Getting a Reference to a Control's Parent Form

All .NET Windows Forms controls have a FindForm method that allows you to get a reference to the form on which a control resides. Unfortunately, this method does not work when a control is instantiating (usually the very time you need a reference to the parent form!).

To address this issue, you can call the static GetParentForm method of the MM .NET Form Manager to get a reference to the parent form.

For example, in C#:

public class MyTextBox : TextBox
{
	public MyTextBox()
	{
		Form ParentForm = mmAppDesktop.FormMgr.GetParentForm(this);
		// Perform processing
	}
}

And in VB .NET:

Public Class MyTextBox
   Inherits TextBox
   
   Public Sub New()
      Dim ParentForm As Form = mmAppDesktop.FormMgr.GetParentForm(Me)
      ' Perform processing
   End Sub 

End Class

© (c) 2026 Oak Leaf Enterprises, Inc., 1996-2026 • Updated: 07/05/04
Comment or report problem with topic