Read this - interesting thought really...

[Xenonic_Rob]

Hey Guys.
I've gotta question.

Say there was a control of a form. A command button - called Command1. I also have a text file, and I have got one line from it in a string - called MyString$. That string has the text "command1" in it. I want some way of doing something like this:

MyString$.Backcolor = RGB(255, 0, 0)

Except this wouldn't work, because Strings don't have backcolors. But I want it to use the text in the string (command1) and do the backcolor to that. C what I mean?
Help me out peoples!

[oetje]

Try this: (it works fine for me)
Start a new project.
Add two command buttons. (Let the name Command1 and Command2)
Add this code to command2_click

Dim Text As String
Text = "Command1"
Form1.Controls(text).BackColor = vbYellow

Run the project and enjoy the code!

[oetje]

I forgot something to say: set the style of Command1 to graphical.

[BruceG]

You can't do it with a string variable, but you can do it with an Object variable:

Dim objControl As Object
...
Set objControl = Command1
objControl.Caption = "Hi There"

The above code should change the caption of the command button in question.

[WadeD]

Actually it works great for me as a string.

[WadeD]

Is there a way to extend this to read the form name from the file too?? Something like:

Dim Text As String
Dim Text2 As String
Text = "Command1"
Text2 = "Form1"
Forms(Text2).Controls(Text).BackColor = vbYellow

With a little modification??

Thanks.

[oetje]

Try this: (untested)
Create a txt file called names.txt in c:\
In the first line put:
Command1
And in the second line:
Form1
Save the file
Try this code:

Dim Text As String
Dim Text2 As String
Dim Line As String

Open "C:\names.txt" For Input As #1
   Line Input #1, Line
   Line = RTrim(Line)
   Text = Line
   Line Input #1, Line
   Line = RTrim(Line)
   Text2 = Line
Close #1

For i = 0 To Forms.Count - 1
    If Forms(i).Name = Text2 Then
        Forms(i).Controls(Text).BackColor = vbYellow
    End If
Next

[WadeD]

You can iterate thru the forms or any form's controls and check the name...I'm doing that now but it's not as clean or as efficient as going straight to the form and control. What you gave initially for the control will speed me up but I don't see an equivalent for forms.

[parksie]

Just index into the Forms collection.

[oetje]

The code Forms("Form1") doesn't work. That's why I use the for...next loop!

[parksie]

Sorry...I just remembered that my copy of VB has a few 'additions' someone gave me, such as a more useful Forms collection. I'll be more careful in future.

[WadeD]

Actually, the index you mentioned works if you don't mind remembering the indices:

Dim sCtrlNm As String
Dim bFrmIndx As Byte

sCtrlNm = "Command1"
bFrmIndx = 0
Forms(bFrmIndx).Controls(sCtrlNm).BackColor = vbYellow

But I was hoping for something where I could use the form name stored in a file instead of a form number because it would be more meaningful and easier to reference in the file itself.

[oetje]

My code does that!

[WadeD]

I know, and I'm currently using a for...loop that iterates forms and then the controls within them. It's just not as fast as going directly to the form and control without the loop. Like I said, what you gave for the control works great and will speed things up. Just wish that there were an equivalent for forms without going through a form loop.

Thanks for the control code.