How Count Elements on the form

[michalss]

Hi

im facing to 1 problem here. I need to count the Panel elements on the current form and put them into array, but i dont have any idead where to start. Anyone please ?
i know how to count all elements on the form but thats about it.

Thx for help

[stanav]

You just loop thru the form.Controls collection and test each control to see if it's a Panel.

Dim aPanel As Panel = Nothing
For Each ctrl as Control In Me.Controls
   If TypeOf ctrl Is Panel Then
      aPanel = DirectCast(ctrl, Panel)
      'Do whatever desired with this panel here
   End If
Next

[jmcilhinney]

There are various ways you could do it but, assuming .NET 3.5, the simplest way would be to use LINQ:

Dim panels = Me.Controls.OfType(Of Panel).ToArray()
 
MessageBox.Show("There are " & panels.Length & " Panels on the form.")

That will only get Panels on the form itself, not those nested within other containers. For that you'd have to write your own recursive method.

Note that, if you know how to count all controls then you pretty much know how to count Panels. You simply test the type of each control as you find it:

If TypeOf ctl Is Panel Then

Note also that you can Add the Panels to a List as you find them because, unlike an array, a List will grow dynamically. At the end you can get the Count property of the List. If you really need an array then you can call ToArray on the List. You can then get the arrays Length property too.

[michalss]

Thx perfect but works but i have small problem. I have panels on the form named from p1 to p10 but i need them in the array systematics like
p0,p1,p2, an so on.

[jmcilhinney]

You know for a fact that you have Panels p1 to p10 yet you need to count how many Panels you have? You just said that you have 10, so why do you need to count them? Why can't you just create the array directly yourself like this:

Private panels As Panel()
 
Private Sub Form1_Load() Handles MyBase.Load
    Me.panels = New Panel() {Me.p1, Me.p2, Me.p3, Me.p4, Me.p5, Me.p6, Me.p7, Me.p8, Me.p9, Me.p10}
End Sub

Don't make things harder than they need to be. If you can hard-code something because it never changes then hard-code it.

[michalss]

Coz i dont know how many panel user will create on the form.

[jmcilhinney]

I think you need to provide a FULL and CLEAR explanation of EXACTLY what's happening, which you really should do in the first post. If you have requirements like that the Panels need to be in a specific order then you need to tell us that in the first place so that we don't waste our time and yours providing solutions that don't meet your requirements.

So, are there Panels on your form to begin with or not? Does the user add Panels at run time? Presumably yes. I don't see that you need to count Panels after the fact. If the user is adding the Panels then can't you just add them to a List as the user adds them to the form? That way they will be in order the whole time.

[michalss]

Sorry mate its all done now it works perfect. I made 1 mistake. And now its fine. thx for help