Question How to change button control tags & tooltip info at runtime?

[dbtryout]

Hi everyone,

I face some issues on how i'm about to change a button.text and *.tag info.

I have over 5000 buttons(in total) on over 100 forms.
I created a Treeview on a form which i can enter only, that shows all my forms with buttons & tag names.

For example:
a textbox has the name of the button (fe. button1)
a tag name could include name of the product and a serialnumber, so does the tooltip.

If the productname changes, and so does the serialnumber how do i update the appropriate tag and tooltip?

The top textbox is showing what is selected in the treeview.
The down one needs to be entered manually
The update button would then update the tag and tooltip...



I'm stuck.

 

[JuggaloBrotha]

Setting the tag property is easy, instead of .Text = "" it's .Tag = ""
Setting the tooltip isn't difficult either, you call the SetToolTip() function on your form's ToolTip control, you pass it the control you want the tooltip changed on followed by the text you want it to say. For example ToolTip1.SetToolTip(YourTextBox, "Tool tip text here")

ToolTip.SetToolTip(Control, String) Method (System.Windows.Forms) | Microsoft Docs

 

[dbtryout]

Setting the tag property is easy, instead of .Text = "" it's .Tag = ""
Setting the tooltip isn't difficult either, you call the SetToolTip() function on your form's ToolTip control, you pass it the control you want the tooltip changed on followed by the text you want it to say. For example ToolTip1.SetToolTip(YourTextBox, "Tool tip text here")

ToolTip.SetToolTip(Control, String) Method (System.Windows.Forms) | Microsoft Docs

Hi JuggaloBrotha,

Yes indeed, this is the way. But i'm having difficulties with how i'm about to tell the program that the selection that is made needs to change that particular button on that particular form.

 

[dbtryout]

Hi JuggaloBrotha,

Yes indeed, this is the way. But i'm having difficulties with how i'm about to tell the program that the selection that is made needs to change that particular button on that particular form.

Actually what I need is the following:

I have a treeview from all forms and the buttons on these forms.
When i click a particular button name on that treeview i have the buttonname clicked projected in a textbox.
I want to put a new tag description for that particular button, weather it is on form 1, form 2, or form X
I click the update button to be save the new tag description to the button name selected in the treeview
I see the problem is that the form possibly isn't open. So how to get a buttons properties on a closed form in running mode?

 

[JimA]

If I understand the issue correctly, you're trying to access button controls on form2 from code in form1.

Place a button named 'btnTryIt' on Form1.

On Form2, place 5 buttons named 'Button1' through 'Button5', then

Try this in Form1:

Private Sub Btn_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles btnTryIt.Click

Change_button("Form2", "Button3")

End Sub
Private Sub Change_button(FormName As String, ButtonName As String)


Dim YourProjectName = "tmp" & "."
Dim typ = Type.GetType(YourProjectName & FormName)
Dim frm = DirectCast(Activator.CreateInstance(typ), Form)
frm.Show()
Dim Ctrls As Control.ControlCollection = frm.Controls
Dim c = Ctrls.Find(ButtonName, False).First
c.Tag = "I'm a tag"
c.Text = c.Tag.ToString

End Sub

This example will change the tag and visible text on Button3 of Form2.

It will also open/show Form2. I know of no way to do it without showing the form. If that's important, you might try immediately using Form2.Hide, setting Form2.Visible = False or setting it to open in minimized.

 

[dbtryout]

If I understand the issue correctly, you're trying to access button controls on form2 from code in form1.

Place a button named 'btnTryIt' on Form1.

On Form2, place 5 buttons named 'Button1' through 'Button5', then

Try this in Form1:

Private Sub Btn_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles btnTryIt.Click

Change_button("Form2", "Button3")

End Sub
Private Sub Change_button(FormName As String, ButtonName As String)


Dim YourProjectName = "tmp" & "."
Dim typ = Type.GetType(YourProjectName & FormName)
Dim frm = DirectCast(Activator.CreateInstance(typ), Form)
frm.Show()
Dim Ctrls As Control.ControlCollection = frm.Controls
Dim c = Ctrls.Find(ButtonName, False).First
c.Tag = "I'm a tag"
c.Text = c.Tag.ToString

End Sub

This example will change the tag and visible text on Button3 of Form2.

It will also open/show Form2. I know of no way to do it without showing the form. If that's important, you might try immediately using Form2.Hide, setting Form2.Visible = False or setting it to open in minimized.

Thanks for the reply.

