Hi,

I am new to VB.NET and I am about to start designing forms for an IT Asset Tracking system.

I have created a parent MDI form that has a fixed toolbar with buttons and I will then create child forms to act as a container in the parent MDI form. My buttons on the toolbar consist of Inventory,Purchasing,Contracts,Admin and Reports.

Therefore, I always want the MDI parent form to appear. The default child forms inside the parent MDI form will consist of a DBgrid that summarises information.

For example, if a user selects the Inventory button, then a summary form containing a DBgrid should appear that lists inventory items such as Desktop PC's, Servers etc and this form will be a container within the parent form.

If a another button such as Purchasing is selected then a similar child summary form should appear within the parent form etc.

If a user decides to add a new item within the Inventory area, then the summary form should be replaced by an Add New Item child form within the MDI parent form.

I have got the book Beginning Visual Basic 2005 Databases by Wrox and the Time Tracker application in the book uses an Outlook 2003 style interface.

I have also studied an IT Asset Tracking system called Numara's Track-It and the interface it uses consists of a main form with the menus and buttons and whenever buttons are clicked such as Add Asset, Add Purchase Order etc then those forms open up inside the main form.

It would really help if someone could advise what approach I should take when it comes to having a main form with multiple forms inside the main form or whether I should go with something like the example that the Wrox book provides. If someone can lead me in the right direction then I can at least start on my project properly.

Regards

Dipendra