#200 – Parent/Child Relationships Between Windows

Creating a new Window object and displaying it using the Show method results in a new window in your application that is independent from any existing windows.  The new window can be minimized and maximized independently and gets its own icon on the taskbar.

Creating a new (independent) window:

    Window w = new Window();
    w.Title = DateTime.Now.ToLongTimeString();
    w.Show();

WPF supports the notion of parent/child relationships between windows.  You set up the relationship by setting the Owner property of the child window to point to the parent.

    Window w = new Window();
    w.Title = string.Format("Child #{0}", this.OwnedWindows.Count + 1);
    w.Owner = this;
    w.Show();

When you make one window the child of another:

• When a parent is minimized, all the child windows are minimized
• When child is minimized, parent is not minimized
• You can interact with either window
• The parent can’t cover a child window
• Closing a parent closes all the child windows