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winformsmdimodeless

Which's better: MDI children, or modeless dialogs?

What's the pros and cons for each of them?

Solution

  • It depends.

    Use MDI (or tabbed MDI) if the user will generally focus on one document at once, and will want to see as much as possible.

    Use owned non-modal forms (such as toolwindows) if the user will want to interact with many smaller forms at once.

    You can also use both, a la Visual Studio.