We Keep Coding

How to create a windows form that replaces the current form?

I am making a game using Windows Forms, and I feel that the easiest way to make different screens (Main Menu, Settings, Etc...) is using a separate form for each screen. I have looked up up many different ways to do this. Many people talk of using form2.Show(); this.Hide();, however, this creates a new popup window.
People have also suggested using this.IsMdiContainer = true; to create a new window inside of the current window, but this is also not the functionality I want.
EDIT: Another question, multiple-guis-one-window, explains slightly that this can be achieved using UserControls, but does not elaborate with any examples, or what I should do.
I want to completely replace the current form's functionality with that of a new form.
Is there a way to achieve this? If not, is there a good alternative?

As I understood, you want to keep the same form and change the data inside that form (to not get the effect that your form was closed and reopened again).
The problem is windows form does not support such thing directly (at least not in an optimal way), I would use another UI frameworks for that. However, if you want to stick though with windows forms, you may use GroupBox or Panel tools (available from windows form design tools in Visual studio). Here you can group your elements as required, and show/hide the group/panel as required.
That is one of the best available solution for windows form AFAIK.

You want to open child forms within main form then you should try this i have create it without any User Control.
I have manage one parent form and two child forms. child forms should be open within parent form.
frmMain(Parent Form)
Set frmMain Property as Following
WindowState = System.Windows.Forms.FormWindowState.Maximized
I have take 3 panel in frmMain window.
pnlMenu (For Display Menu)
Set pnlMenu.Dock = System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle.Top property
Set height of this panel as you require.
pnlMain (For Display Child Forms)
Set pnlMain.Dock = System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle.Fill property
pnlFooter (For Footer Section)
Set pnlFooter.Dock = System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle.Bottom; property
Set height of this panel as you require.
I have set menubar in pnlMenu(Click on that menu for display child form in pnlMain)
frmMain.cs
public void BindFormIntoMainForm(Form Main)
{
Main.TopLevel = false;
Main.WindowState = FormWindowState.Maximized;
Main.AutoScroll = true;
pnlMain.Controls.Clear();
pnlMain.Controls.Add(Main);
pnlMain.Refresh();
Main.Show();
}
private void childToolStripMenuItem_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
frmChildForm1 ChildForm1 = new frmChildForm1();
BindFormIntoMainForm(ChildForm1);
}
private void childForm2ToolStripMenuItem1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
frmChildForm2 ChildForm2 = new frmChildForm2();
BindFormIntoMainForm(ChildForm2);
}
BindFormIntoMainForm method responsible for display child form in main window.
frmChildForm1 & frmChildForm2(ChildForm)
Set both form Property as Following
FormBorderStyle = System.Windows.Forms.FormBorderStyle.None
Now when you click on Child Form 1 Menu then display following output:
when you click on Child Form 2 Menu then display following output:
I think it can be helpful for you.

Showing a modeless form's 'title bar' inside the parent form when it's minimized

I'm trying to implement some complement views inside my application and I would like to have a better layout control over them. I don't know how to explain in words what my desired functionality is, so I made it through with some photoshop help, hoping you could give me a hand to implement it.
My application now looks like this:
(i need reputation to post images so.. sorry for the links)
http://i59.tinypic.com/2ikv8m1.jpg
When I minimize the modeless form which is focused in the previous image, I would like to be able to see it (and handle it to maximize or close) inside my main form as I show in the image below (made it in photoshop)
http://i58.tinypic.com/1e28go.jpg
Hope someone can lead my into a solution and thanks for the support.
EDIT: I need to be able to move that form outside my main form, even to a different monitor.

If you don't want to use the MDI approach, then set TopLevel of the modeless Form to false and add it to the main Forms Controls collection before showing it:
Form frm = new Form();
frm.TopLevel = false;
this.Controls.Add(frm);
frm.Show();
*Obviously changing Form to the correct type of your modeless form.

If i understand what you are trying to do, you want to minimize a certain form but still see it within your app (im assuming like Excel or Word)
You can do something similar to what Idle_Mind said, but enclose both in a Form instead of the parent.
Form fParent = new Form();
fParent.Dock = DockMode.Fill;//i think this is the syntax. Use this if you want the form to fill to the screen
Form fChild = new Form();
fChild.TopLevel = false;
fParent.Controls.Add(fChild);
fChild.Show();
Here, it should minimize to the lower left part of the parent form. You can then size the parent to whatever you want it to be.

Show a Winform 'Form' as if it were a usercontrol, within another form

Edit
The answer to This Question, though an obvious solution, is insufficient for this case. I've bolded the reason in my original question explaining why I wanted it 'literally answered' - thanks LarsTech!
My Original Question:
I have a library with 100 WinForms Form screens in it that is 'Beyond My Control' and there are a few I can share in my app. However, my app uses a tab control and I need the content of the forms to appear within the tabs instead of as popups.
When I try to new up one of the forms and add it to the controls collection of a tab, I get this error message:
Top-level control cannot be added to a control.
Anybody know how to get around this? I know there are other ways involving better architecture, but deadlines, backlogs, and rich new customers await. [sigh/]
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
//panel1.Controls.Add(new Button());
Form f = new Form();
f.Controls.Add(new CheckBox());
//f.ShowDialog();
panel1.Controls.Add(f);
}

Try turning the TopLevel off:
f.TopLevel = false;
f.FormBorderStyle = FormBorderStyle.None;
f.Visiible = true;
Now it is essentially a UserControl. A word of caution though, since it's a form, it will show up in the Application.OpenForms collection, which is probably not your intention.

