Is it possible to convert an Object Type into another?

[LeoVBNET]

Hi
I'm trying to do this:

Dim MyForm As New Object
 
   or
 
Dim MyForm As System.Windows.Forms.Form
 
Select Case Form.Activeform.Name
  Case My.Forms.Form1.Name
     MyForm = My.Forms.Form1
  Case My Forms.Form2.Name
     MyForm = My.Forms.Form2
End Select
 

The problem comes because MyForm is still an Object or Form type.
So I need to convert MyForm Type whether into Form1 or Form2, in order to be access to properties and methods of one of those class.

I tried with Ctype, DirectCast, TryCast, Convert.ChangeType... etc., and MyForm always keep its Object or Form Type.

Doing a unboxing neither works to me. For instance:

CType(MyForm, Form2).property.xxxx.focus()

That works but not to what I really need. I want to convert MyForm or whatever it was into a Form1 or Fomr2 Class.

Thanks.

[Seth Schrock]

I'm not sure what you are looking for, but I think that you are wanting to be able to reference a form based on its string name and have access to all its controls, properties and methods. If this is the case, then you would need to paste this function into your class:

'from http://vbcity.com/forums/t/32930.aspx
Function GetFormByName(ByVal FormName As String) As Form
    'first try: in case the full namespace has been provided (as it should ;-) )
    Dim T As Type = Type.GetType(FormName, False)
    'if not found prepend default namespace
    If T Is Nothing Then
        Dim Fullname As String = Application.ProductName & "." & FormName
        T = Type.GetType(Fullname, True, True)
    End If
    Return CType(Activator.CreateInstance(T), Form)
End Function

You would then use your Form.Activeform.Name as the argument when calling this function.