Control of NotifyIcon in MDI Parent from MDI child (C# Express)

Question

I have an MDI application with a base(Parent) form (FormA) and several child forms (Form1, Form2, etc). My Parent Form (FormA) is invisible and contains a ContextMenuStrip (contextMenuStrip1) and a NotifyIcon (notifyIcon1). I have 3 Icons defined in my properties.resources
(a yellow, green, and red check mark). I start FormA from Main() in my Program.cs with  Application.Run(new FormA()); . FormA starts and checks various things via code in FormA or in Program.cs, selects the proper icon and sets it, may or may not
create a message balloon depending on what it finds and gives the user access to the ContextMenuStrip by right-clicking the Icon. From the ContextMenuStrip the user can select the various other forms to make certain adjustments. Whichever form is selected
by the user is started with:
Form1 newMDIChild = new Form1();
            // Set the Parent Form of the Child window.
            newMDIChild.MdiParent = this.MdiParent;
            // Display the new form.
            newMDIChild.Show();
Form1 (or Form2 or Form97) starts, checks stuff via routines in Form1 (or 2 or 97) and Program.cs and allows the user to change certain things via  textboxes or run certain routines via buttons that are made visible if appropriate. This all works flawlessly
and I'm happier than a pig in you know what BUT... what I NEED to be able to do is change the Icon in FormA (notifyIcon1.Icon) from a yellow or red check mark to a green one, once things causing a problem are corrected while still remaining in Form1 (and/or
2 and/or 97) to allow other changes to be made. My understanding was that Form Papa = (Form)this.MdiParent; would give me the Parent (FormA) form, but no matter what I have tried, I cannot change notifyIcon1.Icon, so there is an obvious disconnect in
my thinking.
Please understand that I am new at C#. The last time I "mastered" a programming language was in the days of Clipper 5.3 and C (DOS) when OOL was in its' infancy, so my toes got damp but my feet never got truly wet with OOL, so please type slowly
Please understand also that I Understand that MDI is the personification of Satan himself here on Earth, but it is what for now I am stuck with and must solve. If you know better ways of accomplishing what I have described, by all means please point me to
them for future use. I am learning, and will continue to learn until about two weeks after they wrap me in burlap with some heavy stones and drop me off a ship at sea.
My thanks in advance for your patience, understanding and help.
Dan

Answer 1

Hello Dan,
>>Form1 newMDIChild = new Form1();
            // Set the Parent Form of the Child window.
            newMDIChild.MdiParent = this.MdiParent;
            // Display the new form.
            newMDIChild.Show();<<
1. First, I will point that if you called that MDI form with that way, you will not be able to access main form's instance, since you set its mdiparent to the
main form's parent. So I would recommend you change it to the following one.
newMDIChild.MdiParent = this;
If you don't want the main form is mdi container, you could add a property to mdi form and pass the instance directly to that property instead.
2. You could add the following property to the main form class.
public Icon MyIcon
get { return this.notifyIcon1.Icon; }
set { this.notifyIcon1.Icon = value; }
And then inside the MDI form, change that property to the one you want to change the icon to, e.g change it to Icon2.
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
Form1 f1 = (Form1)this.MdiParent;
f1.MyIcon = Properties.Resources.Icon2;
Result:
Regard,
Carl
We are trying to better understand customer views on social support experience, so your participation in this interview project would be greatly appreciated if you have time. Thanks for helping make community forums a great place.
Click
HERE to participate the survey.