make a tab from a user control - c#

I'm having problems. I get a lot of errors and this is annoying me when I'm trying to add tabs from a user control.
Here is the code
public Form1 f1 { get; private set; }
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
TabPage tp = new TabPage { };
tp.Text = "NewTab";
tp.Controls.Add(new b());
f1.tabControl1.TabPages.Add(tp); //>>> errors here
}
Image for more details: code no showing errors
Run-time errors

Your code isn't assigning f1 which is why you are getting a null reference exception at run time.
Depending on the architecture of your project ...
A. If UserControl is instantiated in the parent Form code behind then simply inject f1 into the constructor of the UserControl:
private readonly MyForm _f1;
public b(MyForm f1){
InitializeComponents();
_f1 = f1;
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) {
TabPage tp = new TabPage { };
tp.Text = "NewTab";
tp.Controls.Add(new b());
// assumes 'tabControl1' exists as a publicly accessible control
_f1.tabControl1.TabPages.Add(tp);
}
B. If using M-V-P then, using the code you have, the Presenter can assign the f1 variable at initialization but make the setter public or internal.

f1 is null because no form has been assigned to it. Drop this property and instead write:
TabPage tp = new TabPage { };
tp.Text = "NewTab";
tp.Controls.Add(new b());
FindForm().Controls.OfType<TabControl>().Single().TabPages.Add(tp);
This assumes that the form contains exactly one TabControl and that it is a top level control. If it can be inside another container control, you will have to loop the controls recursively. This question might help: Loop through all controls on a form, even those in groupboxes
Note, that your approach has yet another issue: f1 is typed as Form, but this general type has no tabControl1. You would have to type it with a specific form type MyForm f { get; set; }.
Maybe an easier way to access the TabControl is to let the form implement an interface defining just a property returning this TabControl:
public interface ITabControlProvider
{
TabControl MainTabControl { get; }
}
Then let your form implement it
public partial class MyForm : Form, ITabControlProvider
{
...
TabControl MainTabControl { get { return tabControl1; } }
}
Now your UserControl can find the TabControl like this
var frm = FindForm() as ITabControlProvider;
if (frm != null) {
frm.MainTabControl.TabPages.Add(tp);
}

As this code looks like it is all happening from inside a form, you can try this :
public Form1 f1 { get; private set; }
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if(f1 == null) { f1 = this; }
TabPage tp = new TabPage { };
tp.Text = "NewTab";
tp.Controls.Add(new b());
f1.tabControl1.TabPages.Add(tp); //>>> errors here
}
If it is happening inside a UserControl, then you can try this :
public Foo : UserControl {
public TabControl tabControl { get; set; }
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if(tabControl == null) {
// do nothing - ignore button click.
} else {
TabPage tp = new TabPage { };
tp.Text = "NewTab";
tp.Controls.Add(new b());
tabControl.TabPages.Add(tp); //>>> errors here
}
}
}
The on the form you have this user control added to, you can either choose the TabControl it is bound to from the drop-down menu in the property editor, or you can assign it in code like this :
foo1.tabControl = tabControl1;

Related

C# WinForms - Cannot access a control in a handler method

I have a form containing two flow layout panels (FLP), which dynamically have buttons added to them. These buttons are actually a class called tagButton which inherits from Button and I have added a handler in the constructor for the click() method. On click, I want to remove the button from the FLP it is currently in then add it to the other FLP.
Below is a trimmed down version of my code for the tagButton class. Note that the tagButton class is defined inside the of the form class both FLPs are in:
class tagButton : Button
{
public string tag = "";
public bool useTag = false; //tells you which FLP the button is in
public tagButton(String tag, Boolean useTag)
{
this.tag = tag;
this.Text = tag;
this.useTag = useTag;
this.Click += TagButton_Click;
}
private void TagButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
tagButton tagButton = (tagButton)sender;
tagButton.useTag = !tagButton.useTag;
if (tagButton.useTag)
{
flowLayoutPanel.Controls.Remove(tagButton);
}
}
}
I'm having problems with the last line:
flowLayoutPanel.Controls.Remove(tagButton);
I can switch it to the following and it works, however there is no way for me to add it to the other FLP. Or at least, not without doing Parent.Parent.Parent.Controls[1]... etc which is clearly a bad idea.
tagButton.Parent.Controls.Remove(tagButton);
I've tried switching different classes and methods to static but nothing I tried worked, the this keyword doesn't seem to work either.
I would recommend having a separate class overriding a parent control that's aware of both FlowLayoutPanels. Then, when your button wants to switch, it can find that custom control in its parents and invoke a custom "switch" function that would move the invoking button from the list it's in to the list it wasn't in.
One of many ways to achieve this outcome is to have MainForm expose a static array of the FlowLayoutPanel candidates as Panels property:
public partial class MainForm : Form
{
public static Control[] Panels { get; private set; }
char _id = (char)64;
public MainForm()
{
InitializeComponent();
Panels = new Control[]{ flowLayoutPanelLeft, flowLayoutPanelRight, };
buttonAddLeft.Click += (sender, e) =>
{
flowLayoutPanelLeft.Controls.Add(new tagButton
{
Height= 50, Width=150,
Name = $"tagButton{++_id}",
Text = $"Button {_id}",
});
};
buttonAddRight.Click += (sender, e) =>
{
flowLayoutPanelRight.Controls.Add(new tagButton
{
Height= 50, Width=150,
Name = $"tagButton{++_id}",
Text = $"Button {_id}",
});
};
}
}
Then, suppose you want to swap between panels when a tagButton gets a right-click (for example).
class tagButton : Button
{
protected override void OnMouseDown(MouseEventArgs e)
{
base.OnMouseDown(e);
if (MouseButtons.Equals(MouseButtons.Right))
{
Control dest;
if(Parent.Name.Contains("Left"))
{
dest = MainForm.Panels.First(_=>_.Name.Contains("Right"));
}
else
{
dest = MainForm.Panels.First(_ => _.Name.Contains("Left"));
}
Parent.Controls.Remove(this);
dest.Controls.Add(this);
}
}
}

