how to disable controls in a form

[Antuane]

please help,

i'm trying to find a simple & easy way of enabling & disabling (generally
making them readonly) most of the controls in my form.
Cuz i want to create a form, for the user but only a readonly form (with no
write access).

But i cannot find any easy way of doing this,
i've tried using the OnEnabledChanged() event, & exposing such other custom
events.
But to no avail. Please help.

What i've also tried is having some methods to loop through the control
collection, & then disabling the controls one by one - slow & have to
consider various control types.

I'm sure i'm missing something very simple here, cuz this is something most
application would need - a readonly view of a screen.
But how can this be achieved????

 

[Guest]

Hi Antuane

Me.Enabled = False on your form will disable all of its contained controls -
is that what you want?

Nigegl Armstrong

 

[Herfried K. Wagner [MVP]]

Me.Enabled = False on your form will disable all of its contained
controls -
is that what you want?

This would prevent the user from moving or closing the form. Consequently
it's better to put everything in a panel, for example, and then disable the
panel only and keep the form enabled.

 

[Guest]

Hi Herfried,

Are you sure...? That's the case for MDI Children, but I don't think it is
for a top level window...

Nigel

 

[Herfried K. Wagner [MVP]]

Are you sure...?
Yes.

That's the case for MDI Children, but I don't think it is
for a top level window...

 

[Guest]

Hi Herfried

I've built a minimal app:

When I run this I can move and close the form - is that not the case for you?

Regards,

Nigel

Public Class Form1
Inherits System.Windows.Forms.Form

#Region " Windows Form Designer generated code "

Public Sub New()
MyBase.New()

'This call is required by the Windows Form Designer.
InitializeComponent()

'Add any initialization after the InitializeComponent() call

End Sub

'Form overrides dispose to clean up the component list.
Protected Overloads Overrides Sub Dispose(ByVal disposing As Boolean)
If disposing Then
If Not (components Is Nothing) Then
components.Dispose()
End If
End If
MyBase.Dispose(disposing)
End Sub

'Required by the Windows Form Designer
Private components As System.ComponentModel.IContainer

'NOTE: The following procedure is required by the Windows Form Designer
'It can be modified using the Windows Form Designer.
'Do not modify it using the code editor.
Friend WithEvents Button1 As System.Windows.Forms.Button
Friend WithEvents Button2 As System.Windows.Forms.Button
Friend WithEvents Button3 As System.Windows.Forms.Button
<System.Diagnostics.DebuggerStepThrough()> Private Sub
InitializeComponent()
Me.Button1 = New System.Windows.Forms.Button
Me.Button2 = New System.Windows.Forms.Button
Me.Button3 = New System.Windows.Forms.Button
Me.SuspendLayout()
'
'Button1
'
Me.Button1.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(96, 88)
Me.Button1.Name = "Button1"
Me.Button1.TabIndex = 0
Me.Button1.Text = "Button1"
'
'Button2
'
Me.Button2.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(96, 120)
Me.Button2.Name = "Button2"
Me.Button2.TabIndex = 1
Me.Button2.Text = "Button2"
'
'Button3
'
Me.Button3.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(96, 152)
Me.Button3.Name = "Button3"
Me.Button3.TabIndex = 2
Me.Button3.Text = "Button3"
'
'Form1
'
Me.AutoScaleBaseSize = New System.Drawing.Size(5, 13)
Me.ClientSize = New System.Drawing.Size(292, 262)
Me.Controls.Add(Me.Button3)
Me.Controls.Add(Me.Button2)
Me.Controls.Add(Me.Button1)
Me.Enabled = False
Me.Name = "Form1"
Me.Text = "Form1"
Me.ResumeLayout(False)

End Sub

#End Region

Public Shared Sub Main()
Application.Run(New Form1)
End Sub
End Class

 

[Herfried K. Wagner [MVP]]

I've built a minimal app:

When I run this I can move and close the form - is that not the case for
you?

Yes, I can now move the form. Really interesting... Move the 'Me.Enabled =
False' to the form's 'Load' event handler and you won't be able to move it
;-).

 

[Guest]

Hi Herfried

I know this has got a bit off topic, but am I the only one who thinks the
difference in behaviour of Enabled = False depending on when it is applied is
strange? I agree that adding a Panel and 'disEnabling' it is a better
approach though...

Nigel

 

[Herfried K. Wagner [MVP]]

I know this has got a bit off topic, but am I the only one who thinks the
difference in behaviour of Enabled = False depending on when it is applied
is
strange?

That's really strange (and certainly a bug, I think)!