The scenario: 2 user controls (foo.ascx and fum.ascx)
foo has a method that would really like to access a property from fum. They live on the same page, but I can't find a very simple way to accomplish this sort of communication.
Any ideas?
Add an event OnMyPropertyValueChanged in fum.ascx.
Add the corresponding EventHandler to foo.ascx which stores the property value in a private variable.
Attach the event handler of foo.ascx to the event of fum.ascx on Page_Load.
Raise the event on fum.ascx Page_Load and whenever needed
Let the method of foo.ascx use its own variable
There are a few ways to handle this, but optimally you want a solution that is as decoupled as possible.
The most decoupled method would be a recursive findControl method that walks the control object model until it finds the control you want and returns a reference.
private Control findControl(Control root, string id)
{
if (root.ID == id)
{
return root;
}
foreach (Control c in root.Controls)
{
Control t = findControl(c, id);
if (t != null)
{
return t;
}
}
return null;
}
Here is another approach that is kinda neat, though I don't know if I'd use it.(Somewhat pseudocode):
public FunkyUserControl : UserControl
{
private List<UserControl> subscribedControls;
public List<UserControl> Subscribers
{
get { return subscribedControls;}
}
public void SubscribeTo(UserControl control)
{
subscribedControls.Add(control);
}
}
Inherit your two usercontrols from FunkyUserControl and then in your main page class you can do:
webControl1.SubscribeTo(webControl2);
webControl2.SubscribeTo(webControl1);
Now each control can introspect its subscribers collection to find the other control.
Add an event to the UserControl that is hooked up to the form.
The simplest solution is for fum to store a value in HttpContext.Current.Items[], where foo can read it later.
A more robust option is to give foo a property that the the page can populate with a reference to fum.
An event is more work, but is architecturally nicer.
You can reference the other user control by using FindControl on Foo's Parent. This is the simplest and you don't need to program anything on each main (parent) form.
'From within foo...call this code<br>
Dim objParent As Object<br>
Dim lngPropID As Long<br>
objParent = Me.Parent.FindControl("fum")<br>
lngPropID= objParent.PropID 'public property PropID on fum<br>
Related
I want to enable/disable controls in a Windows Forms application according to the user privileges.
Initially I thought of writing a method in each form class that would check the user credentials and then enable/disable its controls. But then I realized I could (maybe) create a static class method which would take the form as a parameter and do the job.
So I started writing it, presuming that sometimes I would like to enable the controls of just one or two panels, instead of the whole form. So, I need the parameters to be:
a varying number of panels and/or
a form class.
My difficulties with this task is that I'm getting an error trying to make the panels argument varying, and I have no idea how to set a parameter that could take any form class. All my form classes obviously inherits from Form generic class, but I don't know how to apply this.
Here's what I got:
public static void Enable(TableLayoutPanel[] containers = null)
{
if (MyOF.isEnabled)
{
return;
}
else
{
try
{
foreach (TableLayoutPanel table in containers)
{
foreach (Control control in table.Controls)
{
control.Enabled = false;
}
}
}
catch (NullReferenceException)
{
}
}
}
If we remember that the Form class derives from Control (indirectly, by deriving from ContainerControl which derives from ScrollableControl, which derives from Control), and the Enabled property belongs to the Control class, we can write a method that will enable any control's children (including the Form or TableLayoutPanel controls), since the Controls collection also belongs to the Control class:
public static void EnableChildren(Control control, bool enabled = true)
{
foreach (Control child in control.Controls)
{
child.Enabled = enabled;
}
}
And then if we also want to be able to use this with a collection of controls (as in your example), we can write an overload that takes a collection:
public static void EnableChildren(IEnumerable<Control> controls = null,
bool enabled = true)
{
if (controls == null) return;
foreach (var control in controls)
{
EnableChildren(control, enabled);
}
}
Now we can use this with a Form or a collection of TableLayoutPanel controls (or any control that has controls in it's Controls collection).
