How to create objects dynamically with arbitrary names?

Question

So here's my situation. I am designing a program that requires new Image objects to be created in real-time on a Canvas, when the user clicks a certain Button. Seeing as I don't know exactly how many of said Images any given user will create, I can't assign names in the code for each and every one of them. The Images need to be named "Image0", "Image1", "Image2", etc, depending on how many Images already exist on the page. Kinda like how Visual Studio itself works, where each time you drop a control onto the design view, it automatically appends a number to the name of the control.

Does anyone have a code snippet capable of performing this function?

Can you not use a collection (List<YourImageType>, for example)? — Matt Mills
– Matt Mills, Commented Feb 17, 2011 at 23:02
Perhaps. Would that still allow the Images to have/use events? How would I change properties of, or respond to user interaction with, Images in a List? — BCXtreme
– BCXtreme, Commented Feb 17, 2011 at 23:09
sure you can attach any event handler and set any property to the newly created control before adding it to the list :) — Davide Piras
– Davide Piras, Commented Feb 17, 2011 at 23:23

Marco · Accepted Answer · 2011-02-17 23:30:21Z

2

You don't have to explicitly name all controls. Just add them to the canvas "controls" list.

Create a windows app with a single button and a flowLayoutPanel.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace WindowsFormsApplication6
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        int i = 1;
        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }

        private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            var button = new Button { Text = string.Format("Button {0}", i) };
            button.Click += new EventHandler(button_Click);
            flowLayoutPanel1.Controls.Add(button);
            i += 1;
        }

        void button_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            Button button = (Button)sender;
            button.Text = " clicked!";
        }
    }
}

edited Feb 17, 2011 at 23:30

answered Feb 17, 2011 at 23:08

Marco

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1 Comment

BCXtreme Over a year ago

YES! I adapted the code to an Image instead of a Button and it works perfectly! Thank you! Now, what do I do if I need to edit a property of that control? Like, if I wanted to change the text of the button later on?

User · Accepted Answer · 2011-02-17 23:13:27Z

0

I don't have a direct answer to your question, but from the sounds of it, and I could be wrong because I don't know what you're trying to do, you're viewing the problem from a newbie programmer perspective. You might want to consider using a collection of some kind (perhaps a list) and dynamically adding image objects to that. If you want a string name associated with each object, you could consider a dictionary of type Dictionary<string,Image>

answered Feb 17, 2011 at 23:13

User

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