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I know it's possible to open an external application in an MDI form: Opening external application inside VB.NET MDI Form

But what I'm looking for is to open a VB.NET MDI Form inside an external application, notepad.exe for example. What I want to happen is for the form to open inside the external program(notepad in this case)

frostbyte.NET
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    What you're asking for makes no sense. You couldn't possibly open a FORM from your application in a program made to display text. – Steve Oct 21 '14 at 14:03
  • Notepad was just an example. What I am asking for is for an external program to be an MDI Container for a form in my application. Thanks. – frostbyte.NET Oct 22 '14 at 09:09

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The only way you can do what you are asking is if the program allows "Add-ins". Some programs, like those in MS Office, will allow you to create add-ins to their programs which can be called in many different ways. I don't think I has see one that allows what you would call MDI Children but that does not mean there isn't something out there.

To get started creating add-ins for office, create a new project in visual studio using one of the supplied templates:

  • New Project
  • Templates
  • Visual Basic
  • Office

Or for visual studio:

  • New Project
  • Templates
  • Other Project Types
  • Extensibility
Steve
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  • But I don't want it to be in ms office or vs. After a little research I have read that you could inject it. I'm quite clueless on how I would go about doing that though. – frostbyte.NET Oct 22 '14 at 19:53
  • Never heard of it. Honestly, I would think that was illegal and would allow malicious activity. – Steve Oct 22 '14 at 19:59
  • http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3596341/is-it-possible-to-inject-a-windows-form-application-into-another-application-as That's kinda what I want. But I don't understand the content in the links provided. EDIT: Also, what I am planning on doing is not illegal or malicious in anyway :p – frostbyte.NET Oct 22 '14 at 20:16
  • I have an idea. Is it possible to make a form that always stays on top of only a specific external window and I don't mean Me.Topmost but it has to stay on top of only a certain window and the form could resize when the external application is resized and maximize when the external app is maximized and so on. That way I can make my form an MDI Container. – frostbyte.NET Oct 23 '14 at 06:57