The following is a very quick example that I've thrown together of what I suggested above. It does not follow best practice for purposes of simplicity. The areas to concentrate on below is the EmployeeModel class, Form1 and Form2 source.
The idea here is utilize the EmployeeModel class as a container that both forms have access to.
Form 1 acquires the employee information. (Keep in mind, the model class can contain any information you like. It does not have to be reserved for just properties. If you prefer, you can keep a reference to a dataset here.)
Form 2 has a reference to this EmployeeModel class. When the button click event is fired on form1, a new EmployeeModel class object is created and initialized with the relevant information that would be displayed in form2. It is then passed as an object reference using Form2's overloaded constructor.
On the Onload event of Form2, the label.Text properties are initialized with what is contained in the EmployeeModel that was passed as a reference.
This is a very basic implementation and in most real world applications where expandability and maintainability are also factors to consider, a MVP or MVVM WinForms architectural framework is typically used.
Form 1 designer:
namespace FormToFormExample
{
partial class Form1
{
/// <summary>
/// Required designer variable.
/// </summary>
private System.ComponentModel.IContainer components = null;
/// <summary>
/// Clean up any resources being used.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="disposing">true if managed resources should be disposed; otherwise, false.</param>
protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
{
if (disposing && (components != null))
{
components.Dispose();
}
base.Dispose(disposing);
}
#region Windows Form Designer generated code
/// <summary>
/// Required method for Designer support - do not modify
/// the contents of this method with the code editor.
/// </summary>
private void InitializeComponent()
{
this.textBox1 = new System.Windows.Forms.TextBox();
this.button1 = new System.Windows.Forms.Button();
this.SuspendLayout();
//
// textBox1
//
this.textBox1.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(12, 12);
this.textBox1.Name = "textBox1";
this.textBox1.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(260, 20);
this.textBox1.TabIndex = 0;
//
// button1
//
this.button1.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(197, 64);
this.button1.Name = "button1";
this.button1.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(75, 23);
this.button1.TabIndex = 2;
this.button1.Text = "button1";
this.button1.UseVisualStyleBackColor = true;
//
// Form1
//
this.AutoScaleDimensions = new System.Drawing.SizeF(6F, 13F);
this.AutoScaleMode = System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode.Font;
this.ClientSize = new System.Drawing.Size(284, 100);
this.Controls.Add(this.button1);
this.Controls.Add(this.textBox1);
this.Name = "Form1";
this.Text = "Form1";
this.ResumeLayout(false);
this.PerformLayout();
}
#endregion
private System.Windows.Forms.TextBox textBox1;
private System.Windows.Forms.Button button1;
}
}
Form 2 designer:
namespace FormToFormExample
{
partial class Form2
{
/// <summary>
/// Required designer variable.
/// </summary>
private System.ComponentModel.IContainer components = null;
/// <summary>
/// Clean up any resources being used.
/// </summary>
/// <param name="disposing">true if managed resources should be disposed; otherwise, false.</param>
protected override void Dispose(bool disposing)
{
if (disposing && (components != null))
{
components.Dispose();
}
base.Dispose(disposing);
}
#region Windows Form Designer generated code
/// <summary>
/// Required method for Designer support - do not modify
/// the contents of this method with the code editor.
/// </summary>
private void InitializeComponent()
{
this.label1 = new System.Windows.Forms.Label();
this.label2 = new System.Windows.Forms.Label();
this.SuspendLayout();
//
// label1
//
this.label1.AutoSize = true;
this.label1.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(12, 9);
this.label1.Name = "label1";
this.label1.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(35, 13);
this.label1.TabIndex = 0;
this.label1.Text = "label1";
//
// label2
//
this.label2.AutoSize = true;
this.label2.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(12, 34);
this.label2.Name = "label2";
this.label2.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(35, 13);
this.label2.TabIndex = 1;
this.label2.Text = "label2";
//
// Form2
//
this.AutoScaleDimensions = new System.Drawing.SizeF(6F, 13F);
this.AutoScaleMode = System.Windows.Forms.AutoScaleMode.Font;
this.ClientSize = new System.Drawing.Size(284, 262);
this.Controls.Add(this.label2);
this.Controls.Add(this.label1);
this.Name = "Form2";
this.Text = "Form2";
this.ResumeLayout(false);
this.PerformLayout();
}
#endregion
private System.Windows.Forms.Label label1;
private System.Windows.Forms.Label label2;
}
}
Model class:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
namespace FormToFormExample
{
public class EmployeeModel
{
#region Properties
private Guid _employeeID;
public Guid EmployeeID
{
get { return this._employeeID; }
set { this._employeeID = value; }
}
private string _name;
public string Name
{
get { return this._name; }
set { this._name = value; }
}
#endregion
#region Constructors
public EmployeeModel()
{
this._employeeID = Guid.NewGuid();
}
public EmployeeModel(string name)
: this()
{
this._name = name;
}
#endregion
}
}
Form 1 source:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows.Forms;
namespace FormToFormExample
{
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
#region Constructors
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
Initialize();
BindComponents();
}
#endregion
#region Methods
private void BindComponents()
{
this.button1.Click += button1_Click;
}
private void Initialize()
{
this.textBox1.Text = string.Empty;
}
#endregion
#region Events
void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Form2 form2 = new Form2(new EmployeeModel(textBox1.Text));
form2.ShowDialog();
Initialize();
}
#endregion
}
}
Form 2 source:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows.Forms;
namespace FormToFormExample
{
public partial class Form2 : Form
{
EmployeeModel _model;
#region Constructors
public Form2()
{
InitializeComponent();
BindComponents();
}
public Form2(EmployeeModel model)
: this()
{
this._model = model;
}
#endregion
#region Methods
private void BindComponents()
{
this.Load += Form2_Load;
}
private void Initialize()
{
this.label1.Text = this._model.EmployeeID.ToString();
this.label2.Text = this._model.Name;
}
#endregion
#region Events
void Form2_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
Initialize();
}
#endregion
}
}
Program:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows.Forms;
namespace FormToFormExample
{
static class Program
{
/// <summary>
/// The main entry point for the application.
/// </summary>
[STAThread]
static void Main()
{
Application.EnableVisualStyles();
Application.SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
Application.Run(new Form1());
}
}
}