how to Find a control in a form.

Hi, I just tried to write a control search function tbut I'm not having much success.

I need it to be able to iterate through all the controls on a forum and all the container controls (group boxes, panels, etc) within and return a reference to the control I'm searching for

this is what I have so far. The problem is that Groupbox and Panel are not considered a ContainerControl so it just skips past that condition.




Public Function FindControl(ByRef Controls As System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlCollection, ByVal strControlName As String) As Forms.Control
Dim objTemp As Forms.Control
Dim objReturnControl As Forms.Control

For Each objTemp In Controls
If TypeOf (objTemp) Is ContainerControl Then
objReturnControl = FindControl(objTemp.Controls, strControlName)

If Not objReturnControl Is Nothing Then
Return objReturnControl
End If

ElseIf objTemp.Name = strControlName Then
Return objTemp
End If
Next

Return Nothing

End Function

Here are some subs i wrote that get called from one another if needed. they clear text so you can go through the subs, and alter it to meet your needs.

basically, you just need seperate subs to scour the tabs and group boxes etc.

hope this helps!:)

VB Code:

#Region " Control Clearing Routines "
 
    Public Sub ClearListBox(ByVal box As ListBox)
        'Purpose    :   Clear a list box of all items
        'Accepts    :   listbox control 
        'Notes      :   
        box.Items.Clear()
    End Sub
 
    Public Sub ClearTabControl(ByVal tc As TabControl)
        'Purpose    :   clears all tabpages on a tabpage control
        'Accepts    :   control as tabcontrol
        'Returns    :   
        'Notes      :   
 
        For Each ctrl As Control In tc.Controls
            Try
                If TypeOf ctrl Is TabPage Then
                    ClearTab(ctrl)
                End If
            Catch ex As Exception
 
            End Try
        Next
 
    End Sub
 
    Public Sub ClearTab(ByVal tab As TabPage)
        'Purpose    :   Clears an entire tab control of data
        'Accepts    :   tabpage control
        'Notes      :   this sub calls on other subs to do the work
 
        For Each ctrl As Control In tab.Controls
 
            Try
                'Clear all textboxes
                If TypeOf ctrl Is TextBox Then
                    ClearTextBox(ctrl)
                End If
 
                'Next, ComboBoxes
                If TypeOf ctrl Is ComboBox Then
                    ClearComboBox(ctrl)
                End If
 
                'Next, Groupboxes
                If TypeOf ctrl Is GroupBox Then
                    ClearGroupBox(ctrl)
                End If
 
                'Next, other Tabs
                If TypeOf ctrl Is TabPage Then
                    ClearTab(ctrl)
                End If
 
                'Next, Listboxes
                If TypeOf ctrl Is ListBox Then
                    ClearListBox(ctrl)
                End If
            Catch
            End Try
        Next
 
    End Sub
 
    Public Sub ClearComboBox(ByVal Box As ComboBox)
        'Purpose    :   Resets a combobox to the first item in the collection list
        'Accepts    :   combox as argument
        'Notes      :   This doesn't delete any info, it just resets the box
 
        Try
            Box.Text = Box.Items.Item(0)
 
        Catch
 
        End Try
 
    End Sub
 
    Public Sub ClearGroupBox(ByVal groupbox As GroupBox)
        'Purpose    :   Clear all textboxes within a groupbox control
        'Accepts    :   groupbox as argument
        'Notes      :   
 
 
        For Each ctrl As Control In groupbox.Controls
 
            Try
                If TypeOf ctrl Is TextBox Then
 
                    ClearTextBox(ctrl)
 
                End If
 
                If TypeOf ctrl Is ComboBox Then
 
                    ClearComboBox(ctrl)
 
                End If
 
            Catch
 
            End Try
 
        Next
 
 
    End Sub
 
    Public Sub ClearTextBox(ByVal box As TextBox)
        box.Text = String.Empty
    End Sub
 
 
#End Region

sweet. thanks alot andy

actually I discovered that every control has a controls collection.

That means that if you want to write a recursive function you can simply check the count of the control's controls collection.

ie

For Each objTemp In Controls
If objTemp.controls.count > 0 Then
objReturnControl = FindControl(objTemp.Controls, strControlName)
....