C# Winform dynamically load usercontrols by name

Question

I want to know if it's possible to dynamically load user controls?
This is some code to show what I mean:

public void Load()
        {

            Reset();

            if (_host.User == null)
                return;

            int _count = 0;

            String[] _applications = _host.User.Applications;

            if (_applications == null)
                return;

            foreach (String _application in _applications)
            {

                TabPage _page = null;

                switch (_application)
                {
                    case "SF01":

                        _page = new TabPage();
                        _page.Text = "SF01";
                        _page.Controls.Add(new SF01(_container));

                        break;
                }

                if (_page != null)
                {

                    tapplications.TabPages.Add(_page);
                    m_list.Add(_count, _page);
                    _count++;

                }

            }

            tapplications.TabPages.Add(tlog);

            if (_host.User.Admin)
                tapplications.TabPages.Add(tadmin);

            _container.Controls.Add(this);

        }

As you can see SF01 is my usercontrol.
Now how do I go about loading other usercontrols by name instead of hard typing the class object?
This way I can create more applications and forget about how to load them. (case "SF01":)

All the applications will reside beneath a project folder applications, maybe there is a way to iterate through that project folder?

Answer 1

I found a (simpler) Solution by using reflection.

foreach (String _application in _applications)
            {

                TabPage _page = null;

                Type[] _atypes = new Type[] { typeof(Panel) };
                Object[] _avalues = new Object[] { _container };
                ConstructorInfo _ctor = Type.GetType("SFM." + _application).GetConstructor(_atypes);
                Object _control = _ctor.Invoke(_avalues);

                if (_control != null)
                {
                    _page = new TabPage();
                    _page.Text = _application;
                    _page.Controls.Add((Control)_control);
                }

                if (_page != null)
                {

                    tapplications.TabPages.Add(_page);
                    m_list.Add(_count, _page);
                    _count++;

                }

            }

Everything now works as expected!
Just need to do more error protection (Invoke fail, ...)

Answer 2

Yes it is.

A User Control can be instanciated using Activator.CreateInstance, as any other kind of object.

string objTypeName = "myNamespace.UI.SF01"; // Full namespace name
SF01 myNewSF01 = (Foo)Activator.CreateInstance(Type.GetType(objTypeName));

Then you can replace your switch statement with

_page = new TabPage();
_page.Text = "SF01";

var control = (Control)Activator.CreateInstance(Type.GetType("myNamespace." + _application));
_page.Controls.Add(control);