Adding Controls at Runtime

[DFarris]

I need a little help with variable scope ( I think that is the right term)

As I understand it, the follow could be used to add a button to my form at runtime ...

Dim newButton As Button
newButton = New Button()
newButton.Location = ... etc...

I think this defines a new object of type Button() called "newButton".

Here is the quesiton ... Can "newButton" be a pointer to an object name?

I want a method that creates a new button with the object name that I pass to the method.

I am not sure how to do this.

Thanks,
David

[jmcilhinney]

'newButton' is a reference to a Button object. That's what it is and that's all it can be. That Button object has a Name property that you can set and you can then use that name to retrieve a reference to that Button from the Controls collection of its Parent. For instance, if you do this:

Dim btn As New Button
 
btn.Name = "Clicker"
 
Me.Controls.Add(btn)

then you can later do this:

Dim btn As Button = DirectCast(Me.Controls("Clicker"), Button)

If that doesn't provide the information you need then you'll need to provide a clearer explanation of what you're trying to to achieve because this:

Can "newButton" be a pointer to an object name?

doesn't really make sense. There basically aren't any pointers in VB and, in languages that do support them, you would have a pointer to an object, not a pointer to the name of an object