For the moment i'm coding like this:
----------------------------
In the load event:

Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        For Each formprop In My.Forms.GetType.GetProperties 'percorre todos os forms
            Dim node = Me.TreeView1.Nodes.Add(formprop.Name)
            Dim form As Form = CType(formprop.GetValue(My.Forms, Nothing), Form)
            ControlsTree(node, form.Controls)
        Next
    End Sub

--------------------------------------------------
The tree event:

Private Sub ControlsTree(ByVal node As TreeNode, ByVal controls As Control.ControlCollection)
        For Each ctrl As Control In controls
            If ctrl.Name <> String.Empty And ctrl.GetType.Name = "Button" And ctrl.Tag <> "" Then
                Dim child = node.Nodes.Add(ctrl.Tag).Nodes.Add(ctrl.Name)
                ControlsTree(child, ctrl.Controls)
            End If
        Next
    End Sub

This is bringing up the treeview of all forms as parent, with all buttons/form as child, and all tag descriptions/buttons as 2nd child:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
After I select a tag I get the child and the parent in 2 seperate textboxes.

Private Sub TreeView1_AfterSelect(sender As Object, e As TreeViewEventArgs) Handles TreeView1.AfterSelect

        TextBox3.Text = e.Node.Text
        If e.Node.Parent IsNot Nothing AndAlso e.Node.Parent.[GetType]() = GetType(TreeNode) Then
            TextBox1.Text = e.Node.Parent.Text
        Else
            TextBox1.Text = "No control selected"
        End If
    End Sub

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If the textbox which returns the Parent(root), which is a formname, I hide the form by this code:

Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Dim asm = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly

        Dim myTypes As Type() = asm.GetTypes()
        Dim frm As Form

        For Each t As Type In myTypes
            If t.IsSubclassOf(GetType(System.Windows.Forms.Form)) AndAlso TextBox1.Text = t.Name Then
                frm = CType(Activator.CreateInstance(t), Form)
                frm.Hide()
            End If

-----------------------------
then I perform a search over all controls which are buttons, from which the .Tag equals textbox3 (the selected node)
if the system finds the control with that tag, that tag needs to be changed with the text of textbox 2 (doesn't work)

 For Each ctrl As Control In Controls
                If (TypeOf ctrl Is Button) And ctrl.Tag = TextBox3.Text Then
                    ctrl.Tag = TextBox2.Text
                End If

            Next ctrl

-------------------------------------------
Refresh Treeview:

TreeView1.Nodes.Clear()

            For Each formprop In My.Forms.GetType.GetProperties 'percorre todos os forms
                Dim node = Me.TreeView1.Nodes.Add(formprop.Name)
                Dim form As Form = CType(formprop.GetValue(My.Forms, Nothing), Form)
                ControlsTree(node, form.Controls)
            Next
        Next


End sub

 

[JuggaloBrotha]

Actually what I need is the following:

I have a treeview from all forms and the buttons on these forms.
When i click a particular button name on that treeview i have the buttonname clicked projected in a textbox.
I want to put a new tag description for that particular button, weather it is on form 1, form 2, or form X
I click the update button to be save the new tag description to the button name selected in the treeview
I see the problem is that the form possibly isn't open. So how to get a buttons properties on a closed form in running mode?

When you click on an item in the TreeView you change a couple of controls on your form, at least a Label and Textbox towards the top, that tells me you have code that does a lookup of what's selected in the TreeView to know what values to set those control's Text property to. You'd do the same for settings the SetToolTip() function as well except one of the parameters is a Control itself (the Label or Textbox).
Without knowing what your code is I can't specifically what you need to put in to set it, but you have all the knowledge you need on how to set a ToolTip and you know what your code currently does as well as what you want the program to do when the Update button is clicked. Just put all the pieces together.

 

[dbtryout]

When you click on an item in the TreeView you change a couple of controls on your form, at least a Label and Textbox towards the top, that tells me you have code that does a lookup of what's selected in the TreeView to know what values to set those control's Text property to. You'd do the same for settings the SetToolTip() function as well except one of the parameters is a Control itself (the Label or Textbox).
Without knowing what your code is I can't specifically what you need to put in to set it, but you have all the knowledge you need on how to set a ToolTip and you know what your code currently does as well as what you want the program to do when the Update button is clicked. Just put all the pieces together.

Wish it was that easy...

 

[dbtryout]

Doesn't make any sense ?

changed this:

 For Each ctrl As Control In Controls
                If (TypeOf ctrl Is Button) And ctrl.Tag = TextBox3.Text Then
                    ctrl.Tag = TextBox2.Text
                End If

            Next ctrl

to this:

Dim thisButtonName As String = TextBox3.Text ' This is the name of the button I'm looking for
                Dim thisButtonName2 As String = TextBox2.Text ' This is the new TAG name
                ' Loop all controls in this form
                For Each ctrl As Control In Controls
                    ' Is this control a button
                    If TypeOf (ctrl) Is Button Then
                        ' Is this the correct button
                        If CType(ctrl, Button).Name = thisButtonName Then
                            ' Set property's value
                            CType(ctrl, Button).Tag = thisButtonName2
                        End If
                    End If
                Next

And still doesn't work ... ?