Capturing when ANY textbox on a form has changed..[RESOLVED]

[kleinma]

wow you guys really have to explore the power of .NET

only Asgorath was on the right track to tackle this problem..

one of the really cool features of .NET, is the ability to add handlers for events, and an even can have more than 1 handler...

observe:
I have a data entry app, that I only want to prompt the user to save changes, if in fact something has changed.

    Private Sub AddSaveHandlers(ByVal c As Control)
        For Each ctrl As Control In c.Controls
            If ctrl.Controls.Count > 0 Then
                AddSaveHandlers(ctrl)
            End If
            Select Case ctrl.GetType.Name.ToUpper
                Case "TEXTBOX", "COMBOBOX"
                    AddHandler ctrl.TextChanged, AddressOf SetPromptSaveTrue
                Case "CHECKBOX"
                    AddHandler CType(ctrl, CheckBox).CheckStateChanged, AddressOf SetPromptSaveTrue
                Case "RADIOBUTTON"
                    AddHandler CType(ctrl, RadioButton).CheckedChanged, AddressOf SetPromptSaveTrue
            End Select
        Next
    End Sub

    Private Sub SetPromptSaveTrue(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)
        mPromptSave = True
    End Sub

in the "Windows Form Designer generated code" Sub New where it says "'Add any initialization after the InitializeComponent() call" I put

AddSaveHandlers(Me)

this function is recusive in that if you have any container controls, like groupboxes, pictureboxes, panels, etc.. it will add the handler to all the controls contained in them as well

[kleinma]

you can then also add specific per control handlers.. even for the same TextChanged or CheckStateChanged events.. just like you normally would, and they will work in conjunction with these dynamic handlers

[BenFinkel]

Kleinma,

That's %$(*ing perfect. Thanks for that, it's obvious (now that I see it )

--Ben

[Tool]

That is a great idea kleinma. I don't know why that never crossed my mind. I use that alot when it comes to dynamically creating controls, but never once thought to do it on controls I created in design time. I will have to keep that in mind next time.