CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#winformsclasscontrols
Daniel Heikkilä
Daniel Heikkilä

Reputation: 17

How to create a class that clears the screen of buttons and other controls?

I am reusing the same code for clearing the screen many times in my program, and I thought about turning it into a class, but I still don't get how classes work and how to properly make one.

My code to clear buttons and other controls is as follows:

        List<RichTextBox> _richTextBoxes = this.Controls.OfType<RichTextBox>().ToList();
        List<Button> _buttons = this.Controls.OfType<Button>().ToList();
        List<Label> _labels = this.Controls.OfType<Label>().ToList();
        List<TextBox> _textBoxes = this.Controls.OfType<TextBox>().ToList();

        foreach (var rich in _richTextBoxes)
        {
            this.Controls.Remove(rich);
        }
        foreach (var button in _buttons)
        {
            this.Controls.Remove(button);
        }
        foreach (var label in _labels)
        {
            this.Controls.Remove(label);
        }
        foreach (var textBox in _textBoxes)
        {
            this.Controls.Remove(textBox);
        }

Upvotes: 0

Views: 126

Answers (2)

user585968
user585968

Reputation:

Hiding 100s or 1000s of controls is inefficient and wasteful

Contrary to the other answer's idea that

Panel.Visible;

...is somehow more efficient, it is not. Hiding a control does not release any resources the control might have requested the obvious being a window handle. Handles, fonts etc are all part of the GDI pool, a rather limited resource. Depending on what version of Windows you are running you might be limited to anything between 256 and 16,384 GDI handles per process.

So think before hiding 100s of controls. Much better to just destroy the unwanted and create the ones you need.

Back to the question

I am reusing the same code for clearing the screen many times in my program

The bigger question is why you want to do that?

Though a legitimate programming scenario, given that "but I still don't get how classes work" , it is unlikely you are at the dynamic-UI-apps stage based on say dynamic selection of a database table.

Consider creating multiple forms via the Designer and don't modify them at runtime. That's alot easier if dynamic UIs isn't really a requirement.

An easier way to change things at runtime

Otherwise if you are super keen to continue with changing things at runtime, consider placing all the controls in a child Panel belonging to the form.

Then you can just call Clear():

myPanel.Controls.Clear(); // Job done

Upvotes: 0

H&#233;ctor M.
H&#233;ctor M.

Reputation: 2392

As others already mentioned, it's a rare practice to remove/create all controls of a container (Form, Panel, etc) at runtime, and a possible waste of PC resources.

Of course you can use:

Form.Controls.Clear();

Or

Panel.Controls.Clear();

But, what's wrong with placing all your controls in a Panel, for example, and simply hiding said panel? seen you get the same result in a more efficient way

If you opt for this, it's as simple as this line:

Panel.Visible = false; // or true

Upvotes: 2

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