How to convert string to control ?

Question

hi

i have string MyText that hold "L1"

i have label control that his name is "L1"

is there any way to read label L1 using MyText ?

something like: TMT = MyText.Text

or: TMT = ((Control)MyText.ToString()).Text;

thanks in advance

Answer 1

You can do something like this:

        foreach (var c in this.Controls)
        {
            if (c is Label)
            {
                var x = (Label)c;
                if (x.Name == "label1")
                {
                    x.Text = "WE FOUND YOU";
                    break;
                }
            }
        }

However, best practice is to avoid such cases ... If you could speculate a bit more why you need this, there will probably be a better solution.

--edit:thanks for noticing that is/typeof ..

Answer 2

An easier way is to do something like this:

string TMT = "myButton";    
// later in the code ...
(Controls[TMT] as Button).Text = "Hullo";

for instance.

Answer 3

Find a control with specified name:

var arr = this.Controls.Where(c => c.Name == "Name");
var c = arr.FirstOrDefault();

or search within controls of specified type:

var arr = this.Controls.OfType<Label>();
var c = arr.FirstOrDefault();

Edit:

if you have an array of control names you can find them:

var names = new[] { "C1", "C2", "C3" };

// search for specified names only within textboxes
var controls = this.Controls
    .OfType<TextBox>()
    .Where(c => names.Contains(c.Name));

// put the search result into a Dictionary<TextBox, string>
var dic = controls.ToDictionary(k => k, v => v.Text); 

(everything above requires .NET 3.5)

If you don have it, you can do next:

Control[] controls = this.Controls.Find("MyControl1");
if(controls.Lenght == 1) // 0 means not found, more - there are several controls with the same name
{
    TextBox control = controls[0] as TextBox;
    if(control != null)
    {
        control.Text = "Hello";
    }
}