asked on

C# error - Cannot add a top level control to a control

trying to open a form in another form using C#. here is the code that fails:

private void btnPriceList2_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
            {
                  if(txtAuctionId.Text.Trim() != "")
                  {
                        PriceList pricelist = new PriceList(txtAuctionId.Text.Trim());
                        pricelist.Parent = this;
                        pricelist.LoginId = this.LoginId;
                        pricelist.ShowDialog();
                  }
            }

i have a similar function that works for another button, that is:

private void showAddNewLotScreen()
            {

                  if(txtAuctionId.Text.Trim()!="")
                  {
                        LotDetails lot = new LotDetails(null,txtAuctionId.Text.Trim());
                        lot.parent = this;
                        lot.LoginId = this.LoginId;
                        lot.ShowDialog();
                  }

            }

the PriceList form is giving me the below error. any ideas???

An unhandled exception of type 'System.ArgumentException' occurred in system.windows.forms.dll

Additional information: Cannot add a top level control to a control.

AaronReams

I noticed that you're passing 2 parameters to LotDetails and only 1 to PriceList.

PriceList pricelist = new PriceList(txtAuctionId.Text.Trim());

LotDetails lot = new LotDetails(null,txtAuctionId.Text.Trim());

You could try switching these to the following format...

PriceList pricelist = new PriceList();
pricelist.Text = txtAuctionId.Text.Trim();

kacalapy

ASKER

i pass the param because my for is defined as such...

public PriceList(string AuctionId)
            {
                  //
                  // Required for Windows Form Designer support
                  //
                  InitializeComponent();

                  //
                  // TODO: Add any constructor code after InitializeComponent call
                  //
            }

kacalapy

ASKER

pricelist.LoginId = this.LoginId;

this is the line that makes the error.
if i comment it out, the next line makes the saem error.

looks liek something in the page inernals i am missing here :(

AaronReams

Hmmm, strange.

Is LoginId a string or textbox?

Are you doing some work before the call to InitializeComponent() in pricelist?

kacalapy

ASKER

LoginId is a string.
nothing here... before the call to InitializeComponent

public PriceList(string AuctionId)
            {
                  //
                  // Required for Windows Form Designer support
                  //
                  InitializeComponent();

                  //
                  // TODO: Add any constructor code after InitializeComponent call
                  //
            }

AaronReams

I think the problem is actually from this line. You don't need it.

pricelist.Parent = this;

AaronReams

If you want a pointer from the calling object pass it into the constructor or set it to member variable later (other than parent).

kacalapy

ASKER

not sure what you mean. i know c# in web dev. im not great with desktop stuff yet. please explain.

kacalapy

ASKER

also the same code is working to call another page "lotdetails" i am trying to call pricelist in the same way. its not workign out for me :(

AaronReams

Generally, its not a good idea to set the Parent pointer of control when you don't need to.

If you want a pointer (reference) to the calling object you can set it yourself.

public class PriceList
{
public LotDetails refLotDetails = null;
public PriceList() {}
}

Then when you actually instantiate the PriceList object.

PriceList form = new PriceList();
form.refLotDetails = this; //assuming you are creating the form from a LotDetails member function

Does that help?

-Good luck,
Aaron

kacalapy

ASKER

not realy, lol. but i did fint the problem.

stupid error. the PriceList page class didnt have both
public string LoginId;
public LotList parent;
defined. I WILL AWARD THE POINTS TO YOU FOR A LINK THAT HAS SOME GOOD EXAMPLES OF THIS TOPIC SO I CAN LEAN SOMETHIGN HERE.

AaronReams

I didn't notice that "parent" was lower case in your example. "Parent" with a capital "P" is a property of all controls. I would stay away from using predefined members with different case.

You see the problem wasn't just that you didn't have that defined. Visual Studio will automatically correct the case with IntelliSense, which results in the runtime error "Cannot add a top level control to a control." rather than a compile time error "Undefined variable".

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AaronReams

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kacalapy

ASKER

AaronReams,

thank you mutch. you take the points.

also if you can point me in a direction of makeing good datadriven winforms in c# that allow the user to maek updates in a datagrid and persist them to the database... that would just make my day.