Can i use text box names as values in a list?

Question

im creating a list to update a MySql db with values form text boxes, how can i make somthing like this work?

if i use the

    verdierX[0] = (int)decimal.Parse(box1.Text);

it works just fine but when i try to use it in a loop like this is blowes up. Anyone got a suggestion on how to solve this?

    int[] dbNavnX = new int[8]; 
    int[] verdierX = new int[8];
    string[] boxList = new string[8];

    private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
    { 

        boxList[0] = "box1.Text";
        boxList[1] = "box2.Text";
        boxList[2] = "box3.Text";
        boxList[3] = "box4.Text";
        boxList[4] = "box5.Text";
        boxList[5] = "box6.Text";
        boxList[6] = "box7.Text";
        boxList[7] = "box8.Text";
    }

    private void sumX()
    {
        for (int sum = 0; sum < 8; sum++)
        {
            verdierX[sum] = (int)decimal.Parse(boxList[sum]);
        }
    }

Answer 1

You should change your boxList array to hold references to the TextBoxes instead of strings:

TextBox[] boxList = new TextBox[8];

and

boxList[0] = box1;
boxList[1] = box2;
...

Then it will work.

Answer 2

If you're not using WPF, you can access the "me.controls" which is an array of all the controls available in your form. Watch out though, if your text box is on a panel or other container, you then use the object.controls to get the textbox.

Hope that works.

Answer 3

Try:

int[] verdierX = new int[8];

private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    for (var i = 0; i < 8; i++)
    {
        TextBox tb = (TextBox)FindControl("box" + i.ToString());
        verdierX[i] = (int)decimal.Parse(tb.Text);
    }
}

Answer 4

Or, how about some Linq goodness:

var sumX = from Control control in Controls
            where 
                control.GetType() == typeof (TextBox) 
                && control.Name.StartsWith("box")
            select Convert.ToInt32(((TextBox)control).Text);