I recently received this question from one of the users of a messageboard that I answer questions for:

>>Hi,

>>I'm trying to open up a form and set it's top and left property
to be the same as one of my panels on my form. However,
it's not working out the way i >>planned. I even tried adding
up the top of form1 and the top of the panel but that didn't
work either. Any help on this would be appreciative.

His original code is below.

Private Sub lbl_LinkClicked( ByVal sender As System. Object , _
ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.LinkLabelLinkClickedEventArgs) _
Handles lbl.LinkClicked

Dim frmForm As New Form2
With Form2
    .Show()
    .Width = Me .Panel1.Width
    .Height = Me .Panel1.Height
    .Top = Me .Top + Me .Panel1.Top
    .Left = Me .Left + Me .Panel1.Left

End With

End Sub

At first glance of the code it looks like this should work.
He makes the form's width the same as the panel, then
makes it the same height as well. Now it is time to place
it on top of where the panel is located. He then sets the
Top of the form equal to the Top of the current form plus
the top of the panel on the form. This should place it right
on top of the panel right? Well no, actually he forgot to take
into account the forms menubar and side border.

So this should work for him right. Well yes it does but who
wants to hard code that kind of detail. What if the size of
the menubar or border changes?

Dim frmForm As New Form2
        With frmForm
           .Show()
           .Width = Me .Panel1.Width
           .Height = Me .Panel1.Height
           .Top = Me .Top + Me .Panel1.Top + 30
           .Left = Me .Left + Me .Panel1.Left + 4 

        End With

To get the exact size you can use the
System.Windows.Forms.SystemInformation Namespace.
You can use the FrameBorderSize.Width and the
CaptionHeight (Menubar) to accomplish this. Make sure that
you add the CaptionHeight and FrameBorderWidth together for
the Top calculation because the border goes around the whole form.

Dim frmForm As New Form2
        With frmForm
           .Show()
           .Width = Me .Panel1.Width
           .Height = Me .Panel1.Height
            Dim intBorder As Integer
           intBorder = System.Windows.Forms. _
           SystemInformation.FrameBorderSize.Width
            Dim intMenuHeight As Integer
            intMenuHeight = System.Windows.Forms. _
            SystemInformation.CaptionHeight

           .Top = Me.Top +  _
                  Me.Panel1.Top + _
                  intBorder + _
                  intMenuHeight
           .Left = Me.Left + _
                   Me.Panel1.Left + _
                  intBorder

        End With

So this got me to thinking. What else can the SystemInformation
Namespace do for me? Well quite a bit actually.
below I have detailed out some of the information you
can get using this namespace.

What is the computer name?
SystemInformation.ComputerName

Is a connection to a network present?
Network : SystemInformation.Network

What is the users Domain Name
SystemInformation.UserDomainName

What is the UserName?
SystemInformation.UserName

What was the boot mode (Normal, Safe Mode etc...)
SystemInformation.BootMode.ToString

Adjusting the disply for multiple monitors.
SystemInformation.MonitorCount.ToString
SystemInformation.MonitorsSameDisplayFormat.ToString
SystemInformation.ArrangeDirection.ToString
SystemInformation.PrimaryMonitorSize.ToString

Questions about the mouse.
MousePresent : SystemInformation.MousePresent.ToString
MouseButtonsSwapped : SystemInformation.MouseButtonsSwapped.ToString
MouseButtons: SystemInformation.MouseButtons.ToString

There are other items in there as well. Check out the help
files to see all the things this namespace can give you.

Happy Programming,

DotNetDoc