asked on

CType(Me.ParentForm, Form1).control1.Text = "Title bar text"

i have two forms

Form1 and Form2

Form1 has a panel. It loads form2

Form2 has code like this

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

'Title of Control1
CType(Me.ParentForm, Form1).control1.Text = "Title bar text"

End Sub

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Needless to say this works fine

Here comes the problem:
I added a new form: Form3
also with a panel with Form2 inside

now i have a problem with this CType(Me.ParentForm, Form1).control1.Text

I would also like to have this fixed to accept any future parent form, instead of writing something like

if parentform.name = "form1" then
CType(Me.ParentForm, Form1).control1.Text = "bla1"
else if parentform.name = "form2" then
CType(Me.ParentForm, Form2).control1.Text = "bla bla2"
else if .....to infiniti
CType(Me.ParentForm, FormInfini).control1.Text = "blablablafiniti"
end if

please help

kaufmed

Create a new interface definition which both child forms will implement. This interface will provide a way to access the control1.Text.

Public Interface IControl1
    Property Control1Text() As String
End Interface

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Then implement that interface on both forms:

Public Class Form2 : Form
    Implements IControl1

    '  Original code

    Public Property Control1Text() As String
        Get
            Return Me.control1.Text
        End Get
        Set
            Me.control1.Text = value
        End Set
    End Property

End Class

Public Class Form3 : Form
    Implements IControl1

    '  Original code

    Public Property Control1Text() As String
        Get
            Return Me.control1.Text
        End Get
        Set
            Me.control1.Text = value
        End Set
    End Property

End Class

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Finally, cast to the interface type:

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
    'Title of Control1
    CType(Me.ParentForm, IControl1).Control1Text = "Title bar text"
End Sub

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Angelp1ay

You might as well swap the CType for a DirectCast too. For reference types they are functionally identical and DirectCast is marginally more performant. It will make minimal difference in this case but it's a good habit to get into.

Ess Kay

ASKER

@kaufmed, that was just an example. the real Form2 has over two thousand lines and tons of controls ( grids, textboxes, labels, trees, you name it)

I can't sit there and recreate all controls, nor the form itself

i need something to return the parentForm

Like the If statement, but dynamiccally

kaufmed

You might try:

Dim c() As Control = Me.ParentForm.Controls.FindControl("control1", True)

If c IsNot Nothing AndAlso c.Length > 0 Then
    c(0).Text = "bla bla2"
End If

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Ess Kay

ASKER

How will that return the parentform

kaufmed

It won't, but based on your original code snippet you're after a control that resides on the parent form. That is what the above should do.

Ess Kay

ASKER

the problem is that i have many differnt controls.

instead of this

if parentform.name = "form1" then
CType(Me.ParentForm, Form1).control1.Text = "bla1"
else if parentform.name = "form2" then
CType(Me.ParentForm, Form2).control1.Text = "bla bla2"
else if .....to infiniti
CType(Me.ParentForm, FormInfini).control1.Text = "blablablafiniti"
end if

i need to cast the parent form as an object
and replace the form1, form2 ...form3456...

so i can use something like

CType(Me.ParentForm, FormObject).control1.Text
CType(Me.ParentForm, FormObject).grid.datasource= somesource
CType(Me.ParentForm, FormObject).tree.node.remove(node(1))

and so on

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

kaufmed

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Ess Kay

ASKER

Awesome, youre the man

CType(Me.ParentForm, Form1).control1.Text = &quot;Title bar text&quot;

CType(Me.ParentForm, Form1).control1.Text = "Title bar text"