Can I make a dynamic combo Box from a text file?

Question

I want to make a combo box like this:

But the boxes should not be hardcoded they should come from a text file like this:

Addition of data in text file should result in addition of combo Boxes. Also each comboBox should have the same list of options in it which are 1,2,3,4

I made the following class to read and write the text file, but I couldn't find any resources in the internet to turn these text files to combo Box.

public static string ReadFromTextFile(string path)
        {
            if (File.Exists(path))
            {
                string data;
                using (StreamReader r = new StreamReader(path))
                {
                    data = r.ReadToEnd();

                }
                if (data != "")
                {
                    data = "[" + data + "]";
                }
                return data;
            }
            return null;

   }
public static void WriteToTextFile(string path, string data, bool append = true, int count = 1)
        {
            if (!File.Exists(path))
            {
                var file = File.Create(path);
                file.Close();
            }
            using (StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(path, append: append))
            {
                if (!append)
                {
                    //remove opening bracket "[" from data passed
                    data = data.Trim().Substring(1, data.Trim().Length - 1);
                    //remove last bracket "]" from data passed
                    data = data.Trim().Substring(0, data.Trim().Length - 1);
                }
                if (count != 0)
                {
                    data = data + ",";
                }
                writer.WriteLine(data);
            }
        }
 public static DataTable ConvertToDataTable<T>(IList<T> data)
        {
            PropertyDescriptorCollection properties =
                TypeDescriptor.GetProperties(typeof(T));
            DataTable table = new DataTable();
            foreach (PropertyDescriptor prop in properties)
                table.Columns.Add(prop.Name, Nullable.GetUnderlyingType(prop.PropertyType) ?? prop.PropertyType);
            if (data != null)
            {
                foreach (T item in data)
                {
                    DataRow row = table.NewRow();
                    foreach (PropertyDescriptor prop in properties)
                        row[prop.Name] = prop.GetValue(item) ?? DBNull.Value;
                    table.Rows.Add(row);
                }
            }
            return table;
        }

Answer 1

Use File.ReadAllLines(...) to short the txt read.
Point to control the position.
Attaches a delegate to SelectedIndexChanged that I imagine you will need for the next step.

private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    var lines = File.ReadAllLines(@"src.txt").Select(str => str.Replace(",", "")).ToList();

    Label lbl, lastLbl = null;
    ComboBox combo, lastCombo = null;
    for (int i = 0; i < lines.Count(); i++)
    {
        lbl = new Label();
        lbl.Text = lines[i];
        
        if (i > 0) // adjust position
            lbl.Location = new Point(lastLbl.Location.X, lastLbl.Location.Y + lastLbl.Height);

        this.Controls.Add(lbl);
        lastLbl = lbl;

        combo = new ComboBox();
        combo.DataSource = new List<int>() { 1, 2, 3, 4 };
        if (i > 0) // adjust position
            combo.Location = new Point(lastCombo.Location.X, lastCombo.Location.Y + lastCombo.Height);
        else
            combo.Location = new Point(lbl.Width + 5, 0);
        //combo.SelectedIndexChanged += (s, a) => {  }; // action you may need
        this.Controls.Add(combo);
        lastCombo = combo;
    }
}

Answer 2

You can use the string "Food"/"Water" as the Name property of the ComboBox to identify the each ComboBox.

Besides, note that should set a different Location for each ComboBox.

private void buttonCreateComboBox_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    int locationX = 50;
    int locationY = 10;

    string line;
    System.IO.StreamReader file =
        new System.IO.StreamReader(@"C:\Users\Administrator\Desktop\test.txt");
    while ((line = file.ReadLine()) != null)
    {
        // Remove the extra ','
        string comboName = line.Substring(0, line.Length - 1);

        ComboBox comboBox = new ComboBox();
        comboBox.Name = comboName;
        comboBox.Items.AddRange(new object[] { 1, 2, 3, 4 });
        comboBox.Location = new Point(locationX, locationY);
        this.Controls.Add(comboBox);

        Label label = new Label();
        label.Text = comboName;
        label.Location = new Point(0, locationY);
        this.Controls.Add(label);

        locationY += 30;
    }

    file.Close();
}

If you want to access a specific ComboBox, you can call Control.ControlCollection.Find(String, Boolean) Method to get it.

private void buttonGetComboWaterText_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    ComboBox comboWater = (ComboBox)this.Controls.Find("Water", true)[0];
    MessageBox.Show(comboWater.Text);
}

Answer 3

Without going into details (don't know why you need DataTable etc.) I will answer your main question from title.

This is how my textfile looks, no need for comma if you read line by line:

    public void ReadFromTextFile(string path)
    {
        if (File.Exists(path))
        {
            using (StreamReader r = new StreamReader(path))
            {
                String line;
                while ((line = r.ReadLine()) != null)
                {
                    CreateComboBox(line.ToString());
                }
            }
        }
    }

    public void CreateComboBox(string definition)
    {
        var combo = new ComboBox();
        combo.Name = definition;
        combo.Items.AddRange(new object[] { "1", "2", "3", "4" });
        var label = new Label();
        label.Text = definition;
        this.flowLayoutPanel1.Controls.Add(label);
        this.flowLayoutPanel1.Controls.Add(combo);
    }

    private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        ReadFromTextFile(@"c:\temp\MyTest.txt");
    }

Answer 4

I don't have visual studio available now. So, I'll give you the way forward.

1. Read the line and split it into string array.

   string[] arr= line.Split(",");

2. The first one (say Food) is the heading and the remaining are values.

3. Loop through the array.

   for (int i=1;i<= arr.Length;i++) { }

4. Add it to the combobox items like cbo.Items.Add(arr[i]).

Loop through the lines in the file and you get the desired output.