Using a class initiated in one method in another method

Question

I have a C# WPF app that every time the user opens a new file, the contents are displayed in a datagrid.

public partial class MainWindow : Window
{
     public TabControl tc = new TabControl();

     public MainWindow()
     {
         InitializeComponents();
     }

     private FromFile_click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
     {
         //gets information from file and then...

         if (numberOfFiles == 0)
         {
             masterGrid.Children.Add(tc);
         }
         TabItem ti = new TabItem();
         tc.Items.Add(ti);

         DataGrid dg = new DataGrid();
         ti.Content = dg;

         dg.Name = "Grid"+ ++numberOfFiles;

         dg.ItemSource = data;
     }

     private otherMethod(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
     {

     }
}

My question is, how do I use the data in dg in the method "otherMethod"? Also, is it possible to change the parent of dg from the method "otherMethod"?

Answer 1

You have to pass it as a parameter to the other method otherMethod or make it a member variable.

Answer 2

Assuming you're not calling otherMethod within FromFile_Click, you need to make it an instance variable - like your TabControl is, except hopefully not public. I'm assuming otherMethod is actually meant to handle an event of some kind, rather than being called directly.

Now this is assuming that you want one DataGrid per instance of MainWindow, associated with that window. If that's not the case, you'd need to provide more information.

Answer 3

set the DataGrid dg as a property instead of declaring inside the FromFile_click.

This way when you assign "dg" it will work from any other method (few restrictions apply)