Examples of usage:
var myForm = new Form1();
EnableChildren(this); // 'this' is the current form
EnableChildren(myForm); // a separate instance of a form control
EnableChildren(tableLayoutPanel1, false); // A single TableLayoutPanel control
var tableLayoutPanels = new [] {tableLayoutPanel1, tableLayoutPanel2, tableLayoutPanel3};
EnableChildren(tableLayoutPanels); // An array of tableLayoutPanel controls
One of the simple ways I can think about what you are trying to do, is this. Let me get away for a sec here. I worked on projects where all form controls were built from Metadata. And meta came with licensing info. So, when control was placed where it should, it also was disabled or set read-only based on Metadata but the whole feature would be hidden if licensing info was restricting access to it. Coming back to your approach, this is not a bad approach and I see that this is can be done. And it can be done in 2 ways, (quickly from my head).
Use user controls as surface for the components you want to enable/disable. Create an interface
public interface IDisableableControl // make your fine name, no methods needed - marker interface
. . . . .
public class MyFineUserControl : UserControl, IDisableableControl
And in your static method that you're going to write pass the form, and find all controls that implement this interface and work them the way you want.
2.
Similarly, you can use property Tag, which is available on each control. With that, you can actually set your complex security object that can come from DB-stored metadata and then you evaluate this object stored in Tag to apply your configuration
Your method needs to be recursive
internal static void SetAllControls(Control parent)
{
// Do something with control, for example parent.Enabled = false
if (parent is IDisableableControl)
{
// here you use your logic, evaluate your parent you're dialing with and
// enable/disable correspondingly
parent.Enabled = false;
return;
}
foreach(var c in parent.Controls)
SetAllControls(c);
}
In real life, your TOP parent will be a form and will not need to be disabled, but it's certain children will. In fact, most of the time, once you found a UserControl which implements IDisableableControl that should be end of line, means, you don't need to go into children controls as they all sit on this parent and all will be disabled
I manage to accomplish what I was trying to do with the code below, which is pretty much a blend of all the helpful answers I got:
public static void EnableContainer(params Control[] containers)
{
if(containers.Count() == 0) { return; }
if (MyOF.isEnabled)
{
return;
}
else
{
try
{
foreach (var container in containers)
{
foreach (Control control in container.Controls)
{
control.Enabled = false;
}
}
}
catch (NullReferenceException)
{
}
}
}
public static void EnableForm<form>(form f) where form : Form
{
if (MyOF.isEnabled)
{
return;
}
else
{
foreach(Control control in f.Controls)
{
control.Enabled = false;
}
}
}
The community is welcome to suggest improvements as I am far from being a professional programmer. Thanks everyone once again.
I have tons of Buttons named like this x0y1
How do I access the variable name dynamically so I could loop all names by xiy1 or so.
in PHP it would be like ${"myString" . $randomvar}
I can't use a list or array because the the button already exist defined through the xaml
You can use:
var textbox =
this.Controls.OfType<TextBox>().Where(txb => txb.Name == "myString").FirstOrDefault();
This assumes you are in the context of your form (this.Controls).
And of course, don't forget to add using System.Linq;...
You can get all the textbox using this method
void AllTextBox(System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlCollection ctrls)
{
foreach (Control ctrl in ctrls)
{
if (ctrl is TextBox)
{
if (ctrl.Name == "textBox1")
{
// do your stuf with textbox
}
}
}
}
You can create function that return control by name :
Control GetControlByName(string Name)
{
foreach(Control control in this.Controls)
if(c.Name == Name) return control ;
return null;
}
or Function with a specific control like that :
Button GetButtonByName(string Name)
{
foreach (Control c in this.Controls.OfType<Button>())
if (c.Name == Name) return c;
return null;
}
For wpf project...
Let's say you have a grid named MyGrid and there's lot of buttons on it.
You want to refer to the button named x0y1:
var btn = MyGrid.Children.OfType<Button>().Where(x=>x.Name=="x0y1");
Note: above code should work for flat structure (one level deep only).