You need to set the form's TopLevel property to false, like this:
f.TopLevel = false;
You may also want to set the FormBorderStyle property to None.
f.FormBorderStyle = FormBorderStyle.None;
As mentioned in the comments above, it really would be best, when possible, to make it a UserControl.

Embed a form onto a tabcontrol in windows forms

I have a tab control in a windows form and I want to be able to click on a tab and in the body area of the tab I want it to display another form as an embedded component. Is this possible? If so, can someone please provide an example or a link to an example of how to accomplish this?

You are probably looking for Tabbed MDI Child Forms

You can embed a Form but it's not the best choice.
Better place the contents on UserControls and add that to the TabPage.

Set your MainForm (Parent) as IsMDIContainer = true;
Create an instance of the ChildForm and call this function:
FormChild frmChild = new FormChild();
AddNewTab(frmChild);
Copy this Function to your code:
private void AddNewTab(Form frm)
{
TabPage tab = new TabPage(frm.Text);
frm.TopLevel = false;
frm.Parent = tab;
frm.Visible = true;
tabControl.TabPages.Add(tab);
frm.Location = new Point((tab.Width - frm.Width) / 2, (tab.Height - frm.Height) / 2);
tabControl.SelectedTab = tab;
}

I think the other answer has the right idea; Tabbed MDI is probably what you want.
There is an approach where you create a UserControl that has the same content as the form and use that on the TabPage.
TabPage myTabPage = new TabPage(sometext);
myUserControl = new myUserControlType();
myUserControl.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
myTabPage.Controls.Add(myUserControl);
myTabControl.Add(myTabPage);
http://bytes.com/topic/c-sharp/answers/270457-can-i-add-form-tabpage goes into more detail; but I'd look at the MDI stuff first.

If you do not want to use MDI, you can try to put everything from desired form to user control and add this user control in both form and tab.

Tips on setting the window state of a Windows Forms window

I have a Windows Forms application that opens MDI child forms. When I select those forms, I need to set or render its windowstate to Maximized. The problem is, when I navigate between the open forms, it reverts back to the normal window state, and when I set the window state to maximized again, it shows the transition from normal to maximized state and it doesn't look nice.
How can a Windows application be created that have an MDI parent form that opens many MDI childs in maximized window state?

Here's an answer based on using the MDI "Parent Form and Child Form paradigm," with the following assumptions :
you have a MenuStrip control 'Dock = 'Top on your MDIParentForm, and you've implemented the automatic MDI &Window menu handler as described in : How to: Create an MDI Window List with MenuStrip
you are creating new child forms that :
a. do not have a MaximizeBox, MinimizeBox, etc., but may have ControlBox (for closing them)
b. these child forms may be resizable or not : we won't consider the implications of that here.
You want these MDIChildForms to display maximized in the MDIParent Form, but not to obscure the MDIParentForm's menu.
Okay : assuming you have all your child Forms fully designed, "waiting in the wings" : we might see some code like this in your MDIParentForm code :
// create instances of your child forms
Form2 f2 = new Form2();
Form3 f3 = new Form3();
Form4 f4 = new Form4();
Form5 f5 = new Form5();
private void MDIParentForm1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
f2.Text = "subForm1";
f3.Text = "subForm2";
f4.Text = "subForm3";
f5.Text = "subForm4";
f2.MdiParent = this;
f3.MdiParent = this;
f4.MdiParent = this;
f5.MdiParent = this;
f2.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
f3.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
f4.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
f5.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
f2.Show();
f3.Show();
f4.Show();
f5.Show();
}
At this point, the dock style 'Fill applied to the child forms will make them full-screen, and keep them from obscuring the MDIParentForm menu : and the menu will allow you to auto-select which one is frontmost.
Now, if you want to do fancier stuff : like resizing the child Forms, tiling them, cascading them. You are going to have to change the 'Dock property of these child windows : and then you can make use of the built-in MDI paradigm window arranging facilities as described here : How to: Arrange MDI Child Forms
And if you want to create multiple instances of one type of pre-defined child form : How to Create MDI Child Forms ... see the example on how to use a 'New menu entry : may prove useful.

If you want the window state to always be maximized, I'd recommend switching away from an MDI Form. A TabControl may work better, in that case.
MDI forms have quite a few usability issues, which is why they are not commonly used anymore, and tend to be replaced with other controls/options.

After reading Reeds answer and especially your comment:
problem with tabcontrol is, i have a
lot of controls used per child form
Maybe this will help:
Don't put your controls into a Winform. Instead encapsulate them into a UserControl (maybe it already works by changing your inheritance from Form to UserControl).
Now put every UserControl on it's own TabPage and set its Dock property to Fill. Now you are able to change each UserControl on it's own, without any interference to another control on another TabPage (as far as you don't built in any connection).

If you intend to give up on MDI, you could have a look at docking frameworks like WeifenLuo or DigitalRune. These are free, for other options you can have a look here: http://windowsclient.net/downloads/folders/controlgallery/tags/Windows+Forms+Docking+Windows/default.aspx
EDIT:
If I remember well, DigitalRune allows the usage of windows forms as containers for docked content so the migration effort would be smaller.