[RESOLVED] Instantiate a Form by it's name

[simonm]

Basically, I have table which there will be a variable number of alternative data entry forms. These will be stored in a table and the User's chosen form will be the data entry form that is instantiated when they wish to edit a record.

Sure, I could just have a SELECT CASE statement but I thought this would be a more elegant way of doing it...?

[Merrion]

OK - this can be done thus:-

Imports System.Reflection
 
Public Class FormUtilities
 
    ''' <summary>
    ''' Loads a new instance of the form passed in
    ''' </summary>
    ''' <param name="Formname"></param>
    ''' <remarks></remarks>
    Public Shared Function InstantiateFormByName(ByVal Formname As String) As Form
 
        Dim FormType As System.Type
        '\\ Find the type that corresponds to the form name passed in
        For Each f As Type In Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly.GetExportedTypes
            If f.Name = Formname Then
                FormType = f
                Exit For
            End If
        Next
        If Not FormType Is Nothing Then
            '\\ Get th econstructor that has no parameters
            Dim ctor As System.Reflection.ConstructorInfo = FormType.GetConstructor(System.Type.EmptyTypes)
            Return CType(ctor.Invoke(Nothing), Form)
        End If
 
    End Function
 
End Class

and an example ofd the usage is:-

Dim fSettings As Form = FormUtilities.InstantiateFormByName("SettingsDialog")
        fSettings.ShowDialog(Me)

This was rather hastily knocked together so there's not enough error handling or optimisation but it shows how you can do it...