c# navigate or skip forms

i learned earlier how to move between two forms back and forth. but what if there's more forms? this is my code for form1:

    Form2 form2 = new Form2();
    private void aboutoldtrafford_MouseClick(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
    {
        this.Hide();
        form2.ShowDialog();
        this.Show();
    }

i can go to form2 and there's two button there: back and next

     private void backbutton_MouseClick(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
    {
        this.DialogResult = DialogResult.OK;
    }

    Form3 form3 = new Form3();
    private void nextbutton_MouseClick(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
    {
            this.Hide();
            form3.ShowDialog();
            this.Show();

    }

back button will return to form1 and the next button will go to form3. below is my code for form3. in form3, there are two buttons: back 开发者_C百科and finish

    private void back_MouseClick(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
    {
        this.DialogResult = DialogResult.OK;
    }

    private void finish_MouseClick(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
    {
        this.Hide();
        // i want to go back to form1

    }

back button will return to form2 and the finish button will go back to form1. obviously, i cant do "this.DialogResult = DialogResult.OK;" in the finish button. how can i go back to form1 without going to form2? please help...

---

First option - you can use UserControls instead of Forms and just call BringToFront() on control that you want to make active.

Another option - move application state management to some object. Create states map

public class StateManager
{
   private Dictionary<ApplicationState, Form> _stateMap = new Dictionary<ApplicationState, Form>();
   private ApplicationState _currentState;

    public void RegisterState(ApplicationState state, Form form)
    {
        if (_stateMap.ContainsKey(state))
            // throw an exception, or rewrite mapping

       _stateMap.Add(state, form);
    }

    public ApplicationState CurrentState
    {
        get { return _currentState; }
        set
        {
            if (!_stateMap.ContainsKey(value))
                // do nothing or throw exception

            if (_currentState == value)
                return;                

            CurrentForm.Hide();                
            _currentState = value;
            CurrentForm.Show();
        }
    }

    public Form CurrentForm
    {
        get { return _stateMap[_currentState]; }
    }
}

I used here forms instances, but you can create instances via factory.

Next step - register states of application (of course, you should give more meaningful names for application states):

StateManager stateManager = StateManager.Instance;
stateManager.RegisterState(ApplicationState.Form1, new Form1());
stateManager.RegisterState(ApplicationState.Form2, new Form2());
stateManager.RegisterState(ApplicationState.Form3, new Form3());

Set current state and run application:

stateManager.CurrentState = ApplicationState.Form1;
Application.Run(stateManager.CurrentForm);

And last step - change applications states. You can pass stateManager instance to forms constructors, or use static Singleton:

private void previousButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
   StateManager.Instance.CurrentState = ApplicationState.Form1;
}

Further you can create forms dynamically, use configuration file for states definition etc.

Good luck!