Question

I currently have a StackPanel, that I am dynamically adding controls to. (Presently other stack panels, DatePickers, ComboBoxes, TextBoxes and Labels.) The intent, is I am trying to dynamically generate search critera options based on the currently selected report type. In doing this I am setting the name so I can access it later, however, I am running into an issue where I can’t seem to get all of the user input controls I want without either missing something or crashing, because StackPanels don’t have a Name property.

// This one crashes because a child StackPanel doesn't have Name
foreach (var child in this.SearchCriteriaStackPanel.Children)
{
    switch (((Control)child).Name)
    {
        case "startDate":
            this.reports[index].StartDate = ((DatePicker)child).SelectedDate;
            break;
        case "endDate":
            this.reports[index].EndDate = ((DatePicker)child).SelectedDate;
            break;
        case "employeeId":
            this.reports[index].EmployeeId = (int)((ComboBox)child).SelectedValue != 0 ? (int?)((ComboBox)child).SelectedValue : null;
            break;
        case "jobNumber":
            this.reports[index].JobNumber = ((TextBox)child).Text;
            break;
    }
}

.

// This one skips over the DatePickers
foreach (var child in this.SearchCriteriaStackPanel.Children)
{
    switch (((FrameworkElement)child).Name)
    {
        case "startDate":
            this.reports[index].StartDate = ((DatePicker)child).SelectedDate;
            break;
        case "endDate":
            this.reports[index].EndDate = ((DatePicker)child).SelectedDate;
            break;
        case "employeeId":
            this.reports[index].EmployeeId = (int)((ComboBox)child).SelectedValue != 0 ? (int?)((ComboBox)child).SelectedValue : null;
            break;
        case "jobNumber":
            this.reports[index].JobNumber = ((TextBox)child).Text;
            break;
    }
}

I’m also open to alternative suggestions on how to solve this problem.

Edit #1:
Here is the initialization and adding of the startDate DatePicker:

var startDateStackPanel = new StackPanel
        {
            Orientation = Orientation.Horizontal,
            Margin = new Thickness(10, 0, 0, 0)
        };
        startDateStackPanel.Children.Add(new Label { Content = "Start Date:" });
        startDateStackPanel.Children.Add(new DatePicker { Width = 120, Name = "startDate" });
this.SearchCriteriaStackPanel.Children.Add(startDateStackPanel);

Edit #2:
I can do this, but it just feels wrong…

var list = new List<Control>(this.SearchCriteriaStackPanel.Children.OfType<DatePicker>());
list.AddRange(this.SearchCriteriaStackPanel.Children.OfType<ComboBox>());
list.AddRange(this.SearchCriteriaStackPanel.Children.OfType<TextBox>());

foreach(var child in list)...

Answer 1

If you are searching for descendants from e.g. FrameworkElement you can replace your for-each loop in the first example with

foreach (var child in this.SearchCriteriaStackPanel.Children.OfType<FrameworkElement>())
{
   ...
}