Get all existing object of a form...

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  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

I try to find a way to get all the existing objects related to a WinForm...

I tried "this.Controls" and "this.components.Components" but I'm not
reaching all the existing objects...

I need to loop across all objects to verify the content of their "tag"
property and modify their "text" or "caption" property depending of the
object type and "tag" property value.

Thanks.
 
PL said:
I try to find a way to get all the existing objects related to a
WinForm...

I tried "this.Controls" and "this.components.Components" but I'm not
reaching all the existing objects...

I need to loop across all objects to verify the content of their "tag"
property and modify their "text" or "caption" property depending of the
object type and "tag" property value.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Hi PL,

You're probably not getting them all, because some controls can contain
other controls. You need to recurse over all the controls like this:

///
private void RecurseControls ( Control baseControl )
{
foreach ( Control ctrl in baseControl.Controls )
{
// Process your control here.
RecurseControls( ctrl );
}
}
///

Then, to run the recursive algorithm, do this:

///
RecurseControls( this );
///

In the context of your form.
 
Hi Tom,

I'm using exactly the same algorithm and I still don't see all the objects...
I noticed that I have this problem espacially with MenuItem (from MainMenu).
I know that it doesn't have any "tag" property associated to them, but
anyway, I'm not seeing the MenuItem object while looping so...

Thanks
 
PL said:
Hi Tom,

I'm using exactly the same algorithm and I still don't see all the
objects... I noticed that I have this problem espacially with MenuItem
(from MainMenu). I know that it doesn't have any "tag" property associated
to them, but anyway, I'm not seeing the MenuItem object while looping
so...

Thanks
Click to expand...

Hi PL,

The reason for this is that MenuItems aren't contained within the Controls
collection of their parent. They are contained within the Items
collection, a property of the MenuItem. You'll have to make a special case
for this, and other controls that implement subcontrols by means of
an 'Items' collection.

The main reason for this is that a MenuItem is not a control, so it doesn't
make sense, to keep it in the Controls collection. Not only that, since a
MenuItem isn't a control, it won't "fit" in the Controls collection,
because it doesn't derive from Control.
 
Thanks for your answers Tom

I would have though that it would have a particular collection allowing us
to view all existing objects in an application... It appears not.
 
I noticed that almost all objects are listed under "this" (I see that at
debug time with QuickWatch), is there a way to access it? For now, I'm only
able to access the form, it would be nice to have access to all the others.

Thanks
 
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