Add Controls at Run Time

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70-505 Study Guide

1. Forms Controls Add/configure a Form Manage control layout Add/configure a control Use IDE Add controls Configure controls Formatting Controls Layout Toolbar Modify Control Properties Configure controls Create/configure command controls Create/configure text edit controls Create/configure text display controls LinkLabel Control Create List Controls Configure Layout and Functionality Value-setting controls WebBrowser control Date-setting controls Display images NotifyIcon Access keys Create/configure menus Create event handlers 2. Integrating Data 3. Printing/Reporting 4. Enhancing Usability 5. Asynchronous Prog. 6. Forms Controls 7. Configure/Deploy

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Exam 70-505: Add controls to a Windows Form at run time.

Contents 1 Adding Controls to Containers 1.1 Add a control to a Panel 1.2 Add a control to a GroupBox 1.3 Add a control to a TabControl 1.4 Add a control to a TabPage 1.5 Add a control to a FlowLayoutPanel 1.6 Add a control to a TableLayoutPanel 1.7 Add a control to a SplitContainer 2 MSDN references

Each control that is located in the Toolbox is a member of the Control class that is part of the System.Windows.Forms namespace. Each of these controls is a class, so therefore you can dynamically create controls in code at runtime. The benefit of this is you have flexibility in the user interface to create complete forms based on an external source such as a configuration file.

Adding a Control to a Form at run time uses a similar method to adding a Control to a Container at run time.

Within a method, first create the control that you wish add to the Form.

Button button1 = new Button();

Secondly initialize the control.

button1.Location = new Point(20,10);
button1.Text = "Click Me";
 
button1.Click += new System.EventHandler(button1_Click);

Thirdly, add the control to the Form.

this.Controls.Add(button1);

Finally add any methods for any events that you are handling.

private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
 ...
}

Adding Controls to Containers

Each of the six Container controls discussed in Manage control layout on a Windows Form adds controls in a similar manner. Below is a summary of each one.

Add a control to a Panel

Button button1 = new Button();
 
button1.Location = new Point(20,10);
button1.Text = "Click Me";
 
panel1.Controls.Add(button1);

Add a control to a GroupBox

Button button1 = new Button();
 
button1.Location = new Point(20,10);
button1.Text = "Click Me";
 
groupBox1.Controls.Add(button1);

Add a control to a TabControl

Controls cannot be added to a TabControl, instead they must be added to a TabPage.

Add a control to a TabPage

Button button1 = new Button();
 
button1.Location = new Point(20, 10);
button1.Text = "Click Me";
 
tabPage1.Controls.Add(button1);

Add a control to a FlowLayoutPanel

Button button1 = new Button();
 
button1.Location = new Point(20, 10);
button1.Text = "Click Me";
 
flowLayoutPanel1.Controls.Add(button1);

Add a control to a TableLayoutPanel

Button button1 = new Button();
 
button1.Location = new Point(20, 10);
button1.Text = "Click Me";
 
tableLayoutPanel1.Controls.Add(button1);

Add a control to a SplitContainer

Controls can only be added to one of the Panel controls within the SplitContainer.

Button button1 = new Button();
 
button1.Location = new Point(20, 10);
button1.Text = "Click Me";
 
splitContainer1.Panel1.Controls.Add(button1);

MSDN references

• How to: Add Controls to Windows Forms