How to access from user control to its child form?

I have a child form that displays with a button in user control and I want to clone ListView in user control to its child form.
I checked with breakpoint and printed the list but it gives me error like out of bounds or instance variable is zero.
public partial class JobForm: Form
{
public Job()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
List<string> joblist = new List<string>();
public List<string> _var
{
set {
joblist = value; }
}
}
User Control
private void button_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
//MessageBox.Show(_var[0].ToString());
JobForm jb = new JobForm();
jb.Show();
}
public List<string> listViewJob()
{
_var.Add(item);
return _var;
}
public List<string> _var { get;} = new List<string>();
I used also 'var parent = this.Parent as JobForm; parent.ID2 = ID2; but it gives me same error. So I check with breakpoint it is a correct list until the form shows then I get null or out of bound (_var) in User Control and in Form. I would appreciate if you could write an example.
It is very confusing that both JobForm and the user control have a list called _var. Its best to use more descriptive variable names.
I'm not completely sure what you want to achieve, but basically, when you have created the child form you can access its properties.
For instance:
private void button_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
//MessageBox.Show(_var[0].ToString());
JobForm jb = new JobForm();
// Members of 'jb' are available here
this._var = jb._var;
jb.Show();
}

Different parents for new Winform with a single constructor

Im running into a bit of an issue regarding Children and parents.
I have 2 forms which have the same dropdown menus, both of which have the ability to add additional options to them. When the "(add new)" option is selected in any of the combo boxes my third form is loaded which enables the addition of a new option.
This is the code for that third window (as it stands)
public partial class taskNewDropdownEntry : Form
{
taskWindow _owner;
applianceWindow _owner2;
int windowType;
int manufacturer_id;
sqlMod data = new sqlMod();
public int setManufacturerID {get { return manufacturer_id; } set { manufacturer_id = value; } }
public taskNewDropdownEntry(taskWindow owner, int type)
{
InitializeComponent();
this._owner = owner;
this.windowType = type;
}
public taskNewDropdownEntry(applianceWindow owner, int type)
{
InitializeComponent();
this._owner2 = owner;
this.windowType = type;
}
private void taskNewDropdownEntry_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (windowType == 1)
{
instructionLabel.Text = "Input the new appliance type below";
}
else if (windowType == 2)
{
instructionLabel.Text = "Input the new manufacturer below";
}
else if (windowType == 3)
{
instructionLabel.Text = "Input the new model below";
}
}
private void btnOK_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (windowType == 1)
{
data.insertApplianceType(textField.Text);
_owner.refreshTypeCombo();
}
else if (windowType == 2)
{
data.insertManufacturerSimple(textField.Text);
_owner.refreshManuCombo();
}
else if (windowType == 3)
{
data.insertModelSimple(manufacturer_id, textField.Text);
_owner.refreshModelCombo();
}
this.Close();
}
private void btnCancel_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
this.Close();
}
}
Now, my issue is that the 2 forms that call this third form are different - thus my only thought of how to solve this would be to duplicate some of the code and modify the methods (you can see the second constructor already added).
Instead of having multiple constructors, and duplicated methods (in this class, or in a seperate one) is there a way whereby I can use the same constructor but different owners depending on the form that calls it?
You have too much implementation in your child form. The way I would tackle this is to
Add a property to your child form:
public string InstructionLabel { get; set; }
This allows your parent forms to individually set the label text when instantiating the form, and also set up an event handler for when the form is closing. So your parent form would have code something like
var newItemForm = new taskNewDropdownEntry();
newItemForm.InstructionLabel = "Input the new appliance type below";
newItemForm.FormClosing += new FormClosingEventHandler(ChildFormClosing);
Then somewhere early in your child form's life cycle (FormLoading event) set
instructionLabel.Text = InstructionLabel;
Then also add a property in the child form for
public string NewItem { get; set; }
your child form should set this public property in the btnOK_Click event
private void btnOK_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
this.NewItem =textField.Text;
}
Then your parent form listens for a FormClosing event, and when it hits that event it takes the NewItem text, adds it to the relevant combo and refreshes it. So in the parent form, the handler looks like
private void ChildFormClosing(object sender, FormClosingEventArgs e)
{
sqlMod data = new sqlMod();
data.insertApplianceType(textField.Text);
refreshTypeCombo();
}
Pretty hard to understand the question but code speaks for all.
There are 2 options, worse (because keeping the parent reference is not a good practice first of all):
create an interface that both classes taskWindow and applianceWindow (where is the naming convention for god's sake!) implement, ex
intrerface IRefreshable {
void refreshManuCombo();
}
then constructor and your poperty can have type of IRefreshable
IRefreshable _owner;
public taskNewDropdownEntry(IRefreshable owner, int type)
{
InitializeComponent();
this._owner = owner;
}
better option, use child form events like Closed to implement refreshing logic in parent. You just need to register event handler before showing the form and voila. Check examples here:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.forms.form.closed(v=vs.110).aspx
You can also implement your own public form event for more custom usage (ex. DataChanged, ResultGenerated).

