Button BackColor Not Working As Expected

Question

I have a form with a split panel. In the one split are a group of buttons which I want to programmatically change the color of the last pressed button. The following loop seems to run correctly and set the colors correctly but the form doesn't represent that. Once the loop is completed and I recheck the button colors, they revert to previous state.

For Each formControl As Control In Me.FormSplitContainer.Panel1.Controls
  If formControl.GetType() Is GetType(Button) Then
    If CType(sender, Button) Is CType(formControl, Button) Then
      CType(sender, Button).BackColor = Color.White
    Else
      CType(sender, Button).BackColor = System.Drawing.SystemColors.ControlDark
    End If
  End If
Next

I can get the desired effect by doing the below code but seems less elegant and would obviously require updates as buttons would be added or removed.

DataFeedButton.BackColor = System.Drawing.SystemColors.ControlDark
IncentiveButton.BackColor = System.Drawing.SystemColors.ControlDark

CType(sender, Button).BackColor = Color.White

Anyone see what I am missing?

Answer 1

Where are you calling this code? Each time they click a button? To me, it looks like it sets the backcolor of all the form's buttons to white. I don't see where you're testing for the 'last button pressed' condition.

Answer 2

Assign sender to a button variable, then assign the color.

dim b as button

And then in the loop, assign it this way:

b = sender
b.backcolor = color.white

Answer 3

Wow, that's some confusing code. Why not just set all the buttons to the default color, then set the current one to white? Something like this:

Private Sub anyButton_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs) _
      Handles btnWhatever.Click [etc. for all buttons]
    For Each c As Control In Me.Controls
        Dim button = TryCast(c, Button)
        If button IsNot Nothing Then button.BackColor = SystemColors.ControlDark
    Next
    Dim thisButton = TryCast(sender, Button)
    If thisButton IsNot Nothing Then thisButton.BackColor = Color.White
End Sub