CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#.netwinforms
Abel Chaves
Abel Chaves

Reputation: 23

Adding textBox in runtime and save changes

I'm developing a Windows Forms project that requires a user to add new fields(textboxes and labels) by clicking a button, what I want to achieve is. after the user added a new field, a textbox is automatically created and saved to the settings of my form. So that when i run my project again. the newly added textbox (from runtime) is available. Is there any possible ways to do it? I'm new to c# Thanks in advance!

Upvotes: 2

Views: 945

Answers (4)

Jade
Jade

Reputation: 2992

You try this

DataTable is inside System.Data

using System.Data;

Saving to xml

private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    DataTable dt = new DataTable("Settings"); //we use DataTable class

    dt.Columns.Add("ID");
    dt.Columns.Add("Control");
    dt.Columns.Add("ControlName");
    dt.Columns.Add("Top");
    dt.Columns.Add("Left");
    dt.Columns.Add("Width");
    dt.Columns.Add("Height");
    /*
     * You add more settings here
     */


    int id = 0;

    foreach (Control ctrl in this.Controls) //this.Controls is the parent control where the textbox is located
    {
        string c = ctrl.GetType().Name;
        switch (c)
        {
            case "TextBox":
                DataRow dr = dt.NewRow();
                dr["ID"] = id++;
                dr["Control"] = c;
                dr["ControlName"] = ctrl.Name;
                dr["Top"] = ctrl.Top;
                dr["Left"] = ctrl.Left;
                dr["Width"] = ctrl.Width;
                dr["Height"] = ctrl.Height;
                /*
                    * You add more settings here
                    */
                dt.Rows.Add(dr);
                break;
        }
    }

    dt.WriteXml(@"c:\TestFile.xml", XmlWriteMode.WriteSchema); //You can use save dialog to browse the location
}

To retrieve

private void button2_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    DataTable dt = new DataTable("Settings");

    dt.ReadXml(@"c:\TestFile.xml");

    foreach (DataRow dr in dt.Rows)
    {
        switch (dr["Control"].ToString())
        {
            case "TextBox":
                var t = new TextBox();
                t.Name = dr["ControlName"].ToString();
                t.Top = Convert.ToInt32(dr["Top"]);
                t.Left = Convert.ToInt32(dr["Left"]);
                t.Width = Convert.ToInt32(dr["Width"]);
                t.Height = Convert.ToInt32(dr["Height"]);

                this.Controls.Add(t);
                break;
        }
    }

}

Upvotes: 3

Raging Bull
Raging Bull

Reputation: 18737

I have done something like that before. I used a panel for that, and the code was like:

private void panel1_MouseDoubleClick(object sender, System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs e)
{
      System.Windows.Forms.TextBox txtbox = new System.Windows.Forms.TextBox();
      txtbox.Location = e.Location;  //Creates the textbox where user double clicked
      panel1.Controls.Add(txtbox);
      txtbox.Focus();
      txtbox.Visible = true;
}

You can set the Left and Top of the textbox wherever you want. Inorder to store the textboxes you will have to create a table and store the details of each textbox (content,position,etc). And while opening the form later, these details should be read from the table and create those textboxes. For saving the textboxes:

foreach (Control c in panel1.Controls)
{
      if (c.GetType().Name == "TextBox")
      {
           //Save the texbox content,Leftposition,RightPosition,etc to database
      }
}

On the form_Load :

private void MyForm_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
     //Retrieve all textbox details from table as dataset.
     for (int i = 0; i < ds.Tables[0].Rows.Count; i++)
     {
                System.Windows.Forms.TextBox txtbox = new System.Windows.Forms.TextBox();
                txtbox.Text = ds.Tables[0].Rows[i]["Content"].ToString();
                txtbox.Left = Convert.ToInt32(ds.Tables[0].Rows[i]["Left"].ToString());
                txtbox.Top = Convert.ToInt32(ds.Tables[0].Rows[i]["Top"].ToString());
                panel1.Controls.Add(txtbox);
                txtbox.Visible = true;
     }
}

You will have to create a table like:

Content    Left    Top
NameA      100     100
NameB      132     241
NameC      242     311

Upvotes: 0

SimonPJ
SimonPJ

Reputation: 766

....
btn.Click += new Event Handler(AddTextBox);
....

public void AddTextBox(Object o, EventArgs e) {
    TextBox newTextBox = new TextBox();
    newTextBox.Location = new Point(...);
    Controls.Add(newTextBox);
}

As for saving the controls for future use, you could simply save the control type and position. As already mentioned this could be done in a database, or you could opt for xml or simply a text file of your own formatting.

Upvotes: 0

Juan_Mallorca
Juan_Mallorca

Reputation: 31

To archieve that, you have to make your own structure to save in settings or any external xml file. For example, you can make a class with fields "name" and "text", then create a generic list of that class with List listOfBoxes , serialize it into a XML file for later de-serialization.

When you read the XML file, just loop throu the list and create a textbox and label for every item, asigning the name and text and after creating and adding to the parent container control, I recommand you to use flowlayout as a container control, or you will have to calculate de x-y coordinates of the control

if you dont know how to do any of those steps just ask me.

Insted of using files or settings, you can use also a databse table to store the controls data

Upvotes: 1

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