Cannot get selectedItem to textbox

I'm trying to get listbox selected item from one form 1 to display on textbox on form 2.
So far it's working partly.
The problem is that it only gets the selectedItem that was selected at the start of the application. If the user selects a new item, it still gets the one that was selected as default.
Form 1 MainForm:
public MainForm()
{
public string GetListBoxSelectedItem()
{
if (Animallst.SelectedItem != null) //Animallst is the listbox
{
return Animallst.SelectedItem.ToString();
return string.Empty;
}
}
private void foodbtn_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
FoodRegister foodForm = new FoodRegister();
foodForm.Show();
}
}
Form 2 FoodRegister:
public partial class FoodRegister : Form
{
private RecipeManager m_foodmanager = new RecipeManager();
public FoodRegister()
{
InitializeComponent();
MainForm main = new MainForm();
Nametxt.Text = main.GetListBoxSelectedItem();
//My initializations
InitializeGUI();
}
}
These two lines are not at all doing what you want them to do. You're creating an entirely new instance of MainForm, which has nothing to do with the original instance. And so GetListBoxSelectedItem() doesn't do what you want either.
MainForm main = new MainForm();
Nametxt.Text = main.GetListBoxSelectedItem();
Instead, pass a reference to the original Form into the second Form:
public FoodRegister(MainForm main)
{
InitializeComponent();
Nametxt.Text = main.GetListBoxSelectedItem();
...
And then call it like this:
FoodRegister foodForm = new FoodRegister(this);
foodForm.Show();
A couple of things to mention:
The line return string.Empty is redundant. Because of the line above it, this line becomes unreachable
In your FoodRegister for, you create a new instance of your main form. This then wipes anything that the main form was holding - i.e. Animallst.SelectedItem.ToString();
An easy way to handle this is to set the value to a static variable - that way you won't have to create a new instance of the form to access it.
Main form:
public static string GetListBoxSelectedItem()
{
if (Animallst.SelectedItem != null) //Animallst is the listbox
{
return Animallst.SelectedItem.ToString();
}
else { return string.Empty(); }
}
Food Register:
public FoodRegister()
{
InitializeComponent();
MainForm.GetListBoxSelectedItem();
//My initializations
InitializeGUI();
}
Haven't played with WinForms in awhile but here goes
In Form 2
public partial class FoodRegister : Form
{
private RecipeManager m_foodmanager = new RecipeManager();
public FoodRegister()
{
InitializeComponent();
//My initializations
InitializeGUI();
}
public void SetText(string txt)
{
Nametxt.Text = txt;
}
}
In Form 1
public MainForm()
{
private readonly FoodRegister foodForm = new FoodRegister();
private void foodbtn_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
foodForm.SetText(Animallst.SelectedItem == null ? "" : Animallst.SelectedItem.ToString());
foodForm.Show();
}
}
I replaced
GetListBoxSelectedItem()
with
Animallst.SelectedItem == null ? "" : Animallst.SelectedItem.ToString()

I need to access a form control from another class (C#)

