Referencing dynamically loaded controls

[Vinod]

Hi,
Since vb.net doesn't support control arrays, I've created some button controls
at runtime by giving each of them a different name based on a counter. The
problem I'm facing now is, I can recreate each of the control name but how
can I get the properties or methods of a dynamically created control ? I
can give you an example. (strControlName = "Button" & iCounter , So the
first button name will be Button1. I got the control name stored in a string
variable. Now I wan't to check a property of the control Button1. Pls help.
Thanks
Vinod

[Len Weaver]

Hello Vinod,

>Since vb.net doesn't support control arrays, I've
>created some button controls at runtime by giving
>each of them a different name based on a counter.
>The problem I'm facing now is, I can recreate each
>of the control name but how can I get the properties
>or methods of a dynamically created control? I can

VB.Net does support control arrays. The short coming is that the
form designer does not create them for you automatically. You can
create a control array yourself with code similar to the following:

<Untested Code>
'General Declarations Section
Private MyButtons As Button()

'Form Load or Constructor
MyButtons = New Button() {btnLoad, btnSave, _
btnDelete, btnClose}
</Untested Code>

After that you can access your buttons from the array in pretty much
the same way you would from a VB6 app. i.e.

MyButtons{1}.Text = "&Save"

This is much easier than trying to access them by name, which would
involve looping through the array and comparing the .Name property with
a string.

Hope this helps,
Len

[Anthony]

Vinod,
To find the on control and access it's properties you could do a FindControl.
Now you could find it by the control name, which it looks like you already
have, or by the control index as it pertains to the page. I would go with
the name as follows

dim btn as button = FindControl("Button1")

Now you should be able to access all the properties of the button
Hope this helps,
Anthony


"Vinod" <vinod@svw.com> wrote:
>
>Hi,
> Since vb.net doesn't support control arrays, I've created some button
controls
>at runtime by giving each of them a different name based on a counter. The
>problem I'm facing now is, I can recreate each of the control name but how
>can I get the properties or methods of a dynamically created control ? I
>can give you an example. (strControlName = "Button" & iCounter , So the
>first button name will be Button1. I got the control name stored in a string
>variable. Now I wan't to check a property of the control Button1. Pls help.
>Thanks
>Vinod

[njpost41]

The Handles portion of an event handler call requires <control name>.event. Since my control is created at runtime, and there could be many of them, I don't know how to specify the control name in the Handles clause. Help would be appreciated! Nancy

[Phil Weber]

Hi, Nancy: For dynamically-created controls, you should use AddHandler: http://www.thescarms.com/dotNet/EventHandler.asp