by using the control's Z position to set its position relative to other controls that are docked to the top by using the bringtofront method.