On my form, I have one Panel container, named "panelShowList".
On my project, i added a new class, which look like this:
class myNewClass
{
private int newPanelPos = 30;
private const int spaceBetweenElements = 30;
private const int panelWidth = 90;
private const int panelHeight = 40;
private int elementPos = 0;
private ArrayList myPanels = new ArrayList() { };
// some irelevant methods
public void addElementPanels(Panel dataPanel, Panel nextPanel)
{
myPanels.Add(dataPanel);
myPanels.Add(nextPanel);
}
public void displayPanels()
{
foreach (Panel tmp in myPanels)
{
// here i'm stuck
// i need to do something like this :
// myMainForm.panelShowList.Controls.Add(tmp);
// of course this is wrong! but i need a method to acces that control
}
}
}
Basically, I need a way to add all Panels from my ArrayList on "panelShowList" control from my form.
I tried something like this:
public void displayPanels()
{
frmMain f = new frmMain();
foreach (Panel tmp in myPanels)
{
f.display(tmp);
// where display(Panel tmp) is a function in my Form, who access
// "panelShowList" control and add a new Panel
}
}
But it only works if i do this:
f.ShowDialog();
and another form is open.
Any suggestions will be appreciated.
Maybe a bit late, but by all means, here is another approach, that's still more clean than David's approach:
You should add an EventHandler in your MyNewClass. Then you can subscribe to that event from within your form.
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
private readonly MyNewClass _myNewClass;
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
_myNewClass = new MyNewClass();
_myNewClass.DisplayPanelsInvoked += DisplayPanelsInvoked;
}
private void DisplayPanelsInvoked(object sender, DisplayPanelsEventArgs e)
{
var panels = e.Panels; // Add the panels somewhere on the UI ;)
}
}
internal class MyNewClass
{
private IList<Panel> _panels = new List<Panel>();
public void AddPanel(Panel panel)
{
_panels.Add(panel);
}
public void DisplayPanels()
{
OnDisplayPanels(new DisplayPanelsEventArgs(_panels));
}
protected virtual void OnDisplayPanels(DisplayPanelsEventArgs e)
{
EventHandler<DisplayPanelsEventArgs> handler = DisplayPanelsInvoked;
if (handler != null)
{
handler(this, e);
}
}
public event EventHandler<DisplayPanelsEventArgs> DisplayPanelsInvoked;
}
internal class DisplayPanelsEventArgs : EventArgs
{
public DisplayPanelsEventArgs(IList<Panel> panels)
{
Panels = panels;
}
public IList<Panel> Panels { get; private set; }
}
In my opinion it's a better solution, because you don't need to provide a reference of the form to the MyNewClass instance. So this approach reduces coupling, because only the form has a dependency to the MyNewClass.
If you always want to "update" the form whenever a panel is added, you could remove the DisplayPanels-method and shorten the code to this:
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
private readonly MyNewClass _myNewClass;
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
_myNewClass = new MyNewClass();
_myNewClass.PanelAdded += PanelAdded;
}
private void PanelAdded(object sender, DisplayPanelsEventArgs e)
{
var panels = e.AllPanels; // Add the panels somewhere on the UI ;)
}
}
internal class MyNewClass
{
private IList<Panel> _panels = new List<Panel>();
public void AddPanel(Panel panel)
{
_panels.Add(panel);
OnPanelAdded(new DisplayPanelsEventArgs(_panels, panel)); // raise event, everytime a panel is added
}
protected virtual void OnPanelAdded(DisplayPanelsEventArgs e)
{
EventHandler<DisplayPanelsEventArgs> handler = PanelAdded;
if (handler != null)
{
handler(this, e);
}
}
public event EventHandler<DisplayPanelsEventArgs> PanelAdded;
}
internal class DisplayPanelsEventArgs : EventArgs
{
public DisplayPanelsEventArgs(IList<Panel> allPanels, Panel panelAddedLast)
{
AllPanels = allPanels;
PanelAddedLast = panelAddedLast;
}
public IList<Panel> AllPanels { get; private set; }
public Panel PanelAddedLast { get; private set; }
}
and another form is open
That's because you're creating an entirely new form:
frmMain f = new frmMain();
If you want to modify the state of an existing form, that code will need a reference to that form. There are a number of ways to do this. One could be to simply pass a reference to that method:
public void displayPanels(frmMain myMainForm)
{
foreach (Panel tmp in myPanels)
{
// myMainForm.panelShowList.Controls.Add(tmp);
// etc.
}
}
Then when your main form invokes that method, it supplies a reference to itself:
instanceOfNewClass.displayPanels(this);
Though, to be honest, it's not really clear what sort of structure you're going for here. If code is modifying a form then I imagine that code should be on that form. It can certainly be organized into a class, but perhaps that can be an inner class of that form since nothing else needs to know about it.
I'm also concerned that your implementation of myNewClass requires methods to be invoked in a specific order. Any given operation on an object should fully encapsulate the logic to complete that operation. Some of that initialization logic may belong in the constructor if the object isn't in a valid state until that logic is completed.
This is all a bit conjecture though, since the object structure isn't clear here.

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