VS 2005 - Are control arrays back?

[CyberHawke]

Originally posted by <ABX
What controls did you put on your form.... i did test it... just not with anthing other than textboxes on the form.


Here is a modified version that does work properly...

For Each c As Control In Me.Controls
 
            If TypeOf (c) Is TextBox Then
                Dim t As TextBox = CType(c, TextBox)
                If t.Name.StartsWith("TextBox") Then
                    AddHandler t.Click, AddressOf ControlArray_Click
                    AddHandler t.KeyDown, AddressOf ControlArray_KeyDown
                End If
            End If
 
        Next

One problem I see with most code examples for looping through the controls collection in this thread is that nowhere does anyone take into account the possibility that a control may be a container control for other controls eg. a panel or tab, the code in the examples provided would never get a reference to those controls that are contained in other controls.

This code will access those controls, you would of course need to add further levels of nesting for each additional level of nested controls. eg, panel contains a groupbox which contains several checkboxes or radiobuttons.

For Each c As Control In Me.Controls
            If TypeOf (c) Is TextBox Then
                Dim t As TextBox = CType(c, TextBox)
                If t.Name.StartsWith("TextBox") Then
                    AddHandler t.Click, AddressOf ControlArray_Click
                    AddHandler t.KeyDown, AddressOf ControlArray_KeyDown
                End If
            ElseIf c.Controls.Count > 0 Then
                For Each childC In c.Controls
                    If TypeOf (childC) Is TextBox Then
                        Dim t As TextBox = CType(childC, TextBox)
                        If t.Name.StartsWith("TextBox") Then
                            AddHandler t.Click, AddressOf ControlArray_Click
                            AddHandler t.KeyDown, AddressOf ControlArray_KeyDown
                        End If
                    End If
                Next
            End If
        Next

Taxes,

Years ago I used control arrays in like VB3 or maybe 4, but I haven't had much need of them as of late, I never personally found them very useful, so your comment about not missing them is right on target.