Locating non-UI components on form

[Gerrit]

Hi.

I'm looking for a way to programmatically find and access at run-time any
controls that are placed on the "component tray" area on a form (such as
ImageLists). The Form.Controls collection is of no use as it does not
contain any controls that are not placed on the form itself.


Gerrit

 

[Bob Powell [MVP]]

You could use reflection to read the fields of the object and get their
types. If they're based on Component and not Control they probably show up
in the tray.

--
Bob Powell [MVP]
Visual C#, System.Drawing

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[Gerrit]

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll give it a try.

Gerrit

 

[Stoitcho Goutsev \(100\) [C# MVP]]

Hi Gerrit,

Components that appear in the tray are put in the
System.ComponentModel.Container components collection. Provate member that
VS.NET adds when starting a new form. This collection is not part of the
hierarchy and it is not inhertied from the parent. That means that in your
form's componets collection you won't find any components that has been
added in the base form. The collection is private that means it can be
accessed only form the form's code, unless refelection is not used. And the
last think is unlike Controls collection where you'll find any control which
is added at design or run time components don't have to be in that
collection. However if a component appears in the component tray it is
there.