How to create an array with pictureboxes in Windows Forms (C#)

Question

I am fairly new to C# and I can't figure out how to create an array with visible picture boxes inside the cs file. In this example I want to create 200 picture boxes 10x20 to create an grid for a tetris game. This is my code, I can't get any of the pictures to show but the code runs just fine.

Image[] blockImage = {
        TetrisSlutprojekt.Properties.Resources.TileEmpty,
        TetrisSlutprojekt.Properties.Resources.TileCyan,
        TetrisSlutprojekt.Properties.Resources.TileBlue,
        TetrisSlutprojekt.Properties.Resources.TileRed,
        TetrisSlutprojekt.Properties.Resources.TileGreen,
        TetrisSlutprojekt.Properties.Resources.TileOrange,
        TetrisSlutprojekt.Properties.Resources.TilePurple,
        TetrisSlutprojekt.Properties.Resources.TileYellow
    };

PictureBox[] blockBoxes = new PictureBox[200];

private void CreateBoxes()
{
    for (int i = 0; i < blockBoxes.Length; i++)
    {
        blockBoxes[i] = new System.Windows.Forms.PictureBox();
        blockBoxes[i].Name = "pbBox" + i;
        blockBoxes[i].Size = new Size(30, 30);
        blockBoxes[i].Visible = true;
    }
}

private void PlaceBoxes()
{
    for (int y = 0; y < rows; y++)
    {
        for (int x = 0; x < columns; x++)
        {
            blockBoxes[y].Top = y * blockWidth;
            blockBoxes[x].Left = x * blockWidth;
        }
    }
}

private void FillBoxes()
{
    for (int i = 0; i < blockBoxes.Length; i++)
    {
        blockBoxes[i].Image = blockImage[4];
    }    
}

Controls must be added to the Form's controls collection. You dont need the forms designer tag - manually adding controls avoids the designers — Ňɏssa Pøngjǣrdenlarp
– Ňɏssa Pøngjǣrdenlarp, Commented Feb 19, 2022 at 0:34

Jeremy Thompson · Accepted Answer · 2022-02-19 01:06:54Z

1

Add them to the Form:

private void CreateBoxes()
{
    for (int i = 0; i < blockBoxes.Length; i++)
    {
        blockBoxes[i] = new System.Windows.Forms.PictureBox();
        blockBoxes[i].Name = "pbBox" + i;
        blockBoxes[i].Size = new Size(30, 30);
        blockBoxes[i].Visible = true;
        this.Controls.Add(blockBoxes[i]);  // <--- HERE
    }
}

edited Feb 19, 2022 at 1:06

answered Feb 19, 2022 at 0:39

Jeremy Thompson

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1 Comment

Lukas Mannerstål Over a year ago

This solved my issue. Thank you!

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