[RESOLVED] Changing colors of an Object and inserting into another Object???

[blakemckenna]

I'm dynamically creating controls and inserting them into a Panel. My problem is that I'm creating a Checkbox control (setting various properties) and then a Label control (setting various properties). I wish for the text for each of the controls to be Black and Red respectively. They are to be right beside each other with a blank space separating them. The code I have provided does this if the for loop contains 1 iteration. If their are more than 1 iteration, the Red Asterisk doesn't show up. I've tried adding spaces between each occurrence of the checkbox and it still won't show up. Anyway, here is my code:

            If resp Is Nothing Then
                Dim asterisk As New Label
                asterisk.Text = "*"
                For Each row As DataRow In ds2.Tables(0).Rows
                    Dim chk As New CheckBox
                    chk.AutoSize = True
                    chk.Top = 7
                    chk.BackColor = pnl1.BackColor
                    chk.ForeColor = Color.Black
                    chk.TextAlign = ContentAlignment.MiddleLeft
                    chk.Text = row("labelName")
                    chk.Left = tmpWidth
                    Me.pnl2.Controls.Add(chk)
                    If row("required") = "Y" Then
                        asterisk.Top = chk.Top
                        asterisk.Left = chk.Width
                        asterisk.ForeColor = Color.Red
                        Me.pnl2.Controls.Add(asterisk)
                        tmpWidth = tmpWidth + chk.Width + 25
                    Else
                        tmpWidth = tmpWidth + chk.Width
                    End If
                    AddHandler chk.Click, AddressOf CheckBox1_Click
                Next
           End If

[techgnome]

sooo.... you need a label with an asterisk in it and a check box... for each row? right?
Seems to me then, your label would need to be created inside your loop... not outside...

-tg

[blakemckenna]

If the For Loop has 1 iteration....the code does what it is supposed to do. The problem is when there are more than 1 iterations of the Loop. I think it has to do with the spacing between each CheckBox. The Asterisk is placed on the right side of the checkbox....so, it would seem that the subsequent checkboxes are overlaying the position of the Asterisk....but I can't be sure of that because I have tried incrementing the space between each checkbox and the asterisk still won't appear.

[jmcilhinney]

I'd suggest that you use a TableLayoutPanel. You simply set the number of columns to two and just alternately add the controls. The TLP will automatically grow to the appropriate number of rows.

[Bulldog]

As techgnome suggests the label should be defined in the loop and also

asterisk.Left = chk.Width

should be

asterisk.Left = chk.Right

Here is my test case (which is butchered from your code, so you cannot directly replace your code with this)...

        Dim tmpwidth As Integer = 0
        Dim asterisk As Label
        For i As Integer = 0 To 5
            asterisk = New Label
            asterisk.AutoSize = True
            asterisk.Text = "*"
            Dim chk As New CheckBox
            chk.AutoSize = True
            chk.Top = 7
            chk.BackColor = Me.BackColor
            chk.ForeColor = Color.Black
            chk.TextAlign = ContentAlignment.MiddleLeft
            chk.Text = i.ToString
            chk.Left = tmpwidth
            Me.Controls.Add(chk)
            If "Y" = "Y" Then
                asterisk.Top = chk.Top
                asterisk.Left = chk.Right
                asterisk.ForeColor = Color.Red
                Me.Controls.Add(asterisk)
                tmpwidth = tmpwidth + chk.Width + 25
            Else
                tmpwidth = tmpwidth + chk.Width
            End If
        Next

EDIT: If you use a TLP as JM suggests then you don't need to worry about the positions.

[blakemckenna]

Thanks guys...that worked!