Question

My question is simply: how can I shorten this code even more?

 List<Button> buttonList = new List<Button>();

        buttonList.Add(button1);
        buttonList.Add(button2);
        buttonList.Add(button3);
        buttonList.Add(button4);
        buttonList.Add(button5);
        buttonList.Add(button6);
        buttonList.Add(button7);
        buttonList.Add(button8);
        buttonList.Add(button9);

Answer 1

If you’ve got your buttons stored in some control’s Controls collection (say, a Form or a Panel), then you could use:

//here `this` is supposed to be a `Form`
List<Button> buttonList = this.Controls.OfType<Button>() 
                                       .OrderBy(b=>b.Name)
                                       .ToList();

In this case you may have your method, returning an enumerable of buttons, stored within some container control:

public IEnumerable<Button> GetButtons()
{
    return this.Controls.OfType<Button>().OrderBy(b => b.Name);
    //return this.panel1.Controls.OfType<Button>().OrderBy(b => b.Name);
    //actually any container control you're having your buttons within
}

and you may use it:

foreach(Button b in GetButtons())
{
    //...
}