You can achieve the same by using code provided in this thread: How can I find WPF controls by name or type?
Just call FindName("elementName"). FindName searches through all child elements of a FrameworkElement. To access any button by its name as string in a window, call the FindName() method of the window !
If your code is in a class inheriting from Window, just use:
Button button = (Button)FindName("xiy1");
If you write the code in a class not inheriting from Window but FrameworkElement, which is unlikely, use:
Window window = Window.GetWindow(this);
Button button = (Button)window.FindName("xiy1");
Check the MSDN documentation about Namescopes for more information about limitations.
Im working on a complex ribbon application, so far it is going well but now I have a litle tricky situation where I have to pass value of a DataGridView to a TextBox on another Form after double clicking the the DataGridView.
You have quite a few options actually. And it all depends on the code/architecture of your application, but generally what you are looking for are delegates.
here is an introductory level article for delegates: link. And here is a link to some basic examples which will introduce you to Actions and Lambdas as well.
Or, if those two Forms can see each other (if you have references for both forms in one parent), you can create an event on the source form and subscribe to it on the destination form, and pass the data in that manner.
The Source Form:
• Define the delegate
public delegate void RibbonDataHandler(string);
• Define the event
public event RibbonDataHandler RibbonData;
• Define the method to execute the event
protected virtual void OnRibbonData( string value )
{
if( RibbonData != null )
RibbonData( value );
}
• Invoke the event on the DoubleClick event handler of the DataGridView
string value = // Get Value from the gridView
OnRibbonData( value );
The Destination Form:
• Add a public property to set the TextBox value
public string TextBoxValue
{
get { return txtValue.Text; }
set { txtValue.Text = value; }
}
The Parent Form:
• add those two forms as fields
private Form _sourceForm;
private Form _destinationForm;
• Initialize the forms
// Well, initialize the forms in the way you need it, maybe on the Load event?
_sourceForm = new SourceForm();
_destinationForm = new DestinationForm();
_sourceForm.RibbonData += new SourceForm.RibbonDataHandler(OnRibbonData);
• Define the RibbonData Handler
private void OnRibbonData( string value )
{
_destinationForm.TextBoxValue = value ?? String.Empty;
}
Disclaimer:
I wrote all of this out of my head, did not have VS at this moment, if you have more questions or if something is not working, leave a comment. :)
I've got a web page where I am dynamically creating controls during Page_Load event (this is done so because I do not know how many controls I will need until session is active and certain variables are accessible)
I need to be able to loop through these controls to find Checkbox when a button click is processed. Looping through the Form.Controls does not appear to be sufficient. I would think that Request.Form might work but it does not appear to be accessible in my C# block?
What should code for Request.Form look like? OR
Has anyone done this before with dynamically created controls?
Any insight is appreciated.
Simplified Example from MSDN:
var myControl = FindControl("NameOfControl");
if(myControl != null)
{
//do something
}
else
{
//control not found
}
Hope this helps! ;)
Your controls will be accessible trough the Controls collection of their immediate parent. Unless you add them like Page.Form.Controls.Add (myControl);, you won't find it in Page.Form.Conttrols. If you add them to a place holder, you must find them in thePlaceHolder.Controls.
LinkButton myDynamicLinkButton = new myDynamicLinkButton ();
myDynamicLinkButton.ID = "lnkButton";
myPlaceHolder.Controls.Add (myDynamicLinkButton);
//........
LinkButton otherReferenceToMyLinkButton = myPlaceHolder.FindControl ("lnkButton");
As #David said in his comment, you should probably think about using a Repeater instead. It would probably simplify your case a lot.
