You can store references to the checkboxes in a List(Of Checkbox):
Option Infer On
Public Class Form1
Dim theCheckBoxes As List(Of CheckBox)
Sub SetUpCheckBoxes()
theCheckBoxes = New List(Of CheckBox)
Dim data As String() = New String() {"testing", "testing2"}
Dim offset = 10
For Each cur In data
Dim cb = New CheckBox()
cb.Location = New Point(10, offset)
cb.Text = cur
cb.Checked = True
cb.Size = New Size(100, 20)
Me.Controls.Add(cb)
theCheckBoxes.Add(cb)
offset = offset + 20
Next
End Sub
' an example of doing something with the list of checkboxes
Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
Dim count = 0
For Each cb In theCheckBoxes
' do something with cb.Checked
If cb.Checked Then
count += 1
End If
Next
If count = 1 Then
MsgBox("There is 1 checked.")
Else
MsgBox("There are " & count.ToString() & " checked.")
End If
End Sub
Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
SetUpCheckBoxes()
End Sub
End Class
However, if you wanted to make it more general so that you could have more than one set of checkboxes and you could add them to the container control of your choice, you could make it more sophisticated and have a class which looks after a set of checkboxes. As an example:
Option Infer On
Public Class Form1
Dim myCheckboxes As Dictionary(Of String, CheckboxOrganiser)
'TODO: Consider putting this CheckboxOrganiser class in its own file.
Public Class CheckboxOrganiser
Implements IDisposable
Property Checkboxes As List(Of CheckBox)
' ########### some examples of what could be in this Class
Sub ShowCheckedCount()
Dim count = 0
For Each cb In Checkboxes
' do something with cb.Checked
If cb.Checked Then
count += 1
End If
Next
If count = 1 Then
MsgBox("There is 1 checked.")
Else
MsgBox("There are " & count.ToString() & " checked.")
End If
End Sub
Sub ShowIfChecked(tagText As String)
For Each cb In Checkboxes
If cb.Tag.ToString = tagText Then
MsgBox(String.Format("{0} is {1}checked.", tagText, If(cb.Checked, "", "not ")))
Exit For
End If
Next
End Sub
' ########### end examples
' dispose of the CheckBoxes and the references to them
Sub Clear()
If Me.Checkboxes IsNot Nothing Then
For Each cb In Me.Checkboxes
cb.Parent.Controls.Remove(cb)
cb.Dispose()
Next
Me.Checkboxes.Clear()
End If
End Sub
' add the CheckBoxes to a container control
Sub Display(target As Control)
'TODO: check that target is a container control
target.Controls.AddRange(Me.Checkboxes.ToArray())
End Sub
' make a new list of CheckBoxes
Sub New(left As Integer, top As Integer, data As String())
Checkboxes = New List(Of CheckBox)
Dim cbSize As New Size(100, 20)
Dim offset = top
For Each cur In data
Dim cb = New CheckBox()
cb.Location = New Point(left, offset)
cb.Text = cur
cb.Tag = cur
cb.Checked = True
cb.Size = cbSize
Checkboxes.Add(cb)
offset = offset + 20
Next
End Sub
Sub New()
Checkboxes = New List(Of CheckBox)
End Sub
' We're trying to do this properly, so it is best to implement the code for .Dispose()...
#Region "IDisposable Support"
Private disposedValue As Boolean ' To detect redundant calls
' IDisposable
Protected Overridable Sub Dispose(disposing As Boolean)
If Not Me.disposedValue Then
If disposing Then
Me.Clear()
End If
End If
Me.disposedValue = True
End Sub
' This code added by Visual Basic to correctly implement the disposable pattern.
Public Sub Dispose() Implements IDisposable.Dispose
' Do not change this code. Put cleanup code in Dispose(disposing As Boolean) above.
Dispose(True)
GC.SuppressFinalize(Me)
End Sub
#End Region
End Class
' an example of getting rid of a set of CheckBoxes
Private Sub bnRemoveTestCbs_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles bnRemoveTestCbs.Click
myCheckboxes("tests").Dispose()
End Sub
' an example of doing something with the checkboxes
Private Sub bnCountThem_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles bnCountThem.Click
myCheckboxes("shapes").ShowCheckedCount()
End Sub
' inspect one checkbox in a collection
Private Sub bnIsTriangleChecked_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles bnIsTriangleChecked.Click
myCheckboxes("shapes").ShowIfChecked("Triangles")
End Sub
Sub Demo()
' use a Dictionary so that each CheckboxOrganiser can be referred to by a name
myCheckboxes = New Dictionary(Of String, CheckboxOrganiser)
' create a set of checkboxes and name it "testing"...
Dim data = New String() {"testing", "testing2"}
myCheckboxes.Add("tests", New CheckboxOrganiser(10, 10, data))
' show them on the main Form
myCheckboxes("tests").Display(Me)
' and another set of checkboxes...
data = {"Triangles", "Squares"}
myCheckboxes.Add("shapes", New CheckboxOrganiser(10, 20, data))
' we're going to add them to a GroupBox instead:
Dim gb As New GroupBox With {.Left = 120, .Top = 20, .Width = 120, .Height = 80, .Text = "Shapes"}
Me.Controls.Add(gb)
myCheckboxes("shapes").Display(gb)
End Sub
Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
Demo()
End Sub
End Class
I started getting a bit carried away there, but I thought it worthwhile to show you how, with a bit more code to start off with, you can make other things simpler to use.
