Structure ?

[Doug Bell]

Hi,

I have to build an application to allow data entry for a manufacturing line.

The application has (will have) a settings form to allow it to select the
correct data for the particular processes for the selected line.

The problem I have (working out how to structure this application) is that
for some areas the application has to have 2 (or possibly more) different
settings as it can be accessed for different lines.

In the past (when this was an Access application) I solved it by having
multiple copies of the application running and the Users would switch from
one to the other. This is no longer an acceptable method.

The new application will need a menu or combo box to change its "flavour".
That is not a problem but I am trying to work out how to professionally
display the settings form.

I was thinking of building the settings form with a Tab control and adding
additional tabs (programatically), with all the setting controls, if the
station needed a 2nd or 3rd instance but this means looping through the
controls on the 1stTab and copying them to the 2nd (and possibly 3rd) Tab if
it/they are required and then setting them with the correct settings.

Is that a good approach or is there some way to have a child form that would
hold the setting controls and open an instance of it inside each Tab?

Or is there a better approach to accomplishing this?

Thanks for any ideas,

Doug

 

[Earl]

In my opinion, adding tabs at run-time is a real PIA -- particularly if you
are also going to populate and locate additional controls on the tab. My
instinct is that the changes should be database driven, as determined by the
"flavor" selected. Probably you will have various forms prepopulated to deal
with the different "major" scenarios and simply tweak each one if it loads
some variation.