Since the controls might be nested in other controls, you need to search recursively. You can use this method to find the control:
public Control FindControlRecursive(Control root, string id)
{
if (root.ID == id)
{
return root;
}
foreach (Control c in root.Controls)
{
Control t = FindControlRecursive(c, id);
if (t != null)
{
return t;
}
}
return null;
}
And you can implement it this way:
CheckBox check = FindControlRecursive(Page.Form, "CheckBox1");
You should have access to Request["xyz"] anywhere in your aspx.cs code. You can either find control as described above and read it's value or do so directly from Request using the Control.UniqueID property. For example if it's a checkbox that's within the repeater then the UniqueID would look like dtgData$ctl02$txtAmount
Thanks for the insight guys. I kind of took the discussion and ran with it and found my solution that worked best for me.
foreach(String chk in Request.Form)
{
if (chk.Contains("chkRemove"))
{
int idxFormat = chk.LastIndexOf("chkRemove");
objectname = chk.Substring(idxFormat);
}
}
Turned out really all I needed was the name. The string contained a number at the end which was needed to determine a position of datatable items. Thanks for the advice!
I've written a web user control which I want to be able to drop into the markup for either aspx pages or other web user controls.
I need my user control to be able to easily and efficiently work out if its inside another user control or an aspx page. My initial idea is to do it recursively with checks on the Parent property - continue looking up the nesting hierarchy until I find either a web form or a user control - but I'm not sure this the best way of going about this.
Can you suggest an easier way? Thanks.
Recursively check the type of your Parent until Parent.GetType() is either typeof(UserControl) or type(Page)
private bool IsAncestorTypeOf(Control c, params Type[] typesToCheck)
{
var parent = c.Parent;
if (parent == null) return false;
if (typesToCheck.Contains(parent.GetType())) return true;
return IsAncestorTypeOf(parent, typesToCheck);
}
Or the same without recursion
private bool IsAncestorTypeOf(Control c, params Type[] typesToCheck)
{
var parent = c.Parent;
while (true)
{
if (parent == null) return false;
if (typesToCheck.Contains(parent.GetType())) return true;
parent = parent.Parent;
}
}
Call it like
var isAncestorPageOrUserControl = IsAncestorTypeOf(this, typeof(Page), typeof(UserControl));
or
var isAncestorPage = IsAncestorTypeOf(this, typeof(Page));
var isAncestorUserControl = IsAncestorTypeOf(this, typeof(UserControl));
Generally, components should be unaware of their arbitrary containers, although the containers must know their components (unless it's a strong dependency situation like list items are always in a list type and you can make a strong two way relationship). However it sounds like you are reaching out into the general surroundings. You might find many cases to code for doing this and accidentally miss others.
By making the user control aware of its surroundings and the larger world you may be introducing dependencies that make your control less reusable and harder to maintain.
If something the control needs is outside of itself, you might move toward composition by forcing the developer to provide a reference to the needed thing on a property of your user control. This is the way, for example, that validation controls in ASP.NET do it, to reference an external control to validate by id.
Of course what I specified is practical only some of the time. Is there a specific reason or edge case why you need to make your user control look around itself, or can you get away with providing instructions to the developer about where the control should be used?
This should work:
C#
bool inPage = (this.NamingContainer == this.Page);
VB.NET
Dim inPage as Boolean = Me.NamingContainer is Me.Page
Edit: it seems to be not as simple as i hoped. If the usercontrol resists in a control like a GridViewRow, the NamingControl of it would be the Row and not the Page.
This takes it into account:
C#
public static bool isControlInPageOruserControl(Control uc)
{
bool inPage = uc.NamingContainer is Page;
if (inPage) {
return true;
} else if (uc.NamingContainer is UserControl) {
return false;
} else {
return isControlInPageOruserControl(uc.NamingContainer);
}
}
VB.NET:
Public Shared Function isControlInPageOruserControl(ByVal uc As Control) As Boolean
Dim inPage As Boolean = TypeOf uc.NamingContainer Is Page
If inPage Then
Return True
ElseIf TypeOf uc.NamingContainer Is UserControl Then
Return False
Else
Return isControlInPageOruserControl(uc.NamingContainer)
End If
End Function