Pass an object from form to another in VB - vb.net

Question

I have searched through the internet and couldn't find the answer to my problem, but, the issue is that I have 2 forms;
frm_bookManeger
and
frm_addBook
The first one is the main form and has a list of books (named listBook), a TreeView and a button to invoke the second form to add a new book.
After filling in all of the TextBoxes and information of a book, I press "Add". Then, the second form will be closed and all info of that book will be kept in an instance of Book class. The problem is: how can I pass this instance to the first form to store it in listBook.
For example:
If I create a constructor in form 1 to get form 2 then in form 2:
Dim f1 As form1 = New form1(me)
f1.Show()
f2.Close()
I can't do it because form 1 will start up instantly when I start program, and the default right now doesn't have any parameter in OnCreateMainForm():
Protected Overrides Sub OnCreateMainForm()
Me.MainForm = Global.WindowsApplication5.frm1
End Sub
How can I do it?
First form:
Public Class frm_bookManeger
'list of Book
Dim listBook As List(Of Book) = New List(Of Book)
Private frm_addBook As frm_addBook
Public Sub New(frm_addBook As frm_addBook) 'got error
Me.frm_addBook = frm_addBook
End Sub
Second form:
Public Class frm_addBook
Dim Public tempBook As Book = New Book()
'add book
Private Sub btn_add_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles btn_add.Click
tempBook.BookName1 = TextBox_name.Text
tempBook.Author1 = TextBox_author.Text
tempBook.Price1 = TextBox_price.Text
tempBook.Genre1 = TextBox_genre.Text
tempBook.EstablishedDay1 = dtp_established.Value.Date
Dim frm_Mngr As frm_bookManeger = New frm_bookManeger(Me)
End Sub
End Class

Answer 1

Dim frm As New form1
frm.textbox.Text = Me.passing value.Text
frm.Show()
or you can try
Public Class Form1
Private loginLabel As String
Public Sub New(ByVal loginParameter As String)
InitializeComponent()
Me.loginLabel = loginParameter
End Sub
End Class
dim frm as new Form1(label.Text)

Answer 2

Your frm_addBook needs a reference to the instance of frm_bookManeger so that it can use methods in the latter.
That can be done by passing a reference to the current instance of frm_bookManeger to the New constructor of frm_addBook.
Also, you probably want the book adding form to be a dialog form rather than an ordinary form.
I made a simple "Book" class and used a TextBox to display the books, so the first form is this:
Imports System.Text
Public Class frm_BookManager
Dim bookList As List(Of Book)
Public Class Book
Property Name As String
Property Author As String
End Class
Public Sub AddBook(b As Book)
If bookList Is Nothing Then
bookList = New List(Of Book)
End If
bookList.Add(b)
End Sub
Private Sub ShowBooks()
Dim sb As New StringBuilder
For Each b In bookList
sb.AppendLine(b.Name & " by " & b.Author)
Next
TextBox1.Text = sb.ToString()
End Sub
Private Sub btn_add_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles btn_add.Click
Using addBook As New frm_addBook(Me)
Dim result = addBook.ShowDialog()
If result = DialogResult.OK Then
ShowBooks()
End If
End Using
End Sub
Private Sub frm_BookManager_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
AddBook(New Book With {.Name = "Wuthering Heights", .Author = "Emily Brontë"})
ShowBooks()
End Sub
End Class
For the form to add a book, I added "Cancel" and "OK" buttons.
Public Class frm_addBook
Dim myParent As frm_BookManager
Private Sub bnOK_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles bnOK.Click
Dim b As New frm_BookManager.Book With {.Name = TextBox_name.Text, .Author = TextBox_author.Text}
myParent.AddBook(b)
End Sub
Public Sub New(parent As frm_BookManager)
' This call is required by the designer.
InitializeComponent()
' Add any initialization after the InitializeComponent() call.
myParent = parent
' set the DialogResult for each button so the parent can tell what happened
bnCancel.DialogResult = DialogResult.Cancel
bnOK.DialogResult = DialogResult.OK
End Sub
End Class
Notice that a new Book can be added with myParent.AddBook(b) because myParent refers to an instance of frm_BookManager.
You could modify it so that the dialog stays open and has a button to just add a book and not close the dialog. I made the ShowBooks() method Private so you can't call it from outside the class it is in - you could modify that.
There are many possibilities for small modifications to the code I showed to achieve greater functionality. And I could not resist correcting the spelling of "Maneger" to "Manager" ;)

Answer 3

I think the easiest way would be to have the frm_addBook form have a property which will contain the book that was added. In the frm_bookManager form, show that form using ShowDialog and if the user clicks OK on that form, the property will contain the book added. Be sure to dispose the frm_addBook form after you get the book from the public property.
Public Class Book
Public Property Name As String
Public Property Author As String
End Class
Public Class frm_bookManager
Dim bookList As New List(Of Book)()
Private Sub btnAddBook_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles btnAddBook.Click
Using addBookForm As New frm_addBook()
If addBookForm.ShowDialog() = DialogResult.OK Then
bookList.Add(addBookForm.BookToAdd)
End If
End Using
End Sub
End Class
Public Class frm_addBook
Public Property BookToAdd As Book
Private Sub btnOK_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles
'User filled in the fields and clicked this OK button
Me.BookToAdd = New Book()
Me.BookToAdd.Name = txtName.Text
Me.BookToAdd.Author = txtAuthor.Text
End Sub
End Class
I would not pass the main form instance into the add book form because it would create a tight coupling between the two forms and the add book form would only be usable by the main form. You might wish to use the add book form from other forms in the app.