Question

Hi I have this TablelayoutPanel setup currently in my program to create a grid of buttons that will later correspond to a specific column and row:

'****INITIALISES TABLE LAYOUT INTO FORM******
    Dim ColCount, RowCount As Integer

    'Later change so that values are automatically calculated
    ColCount = 5
    RowCount = 5

    '*********Copy and pasted from site as example, CHANGE LATER*******
    Haztable = New TableLayoutPanel
    Haztable.AutoScroll = True
    Haztable.Dock = DockStyle.Fill
    Haztable.ColumnCount = ColCount
    Haztable.RowCount = RowCount
    For rowNo As Integer = 0 To Haztable.RowCount - 1
        For columnNo As Integer = 0 To Haztable.ColumnCount - 1
            'Dim ctrl As Control = New Button
            'ctrl.Text = String.Format("{0} {1},{2}", ctrl.GetType().Name, columnNo, rowNo)
            'ctrl.Size = New Size(20, 20)
            'Haztable.Controls.Add(ctrl, columnNo, rowNo)
            Dim buttonname As String
            buttonname = "B" & columnNo & rowNo
            Dim button As Control = New Button
            button.Size = New Size(70, 20)
            button.Name = buttonname
            button.Text = buttonname
            Haztable.Controls.Add(button, columnNo, rowNo)
            AddHandler button.Click, AddressOf buttonname_Click
        Next
    Next
    Me.Controls.Add(Haztable)
    Call buttonfind()

And this all works, creating a grid of buttons, much like the layout of an excel spreadsheet.

The buttons are named according to their XY position (e.g. the button in (1,1) would be called “B11”) but the problem is I can’t seem to work out how I can address these buttons i.e

*If B(X.Y) is clicked then save boolean value that button at X,Y is pressed.

It would be great to have one algorithm to scan and check if any buttons have been pressed instead of using “Select Case” for each button.
I would just create the buttons in the designer but for my full code i’m going to need 1000+ buttons and that seems an inefficient way to do so.

Answer 1

Your buttonname_Click should have a Sender object which is the Button that you Clicked just cast it to a Button and check the name then.

Private Sub buttonname_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) 
    Dim btn As Button = CType(sender, Button)

    Select Case btn.Name
        Case "B11"
            'Do something
        Case "B12"
            'Do Something esle

            '...........
    End Select

End Sub

---

Based on your last statement see if this works you may need to build an Array or a List if you need to reference the Text elsewhere in your Program

Private Sub buttonname_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
    Dim btn As Button = CType(sender, Button)

    If btn.Text = "H" Then
        btn.Text = "M"
    ElseIf btn.Text = "M" Then
        btn.Text = "L"
    ElseIf btn.Text = "L" Then
        btn.Text = ""
    Else
        btn.Text = "H"
    End If


End Sub