Modularizing in VB .NET

In tab1.vb, you must include fully qualify the control name.

Code snippet from form1
            Me.AutoScaleBaseSize = New System.Drawing.Size(5, 13)
            Me.ClientSize = New System.Drawing.Size(448, 285)
            Me.Controls.Add(Me.Button1)
            Me.Controls.Add(Me.TextBox1)
'notice the controls are indexed in the order they are added
            Me.Name = "Form1"
            Me.Text = "Form1"
            Me.ResumeLayout(False)

code snippet from form 1
Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
            Dim t As New tab
            t.stuff()
            t.grab()
      End Sub


contents of tab.vb file
Public Class tab
      Public Sub stuff()
            Form1.ActiveForm.Controls.Item(1).Text = "test"


      End Sub

      Public Sub grab()
'notice you can get the name of the control too if you need it
            MsgBox(Form1.ActiveForm.Controls.Item(1).Text)
            MsgBox(Form1.ActiveForm.Controls.Item(1).Name)

      End Sub

End Class

This is really easy with .Net

Create form2.vb:
-This form will be hosted in a tabpage
-Set the form's FormBorderStyle to None
-Set the form's ControlBox to False
-Put any controls and any code you want

Create form1.vb
-This will be your master form
-This is a regular form
-Add a TabControl
-Add a Button
-In the Click event, add this code:
    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Dim x As New Form2()
        x.TopLevel = False
        Me.TabPage2.Controls.Add(x)
        x.Left = 100
        x.Show()
    End Sub

Hai TRUENEUTRAL/ emoreau,

I am newbie to VB. What if I created those controls at design time (not at run time). To put it simply, this is what I tried in the Form1.

1) I created a button 'btnClick' and a label named 'Label1'.
 2) click event is as follows:
Private Sub btnClick_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnClick.Click
        Dim t As New clickClass
        t.setLabel()
    End Sub

- The click class is

Public Class clickClass
    Public Sub setLabel()
        Form1.ActiveForm.Controls.Item.Label1.text = "It works Now"
    End Sub
End Class

But, I see an error at  Form1.ActiveForm.Controls.Item. I know that I cannot use item without index. I don't know the index of Label1. Is there any way I can find the index of Label1t?  or How do I refer Label1 from clickClass?

Thanks

Are you trying to organize your code in a better fashion?  VB.Net supports the concept of Code Regions that can be collapsed/expanded with a little +/- icon next to the region name.

To start a region you enter this alone on a line:

#Region "Say... Textbox event handlers"
 Your code goes in here that matches the region description...in this example, textbox event handlers.



#End Region

You can have as many regions in your code as you want.  This makes organizing the code much easier.

You are talking of 2 different things:

1. original question = I want to separate "code" of each tab in a separate file (.VB file for each tab).

2. Other post = What if I created those controls at design time (not at run time).

Do you know what you want to do?

Hai Guys,

The question is same. Just I gave examples for it. Sorry for not explanining it properly. I just want to organize the code in a better fashion (I am not looking for the REGIONS to collapse/expand ). My project involves a lot of tab pages and controls. I just don't want to write a lot of lines of code in a single file.
I want to separate things out (like in the second comment). I tried the example in the second comment - clickClass, btnClick... etc.

I just want to refer the control Label1 from the "clickClass.vb". How do I do it?

Public Class clickClass
    Public Sub setLabel()
        'The following line of code won't work. what is the correct code?
        Form1.ActiveForm.Controls.Item.Label1.text = "It works Now"
    End Sub
End Class

Remember I already did the following
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1) I created a button 'btnClick' and a label named 'Label1' in Form1.
 2) click event is as follows:
Private Sub btnClick_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnClick.Click
        Dim t As New clickClass
        t.setLabel()
    End Sub
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks

Hai emoreau,


Yep, it works for me.

Thanks,

I would like to note that this is a VB.NET forum.  The code I posted creates controls at design time, not runtime.  The code is tested and works fine.

I showed you how to get the name of the control you are referencing.  It would be a simple matter to loop through the controls and look for a name.

If you are coming from the VB world, you should be reading some books on Object Oriented Design before stepping into this mess.

It sounds like you are trying to encapsulate each tab on the form.  In my opinion, the best thing for you to do would be to create separate objects for each tab (controls and all) using panels or a similar object and deal with them in that manner.  

Hai TRUENEUTRAL,

Thanks for your comment. It will try to create objects as you said for each tab (I came from Java world). The idea of  emoreau also works for me - having a master form and a separate form for each tab and hosting these tab page forms to master form.

I tired his idea and it works for me. I will also try yours.

Thanks again