Question

My current project requires me to disable combo boxes from Form 2 when edit button is clicked in Form 1. What I would like to know is how I can disable a combo box that’s in Form 2 from Form 1.

I tried

 IDComboBox4.Enabled = false; 

in Form 1 however I get and error that says

“The Name ‘IDComboBox4’ does not exist in the current context”.

Update:

I attempted both answers however sadly neither worked. Now I get a syntax error

“An object reference is required for the non-static field, method, or property”

when trying code

    dlgForm.ComboBox4Enabled = false;

in Form1 with code

    public bool ComboBox4Enabled
    {
        get 
        { 
            return IDComboBox4.Enabled; 
        }
        set 
        {
            IDComboBox4.Enabled = value; 
        }
    }

in Form2 which is also dlgForm. I feel like I’m overlooking something basic however just cant put my finger on it at the moment. If you would like some snippets of my code let me know. Any help is appreciated. Thanks again.

Answer 1

You could just make IDComboBox4 public and use form2.IDComboBox4.Enabled = false; if you like but I would STRONGLY suggest you create a property on form 2 that allows you to do it without accessing the internals of form2. Something like this:

public bool ComboBox4Enabled{
  get{return IDComboBox4.Enabled;}
  set{IDComboBox4.Enabled = value;}
}

Then use form2.ComboBox4Enabled = false; to set it.

Whilst you’re at it – you really should rename your comboboxes etc. so that they make sense for the next developer who comes along. _cbbJobTitle or something.